Why Not to Focus All Resources on Social Media?

Marketing managers or social media marketing companies would probably tell you that networking websites are the hot cakes. Everybody has an account and hence, you probably don’t need to invest in anything else.

Some have even gone to the extent of saying that a Facebook page can compete to company’s website. Well, in some cases it has happened but the chances are quite slim. About the companies that provide just social media marketing, it is obvious that they would come up with these things.

It’s their business after all. However you have to be proactive for your own brand. No matter what is being said, one cannot focus all the time, energy and money into social media ALONE. We’ll help you understand why.

1. It never was and never will be independent

Social media marketing is a wonderful thing and it can certainly help you bring in new customers, new contacts, build brand awareness and so on. But a large chunk of this, also comes from other conventional marketing techniques.

For example, if SMM was as beneficial as some people claim, wouldn’t the advertisements and television commercials just disappear? We recon that’s not happening for at least two decades. The success of a social media campaign is never standalone; it also comprises a mixture of your reputation, brand awareness and use of conventional marketing means.

2. Its results are skewed

Although many Indian companies have claimed increased sales through their social networking links, there is a flip side too. Cunning marketing managers and companies can always put a little weight on the results.

For example, a recent study on social networks discloses that 34% of Lady Gaga followers are fakes and 32% have an inactive account. Of course this is not in the Indian scenario but that pretty much shows the reality. Followers on Twitter and likes on Facebook can easily be bought it impress you.

Why people do it? Managers do it to impress the owners while owners do it to build repo on social media, herd mentality or whatever you want to call it.

3. It is maturing in India

Social media marketing cannot be standalone activity anywhere in the world but talking specifically about the Indian scenario, our results are overwhelming. People have accepted social media and they love to get updates what’s in trend in the market, what’s on sale and what their friends are buying.

Anyhow that represents just a segment, a large number of people still prefer conventional means. Social media, in no way, can be ignored but neither can be the traditional marketing ways of print, radio and commercials.

4. It can be negative

If you are new on the social media platforms then forget about making it standalone, even making the page survive can be difficult. When budget is low and you cannot invest enough time due to other business activities, the results cannot be satisfactory.

In such cases, the account becomes partially active with little followers and likes. This portrays a negative image. Moreover bad news on Indian social media moves too fast. A bad review by someone, if not handled correctly, will only make things more depressing.

Afterword

All of us would agree that social media marketing effective. It yields results, offers brand recognition and bring in new clients. The point here is just to emphasize over cons of over dependence. A 12-month study of Kuno Company shows that just 12 percent of new customers were from social media. It is quite evident that playing in all your cash on this platform will lead to business failure.

Featured Image By: Gavin Llewellyn