Social media marketing is not traditional marketing!
September 10, 2017
Offering lessons in social media marketing has taught me a lot about how people new to the field tend to perceive it. Much of this information comes from their initial calls or e-mail enquiries. From these interactions I have learned that they often have the misconception that using social networks for promotion is much like traditional marketing.
Take Facebook. Many seem to think that when someone likes their page they are "opting in" to what is essentially an e-mail list. So they get on FB with this assumption. Of course with e-mail marketing, it's important to have lots of subscribers. So their main objective is to have tons of likes. They go out and buy them in packages, or pay someone to build likes to their page through a site like Airtasker.
When they've got the numbers they then start pumping out sales messages. And of course nothing happens!
That's because they're using applying the wrong template. They're thinking in terms of numbers of prospects, lead generation, sales funnels, etc. ... Sure, those concepts are all valid. And you can use them when converting the quality traffic that you've already drawn your website.
But it's a mistake to apply them when building a network of followers on a platform like Facebook itself. That's because you are, in effect, objectifying people from the get-go. You are seeing the social network primarily as an advertising platform.
They key to success is to socialize, not advertise. Use your page to make contact with as many engaged and interesting individuals as possible. Don't worry about the numbers. Instead, start conversations.
If you do this, slowly but surely you will build a quality, engaged following. Once you have that, you can then throw in some ads from time to time. You can also get them to your website and into e-mail lists that way. Then you can apply those traditional methods if you wish.
Take Facebook. Many seem to think that when someone likes their page they are "opting in" to what is essentially an e-mail list. So they get on FB with this assumption. Of course with e-mail marketing, it's important to have lots of subscribers. So their main objective is to have tons of likes. They go out and buy them in packages, or pay someone to build likes to their page through a site like Airtasker.
When they've got the numbers they then start pumping out sales messages. And of course nothing happens!
That's because they're using applying the wrong template. They're thinking in terms of numbers of prospects, lead generation, sales funnels, etc. ... Sure, those concepts are all valid. And you can use them when converting the quality traffic that you've already drawn your website.
But it's a mistake to apply them when building a network of followers on a platform like Facebook itself. That's because you are, in effect, objectifying people from the get-go. You are seeing the social network primarily as an advertising platform.
They key to success is to socialize, not advertise. Use your page to make contact with as many engaged and interesting individuals as possible. Don't worry about the numbers. Instead, start conversations.
If you do this, slowly but surely you will build a quality, engaged following. Once you have that, you can then throw in some ads from time to time. You can also get them to your website and into e-mail lists that way. Then you can apply those traditional methods if you wish.
Posted by Matt Hayden.
