Social
media is all about staying connected. Users opt to join Facebook to keep up with
old friends, Instagram to showcase their photography skills and pets, and
Snapchat to see what their family and friends are up to day by day. In a
fast-paced digital world, social media is the key to maintaining relationships
across continents and busy schedules. But social media isn’t just for the
individual anymore - brands have flocked to social media sites in the attempt
to build relationships as well. In a climate that values personalization and
speed-of-light communication, marketers have jumped in to establish their
brands as staples in their customers’ daily social media interactions. By
creating and curating social media accounts, brands have taken on an almost
human entity as they interact with customers in their digital social circles.
According
to DeMers (2014), “brands who engage on social media platforms enjoy higher
loyalty from their customers.” And brand loyalty is what marketing is all about
– targeting a carefully selected audience segment and connecting with these
users in a way that makes them not only lifelong customers, but brand
ambassadors to their friends who are also part of the target audience as well.
Because having loyal customers is so important to the health of a brand, every
feasible effort should be made to leverage social media to help make
connections with potential customers and maintain relationships with current
customers. According to Erdogmus and Cicek (2012), social media marketing is
“more sincere in its communication with the consumers, trying to show what the
brand is rather than trying to control its image,” as is the trend with other
types of carefully crafted advertisements on paid and owned media. Users
appreciate this sincerity, and it is on social media where genuine
brand-customer relationships can be formed. And from an ROI perspective, the
higher the number of brand loyal customers, the higher the conversion rate.
With this being said, a brand must do the following when choosing how to organize its social media approach: understand who its target audience is, which social media platforms they use, their relationship to the product, and which platforms have the best features to market the product. Having a working knowledge of these factors is the key to finding a balance in social media usage while maximizing marketing efforts and efficiency. While there are certainly options where focusing on a single platform is preferable, the most comprehensive and successful marketing campaigns are those which leverage a strategic combination of social media platforms.
Companies
that sell a universal product and already have an established audience are the
most suited to take advantage of running several social media accounts. For
Coca-Cola, customers across every demographic enjoy drinking Coke, and have
done so since the company's inception. This makes Coca-Cola a prime candidate
to simultaneously interact with fans on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,
and more. Tweeting @Coca-Cola provides a way for consumers to forge a personal
connection with the brand. Since the bulk of Coca-Cola’s tweets are responding
to these mentions, Coca-Cola clearly sees the importance of conversation (Shivley,
2014). Coke also engages its consumers by allowing them to submit Crowd-Sourced
marketing content that is shared on the Coca-Cola Twitter account. These tweets
act as a megaphone that multiply potential impressions of the brand, as
illustrated in the chart below (Shivley, 2014).
(Shivley,
2014)
In
addition to Twitter, Coca-Cola employs Instagram and Tumblr to visually
stimulate consumers in the same way that traditional print or TV advertising
would through the use of artistic photos and videos. To tie all of its
campaigns together, Coca-Cola uses its massive of audience of 82 million likes
on Facebook to mirror other marketing campaigns and ensure maximum reach for
those campaigns (Shivley, 2014).
While a
multi-platform approach is preferable when it comes to furthering the amount of
reach a brand has and increasing the opportunities for conversions, sometimes
it is impractical for a brand to operate across multiple social media
platforms. Maintaining a cohesive brand image across diverse platforms is
difficult, and engaging in genuine communication with thousands of consumers
across channels is very time consuming. Because social media marketing is “more
sincere” (Erdogmus & Cicek, 2012) than other forms of paid and owned media,
users can tell when a brand is not allocating the time and effort necessary to
build authentic connections across its accounts. Marketing endeavors worth
doing are worth doing right, and a brand would be doing more harm than good to
have more social media accounts than it could keep up with.
Despite
the inherent difficulties in operating multiple social media accounts and
campaigns, Coca Cola has seen it was worth doing and has been doing it well.
Maintaining a cohesive brand image is another area where Coca-Cola exceeds. The
distinct red label with white cursive lettering is what makes Coca-Cola “one of
the most recognizable brands in the world” (Shivley, 2014). In addition to this
imagery, the move from traditional marketing to social media marketing allowed
Coca-Cola to bring something new to the table; a “focus more on the idea of a lifestyle,
along with an emotional connection to the product” (Wong, 2013). In addition to
the iconic cans and bottles, Coke’s imagery across its social media accounts
evokes memories of sharing a coke with a friend, or enjoying a coke during a
summer at the lake house (Wong, 2013). Coca-Cola’s Linkedin account even goes
so far as to blatantly equate the soft drink with pure joy, the cover image
stating “Open Happiness” (Wong, 2013). This brand consistency between platforms
allows consumers to make the mental connection to Coke before they read even a
sentence worth of content, and this is key in maintaining multiple social media
accounts.
(Wong, 2013)
Different
product and audience limitations can be factors to dissuade against having multiple
social media platforms, however. In contrast to Coca-Cola, a local bookstore
with a target audience who primarily uses Facebook would be wasting time and
effort keeping an Instagram account up to date or maintaining a YouTube channel.
