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Is Social Media Worthless?

lucidchart.com

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Re: Is Social Media Worthless?

#61

Post by hkmurakami »

andrenotgiant wrote: post #27
davidroberts wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Old Spice social media campaign was very successful: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/08/30/11-social-media-marketi... As anecdotal evidence, both of my late-teen/young adult sons have started using Old Spice deodorant since that campaign started. Edit: I think Barak Obama's campaign would be another example of well-spent social media dollars.

Most of the money spent in that campaign was spent in TV Ad spots. I would call it a TV campaign with a successful Social Media component.

Does anyone know the story behind those new TV Ads and the new jingle? I recently saw the Ad where the "protagonist" is always being showered on and soapy fresh throughout the day, and thought, "wow, what happened to these guys that turned a pretty boring product/campaign to one of the most memorable ones over the last 3-4 years?"

Re: Is Social Media Worthless?

#62

Post by will_brown »

The problem is looking at this case study in a vacum, ie. Pepsi spend millions on a social marketing campaign and it did not produce the expected ROI - so what? That is no more determinative of social media than say a company that runs a TV commercial that does not produce the expected ROI - in a vacuum no one would say that TV advertising is worthless.

We all know there are successful social marketing campaigns - so why shift the blame on social media and not those responsible for the failed Pepsi campaign?

Social media for businesses is not simply about marketing but offering people a way to directly interact with their favorite brands - which really has never been available until social media. For example, and in my opinion one of the most successful companies at using social media is the UFC, who first uses social media to interact with fans of the brand (they have bonuses for fighters who use twitter), second as a form of customer service (when people tweet their PPV went out, UFC responds in real-time sending service people out to fix the PPV); and lastly marketing/promotion is an after thought (don't miss tonight's fights #UFC) - probably not a whole lot of measurable ROI but no arguing it is immeasurably increasing brand loyalty.

Re: Is Social Media Worthless?

#64

Post by gav »

andys627 wrote: post #53
gav wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Local business - yes, if their customers make regular purchases Fashion brands - yes, if it's a brand name that people are excited about sharing, and again regular purchases helps - people want to keep checking back for what's new It's tough; I work with a lot of different retailers, everyone wants to believe that social media is going to be good for them, but it depends on both their business and their customers. I…

What are some reasons it does/doesn't work for SMBs?

It's about who your customers are and how they would want to be associated with your brand.

For example, consider a washing machine repair service, it's somebody you are going to use infrequently (hopefully!) and even though you might give a recommendation to your friends, it's not something that you'd associate with and steer your friends towards. In fact it's not really that helpful as it's highly unlikely that they would need those service right now.

Now think of a clothing boutique. It's a brand that's "cool", you want to let people know you go there. You go frequently, you want to tell you friends that you saw X and thought it was neat, or you bought Y. You share these events and other updates with your group, you are providing useful information and showing your tastes to your friends.

I'm not sure if there's a distinct work/not-work axis, but there's definitely categories of businesses and customers that work better than others.

Re: Is Social Media Worthless?

#65

Post by pjbrunet »

I came to the opposite conclusion last night and wrote about it here:

http://tomakefast.com/seo-vs-social-bots-vs-people-2617/

Essentially, SEO can really work against you if Google doesn't see your business the way you see your business. Google rarely gives anyone special treatment and once the algorithm makes up its mind, it's very slow to adapt unless you do something drastic (what I did last night) like take down entire domains that aren't getting the queries you want.

Part of my comment on the blog:

You'll change your tune when Google changes its algorithm.

You have one big point of failure on the left side of your chart. And let's be real, I bet Google is 98 percent of your "search engine" traffic. That you have no control over. Risky! Even worse if "partner website" is on the Google gravy train too.

Take it from me, someone who received millions of clicks from Google. Now I'm lucky to get 100 queries/day from them.

Some kind of social media presence is a hygiene factor. Also it's a given your SEO is working due to positive social signals.

Re: Is Social Media Worthless?

#68

Post by at-fates-hands »

mindcrime wrote: post #54
PaulHoule wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pepsi is an interesting case for the ineffectiveness of advertising in general. I find it hard to believe that television or other advertising for a product like Coke or Pepsi makes a big difference in sales. I'm already aware of the products, I already have my opinions on them, and they aren't going to change them. If these companies stopped advertising tomorrow I don't think there would be an immediate effect on co…

I find it hard to believe that television or other advertising for a product like Coke or Pepsi makes a big difference in sales. I'm already aware of the products, I already have my opinions on them, and they aren't going to change them. I feel the same way about beer. I love beer commercials... they are usually absolutely hilarious, and I often literally LOL at them. During football season, when I'm hanging with my…

>>>>> How'd I find it? A bartender recommended it to me once, I tried it, liked it, and that was it.

This is the angle social media attempts to replicate. Leveraging respect levels between you and your social "circle". Sometimes it works with great effectiveness, but a majority of the time, I believe this approach fails.

Re: Is Social Media Worthless?

#69

Post by klochner »

It depends on the product - few people seeing lucidchart in their facebook feed have any use for it (or at least don't recognize said use). Lucidchart is a product where you only need it under fairly special circumstances (small niche).

The case for Pepsi is completely different - anyone can drink it, and just about everyone already knows about it, so social media is largely brand marketing.

I'd like to see comparative analysis of different social media campaigns broken down by what the existing ad spend is intended for, and also broken down by the main pre-campaign marketing channels.

Re: Is Social Media Worthless?

#70

Post by marchra »

mindcrime wrote: post #54
PaulHoule wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pepsi is an interesting case for the ineffectiveness of advertising in general. I find it hard to believe that television or other advertising for a product like Coke or Pepsi makes a big difference in sales. I'm already aware of the products, I already have my opinions on them, and they aren't going to change them. If these companies stopped advertising tomorrow I don't think there would be an immediate effect on co…

I find it hard to believe that television or other advertising for a product like Coke or Pepsi makes a big difference in sales. I'm already aware of the products, I already have my opinions on them, and they aren't going to change them. I feel the same way about beer. I love beer commercials... they are usually absolutely hilarious, and I often literally LOL at them. During football season, when I'm hanging with my…

The booze industry spends just as much money in "on premise", essentially bribing bartenders with trinkets and events. Guess it worked!
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