Social Media Marketing – is it worth the time investment?

Social media is integrated into our everyday lives now, both socially and professionally. But there are always pro’s and con’s to everything so what are they when we look at social media marketing and traditional marketing as we knew it?

Pro’s:

1. It’s 100% more cost effective.  The digital marketing channels are considerably lower cost than traditional advertising. All the popular social media sites are basically free to join and all tools to interact with your audience are free.  If you do opt for paid advertising on these platforms they can be used to only show up for your chosen audience making them even more cost effective.
2. Time efficient: Today’s marketing tools can be used, updated and refreshed at the touch of a button. If you have something to promote or have some news or fresh information that you would like to share or inform to your target markets, you can rely on Social Media Marketing for fast action and fast results.
3. Social media is the only marketing platform that allows you to engage and interact with your consumers directly– it’s a two-way relationship, which can be hugely lucrative for brands. The results are measurable, and marketers can take immediate action to spot trends and re-align campaigns.

1. Industry reports say that up to 64% of digital marketers spend at least 6 hours on Social Media Marketing. The remainder spends more than 11 hours on those platforms. For the latter group it can then prove time consuming.
2. Social Media does attract all types of people including unwanted attention from negative and malicious traffic. This could ultimately cause harm to the brand or company if there are negative comments left. While most input on social media is truly valid, malicious content needs to be monitored.
3. Once something has been posted on social media sites it’s out there to spread like wildfire and it’s quite hard to control. This can be of benefit if the content is beneficial to you and generates positive results. However it is merely impossible to control the content if it is used maliciously which could prove devastating for your reputation online.

Although social media campaigns can save time they can become time consuming and the impact can disseminate very quickly, whereas traditional marketing campaigns, certainly in television, can produce short term results that have greater tangibility.

About:

Tinley Tubbert, Resourcer, Vantage Resources