A brand can’t be cohesive over platforms that don’t accommodate for optimal
marketing for its products. A better use of time and money would be to focus
primarily on Facebook, a platform better suited to promote new books and events
going on at a local book store, and a site where the target audience is most
active. Additionally, keeping a focus on a primary social media site leaves a
brand more able to manage communication with the public. According to Sen
(n.d.), “the larger your online presence, the more problems you can have trying
to keep your accounts straight,” and with managing negative feedback, inappropriate
comments, responding to customer concerns or questions, and monitoring tags and
hashtags that consumers include in their own posts, social media management can
be taxing.
With
that said, one of the most important arguments to having multiple social media
accounts is the ability to have that presence and voice in the conversations
consumers have about your brand. According to Sen (n.d.), polls prove that
“customers trust themselves more than they trust you,” and will not hesitate to
“talk about your products via social media whether you’re a part of the
discussion or not.” By maintaining several social media accounts, brands will
have access to these discussions, the ability to do damage control when
necessary, and the constant opportunity to steer the conversation in a way that
is healthy and fortuitous for the brand. If a brand isn’t present in customer
conversation about its products, it’s missing the chance to make things right
with its customers and use the experience to better product offerings and
service. Regardless of their true intentions, dissatisfied customers have the
reach over social media to sabotage a brand’s efforts with just a tweet or a
photo. Being active on not just owned social media sites, but on any platform
where there is a discussion about the brand is imperative for social media
managers.
With the ability to have
a voice in the online marketplace comes the responsibility, and opportunity, to
publish great content that sparks great conversation about a brand. According
to Novak (2010), “content without conversation is just broadcasting, or just
advertising.” The beauty of social media, and one of the reasons that it is the
most genuine method for brands to bolster brand loyalty, is that it gives the
power back to the consumer when it comes to marketing. Instead of being talked
at, consumers are being talked to, and can engage in a two-way dynamic with the
brands that they are interested in. While many may argue that “content is
king,” Novak (2010) argues that “conversation is king, content is just
something to talk about.” By publishing quality content on their social media
platforms, brands are able to start conversation that gives energy to the
message they want to send to potential customers. And it is the energy behind
the message that “gives it meaning, and a life of its own” (Novak, 2010).
Conversation gets consumers personally involved with and invested in a brand,
and that is the very goal of all marketing efforts.
In
today’s day and age, social media has become more than just a tool for users to
communicate with each other. According to Patel (n.d.), “people use social
media for searching, not only socializing. Every minute, people are conducting
millions of queries on Google, Twitter, and Facebook. If you are active on
these social media platforms, then you have a chance at appearing in social
media search results.” By appearing in search results, brands can raise
awareness and visibility in a social, interactive climate that encourages
immediate sharing, and it is this climate that can’t be recreated outside of
social media platforms by paid advertising elsewhere. By leveraging social
media platforms in a way that supports search, marketers have a hands-off
advertising method that requires no additional work outside of managing and
maintaining the platforms themselves. While keeping up with social media accounts
is hard work, this is one of the benefits that comes freely when this work is
done.
Lastly,
limiting social media to one platform can also limit the audience’s
understanding of a product. While this works for smaller brands with a narrow
product offering and marketing goals, it can do a disservice to larger or more
versatile brands. For example, if a brand only has an Instagram account, its
audience will be visually engaged and emotionally appealed to, but may never
get enough textual information to develop a deeper understanding of the
products and why they would logically benefit from them. Multiple platforms
lead to a more comprehensive audience understanding of what they stand to gain
from a brand. And in that same argument, even within a target audience,
customers are different and have diverse needs when it comes to interacting
with a brand. For example, if a pet product company is targeting pet owners to
subscribe to its subscription service, some consumers will be persuaded more by
the “answer” to a logical query provided by Google Ad Words and some will be
more persuaded by watching a dog’s excitement for the products on YouTube.
Humans are complex and a brand’s social media platforms should cater to this
truth and provide consumers with multiple motivations to convert or to become
brand loyal.
In
conclusion, both approaches to social media platforms have value depending on
who the audience is and what the brand is trying to sell. While social media
platforms are time consuming and potentially costly to create and curate,
having a presence in the online community is invaluable to a brand’s health,
longevity, and equity. Ultimately, brands that leverage social media platforms
wisely are not only able to start great conversation with their content, but
can direct that conversation in a way that is beneficial for the brand’s health
and the customer’s experience.
References
DeMers,
J. (2014, August 11). The top 10 benefits of social media marketing. Forbes.com.
Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/#5f17598c2a4d
Erdogmus,
I.E., & Cicek, M. (2012, October 12). The impact of social media marketing
on brand loyalty. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 58. Retrieved
from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812045818
Novak,
C. (2010, July 27). Why conversation, not content, is king. SocialMediaToday.com.
Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king
Patel,
N. (n.d.). Which social media accounts really matter and why. Kissmetrics.com.
[Blog]. Retrieved January 26, 2017 from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/which-social-accounts-matter/
Sen, U.
(n.d.). 50 ways social media can destroy your business. Kissmetrics.com.
[Blog]. Retrieved January 27, 2017 from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-can-destroy/
Shivley, K. (2014, May 22). Lessons from Coca-Cola’s
media strategy: cohesive campaigns and creative content. Simply Measured. [Blog]. Retrieved on January 29, 2017 from http://simplymeasured.com/blog/lessons-from-coca-colas-social-media-strategy-cohesive-campaigns-and-creative-content/#sm.0000qvikipb1ccveycu1qnc9edkvy
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