This post is written by Firas Steitiyeh a Social Media expert with an immense experience of over than 15 years in the Internet field. Firas is your go to guy for anything Internet related with his willingness to share his experience with those who request it, he will certainly assist you with pleasure. With focus on Social Media and Internet Marketing, Firas have helped various startups in building their online strategies and their social media presence and most importantly; monetizing their traffic.
Social media is booming in the region and is becoming the “it” topic in everyone’s mouth. Recently, I read that for the first time in 23 years, Pepsi dropped sponsoring the super bowl season to invest the money ($20 million) on social media! Why would Pepsi take such a decision? Why is everybody shifting towards this new thing?
1- It’s Cheaper
Social media campaigns are cheaper when compared to regular media campaigns on TV, billboards, radio or any other regular media. Yes, the direct cost might be zero since it’s going to be through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc… But I am also including the cost of the resources allocated to come up, manage and execute these campaigns.
2- Targeted
I consider social media as an “upon-request” media. What I mean over here is that the user is the one who chooses to view/read the campaign, where, for example, in a billboard campaign the user/customer is forced to pass by the artwork regardless whether they read it or not. I believe, in social media campaigns you will find more than 90% of the audience as a proper target because they choose to follow your updates instead of you pushing your messages on them regardless of their interest.
3- Controllable
What is so cool about social media campaigns, is that you (or the person managing it) can easily control the campaign and apply changes to it instantly. You can stop, pause, change or activate any offer/campaign instantly.
4- Trackable
What makes social media campaigns different than any other regular campaign is that you can easily measure and track its performance using different analytical tools and of course by analyzing your campaigns you will be able to recognize which networks or criteria are getting back with higher ROI so you can invest more in them.
5- Higher ROI
Having mentioned that targeting in social media campaigns is WAY better than regular campaigns; means that your campaigns’ performance will increase and therefore the ROI will accordingly increase with no doubt. Social media is worth investing every penny in.
6- Better Feedback
Trust me, social media is the most honest and transparent media I have ever used! You start a bad campaign/service you will be receiving endless comments, feedback and complaints! What better than getting INSTANT feedback from your customers which will help you build the ultimate product hence satisfy their needs more and more! I have to mention that the worst thing you can do to your customers, is to ignore their feedback, NEVER do this, you will be killing your business!
My next article will be on what you need to start a social media campaign, it’s not an overnight decision to take, it needs preparations and effort in order to go big and make sure its proper.
It's really a revolution in the field of marketing!
As I once read in an article (can't remeber which one exaclty) – It is worth bringing to your attention the fact that people's opinions and beliefs change with time! How? Let's take the word 'Personal'. Just five years ago posting your picture was something out of the norm and usually not even accepted since it is 'personal'. Nowadays internet users have their pictures, marital status, jobs…etc all posted on the internet and easily accessed by others, sometimes strangers even. My point here is that habbits and usage of consumers are more and more habituated and accustomed towards internet and further away from television for example! Poeple from almost all age groups are hungry for the 'socially acceptable' and 'cool' lifestyles; which they are now gaining through technology including internet, black berries, i-phones and all these electronic devices which bring people closer together and on a more personal (intimate) level.
Given that, Social Media is the way forward, at least for the coming few years to say the least. Don't you agree?
I have limited experience in Social Media so far but I do know quite a bit about from a consumer perspective, since that's the angle I always start my activities from as a Marketing professional. I completely agree with Firas and Zeina thank you for the valuable and focussed benefits of this type of media… in addition to that, the market for it is endless – not only medium sized companies or large conglomerates benefit from social media and are shifting activities to utilise this new trend; but also small companies and individuals starting up their bsuiensses or new ideas or even want to test their ideas can benefit from it!
I guess its thee topic now adays, a tool that enables many to connect, share and transfer knowledge at different levels, but i believe just like humans, many people dont have the passion neither they believe that web based techniques get results!
conventional media are becoming more and more expensive every day, nevertheless they have an impact and high level of recognition depending on the campaign main cause, thats why social media is becoming the solution now that many are cornered in terms of advertising for awareness.
Best case scenario if conventional and digital efforts are managed and integrated, companies can achieve outstanding results!