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Social Media Marketing: Yay or Nay?

Should I be blogging? Sub in "on Facebook" or "Tweeting" and you've got one of the most frequently asked questions we get from clients old and new.  Being a tech company with more than a little vested interest in "new media," you'd probably expect our answer to be a resounding YES across the board. But our response might just surprise you...  

While it's true that social media marketing certainly has the potential to be an extremely valuable and powerful means of growing your business or brand,  its degree of effectiveness has a lot to do with exactly what kind of business or brand you're trying to grow. In our experience, blogs and social sites are great promotional tools for consumer-focused businesses. Consumer products, retailers, media sources and food or entertainment venues - these are the businesses for whom a direct pipeline to the social media audience makes a whole mess of sense. Coincidentally, these are also the businesses whose social media ventures typically experience success (if done well, of course - but that's another article).

For B2B enterprises however (think professional consultants, niche or industrial products, etc.), the value of social media starts to get tricky. Here's why:  In general, the businesses that have the most success with social media are those that can use their blog or Facebook page, etc. to provide something of value to the portion of their target audience that is active on social networks. For companies whose products are actual tangible goods or experiences with wide appeal, this is pretty easy (i.e. coupons, contests or special promotions). However, when your product is a service or is aimed at a very specialized market, it is much more difficult to build an audience through a blog or social network. 

That's not to say that B2B businesses cannot find success in social marketing.  Certainly there is the potential to establish your business (or yourself, as the case may be) as an expert in your industry - in which case free tips and advice on a blog or Twitter feed would provide value to your clients. There is also something to be said for using social media marketing as part of a larger strategy for increasing traffic to your site.  

So how do you know if social media marketing is right for your business? Give us a call. We'll give it to you straight.

 


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