Social media has been and continues to evolve at a rapid rate. Hence market strategies cannot remain static, but need to adjust to the changing environment, in order to help advertisers and content creators to better leverage the social media platforms they are using.
Without a doubt, social media remains an exciting space through which individuals and organisations can get their message in front of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people. As a result, and to a considerable degree, it is the area that businesses have been focussing on, with respect to their marketing spend, and where they believe might provide the best value for money.
However, the social media space has changed considerably in recent years, and so it might it might not be as easy to establish an audience and gain traction as it used to be. Moreover, as the environment becomes more mature, complex and competitive, it is also becoming crucial to track the how the space is evolving and to determine the likely impact, in order to consider them in strategies that are being developed. To that end, we have identified four things that content creators, organisations and advertisers should keep in mind when developing social media marketing strategies.
1. Platforms fade in and out of popularity
As much as Instagram might be one of the more popular platforms among the youth demographics – teenagers and young adults, for example – it ought to be recalled, that Instagram’s popularity is a relatively recent occurrence. Before that Facebook and to a lesser degree, Snapchat, were considered hot items. Even now, newer platforms, such as Tik Tok, have been gaining traction among youth, and businesses are beginning to take notice, in order to try to reach millennials, in particular.
However, new platforms are also emerging, which may appeal to different demographic, and may sooner than expected, fade in popularity, as consumer attitudes and behaviour also continue to change. It therefore means that it can be a challenge to continually gauge the popularity of a particular platform, and the extent to which it might support your organisation’s marketing effort.
2. Organic reach and growth is extremely limited
For businesses that had used social media in the marketing efforts back in the day, it was possible to have wide reach – hundreds or even thousands of views, and build your audience – without simply by publishing posts. Today, and in many instances, that approach no longer works.
Moreover, organic reach is virtually non-existent. For example, on Facebook, your organisation’s posts are likely to be made visible to less than 10% of your followers. To increase that reach, organisations need to pay. However, what might not be readily apparent, is that the fact that advertising on social media is becoming increasingly expensive. Even if you are spending a few dollars to boost a post on a Facebook, say USD 20.00 per post, and to maintain moderate visibility your organisation is posting three to five times per week, it means that between USD 60.00 and USD 100.00 per week, or USD 3,120.00 and USD 5,200.00 per year, is being spent on one platform, and it does not include the cost of preparing the posts and to managing comments and feedback that might be received.
3. Algorithms are constantly changing
Coupled with the previous point, the platforms are continually changing their algorithms, to increase advertising revenues – as frequently this is the primary revenue stream for platform. In other words, social media platforms are continually leveraging access to their subscribers to generate and increase their revenues.
It therefore means that with changing platform parameters, content creators, organisations and advertisers need to figure out how best to adjust their tactics and resources to accommodate the changes that have been made. However, many businesses may not even be aware of the algorithm changes that have occurred, their implications, and so be in a position to give some thought as to how to minimise their impact on their marketing efforts.
4. Difficult to determine return on investment
Finally, and in many organisations, in order to secure approval for proposed marketing strategies or campaigns, it is important to highlight the extent to which value for money would be realised. Typically, such outcomes would be examined determine the return on investment (RoI) experienced. However, the formulae and methodologies employed to determine the RoI for social media spend are generally considered not as robust as those used for traditional forms of media. Hence, it can be argued that there is some nebulousness around social media spend and RoI, which could limit the amount of analysis and rigor organisations can employ to try to ensure that they are maximising their spend and getting the best value for money.
Image credit: Gerd Altmann (Pixabay)
