It’s Official – People Now Spend More Time On Social Media Than In Their Email Inbox

At Hat Trick Associates, we have talked at depth about the continued power of email marketing. In a 2012 study in fact, 74% of respondents said that email was still their preferred method to receive commercial communications. But that doesn’t take into account that many people do NOT associated interaction with some brands and companies via social media as “commercial” communications, like they would a coupon or special offer, and that number (that 74%) is admittedly in a terminal decline downward. What does this mean? Well, your email list is still a very good way to get web content to your prospective clients and customers or current ones…and a “clean” list of email addresses of those you do business with or would like to still has tremendous value to your organization. But social media as a marketing strategy is no longer an afterthought, and for many businesses it has become “the” place that the bulk of their marketing can and should be applied.

Social Media Web Content Trends

This also doesn’t take away from web content SEO needs, and the fact that your homepage, overall website and any landing pages you create should be very well designed and opitimized, both for search engines and also for the user experience – or sales conversions, you know, the reason you have a site in the first place? (You’d be surprised at home many companies lose sight of that fact when focusing just on SEO for their web properties). But your social media efforts need to be robust (for most businesses, ESPECIALLY B2C companies) and need to be integrated into your other marketing. Which means it has the same tone, the same voice, messaging, etc. that all your other marketing does. Is your brand a break-the-mold, irreverent type of service or product that has been promoted that way? Then make sure your Twitter feed or Facebook posts match that same voice…and don’t instead have plain, boring posts that are informational in nature. In the same way, if your brand is a very upright, by the books “show me the specs” type of company or in an industry such as that overall, a wacky off the wall social media voice probably won’t work best for you. So INTEGRATE this marketing vehicle, and include your plans for social media when crafting all of your other marketing plans and proposals. Don’t allow social media to be a tack-on marketing effort that isn’t incorporated into your overall company goals. Set targets, and do your best to measure metrics. Have minimum posting schedules in place, a strategy for addressing immediate, this is your only shot-type of opportunities (Think: Oreo’s “You Can Still Dunk in the Dark” ad and social media during the black out in this year’s Super Bowl).

It’s more important than ever before for an agency to provide its clients with a specific social plan to grow their social audience, promote their best content on social, and measure the effects of each effort. Ensure that YOUR marketing department is one of those that is “doing it right” when it comes to your social media efforts, it will pay off for your organization in the long-term assuredly.