SOCIAL MEDIA – WHAT TO EXPECT & WHAT NOT TO EXPECT

Being a digital media marketing firm, we meet handful of people each week. We pitch our services and elaborate the whole digital scene to them; we can divide our potential clients into two categories 1) who already understand the outcomes and benefits of digital marketing 2) who are slightly confused about the upshots and revenue generation of digital activities.

Social media marketing and management is one of our digital marketing services and it has always been inquired about. People raise questions that how soon they can get the results from social media activities and how early they can add profit to their bottom line. This time we decided to address a large chunk of business owners who really want to have an idea about what to expect and not to expect of social media activities.

We can finely split businesses into two groups, i.e. products oriented and service oriented. Businesses that want to sell their products through social media can use different platforms to promote their products and attract buyers. Nevertheless if they are only willing to pay social media management fees and expect drastic fan following against it then it’s not practically possible. You can stumble upon few social media service providers who promise thousands of likes and fan following in a very short span of time but they can never be genuine unless you ADVERTISE. There are multiple options for promoting your products over different mediums of social media such as advertising, ad words, SEO and much more. In a nut shell: expect monetary returns if you want to invest a bit.

If you are a service provider then you shouldn’t expect huge returns on investment in terms of profits. There are many things you can calculate and count as your return. Few things are more than monetary benefits like your brand identity, brand persona and brand recall. Businesses that are providing services should always look at the other side of the picture. They might gain some serious business through continuous promotional campaigns but at the end of the day they are not selling something tangible and can’t display their services. Therefore, they should expect practical things and outcomes.

There are many practical and beneficial things to expect from social media. We are now going to elaborate few of them.

Relationship tops the list! The biggest benefit of social media is to build, empower and strengthen the long lasting customer relationship.

Listening to your customers is another benefit you can easily get from social media. Companies spend a lot of money on focus groups and marketing research but you can do it through social media for free.

Customer Service is easier than ever before via social media. You have a great opportunity to address queries and convert your unsatisfied customer to a satisfied customer.

Standing out of competition is straightforward now. You can do it through blog posting and keeping all of your social media mediums updated. People are smart enough to understand the difference.

Winning the race is another powerful aspect of social media management. Social media is not a quick fix. You need to be slow and steady to win the race. Your genuine intend and transparency would lead you to a long term growth.

Seek for the real value of social media and expect what you should actually expect!

By: Unosha Shahid