We all say "yay!", even if it is really not fun out there
"Are you into social media yet?" is probably the #1 question that gets asked when two or more brick-and-mortar retailers meet up these days. Social media seems to be everywhere. It is buzzed, hyped, and ranted about more than anything else in the media industry today. Social media is changing the fundamental building blocks and marketing efforts of many industries, making it a disruptive force, to say the least.
So "are you into social media?" I bet you are. You are if you have a profile or a group for your company, and no doubt you've run your first Facebook campaigns already. No doubt you've asked your friends and everyone you know to "Like" your company on Facebook. It's fun, isn't it? Or is it? Have you had the courage yet to have a hard look at the numbers and face the truth? Or are you still buzzed about how cool it is?
Let me break it to you gently: it is not fun out there.
The fact is, social media advertising sucks. It is a highly inefficient way to advertise compared to what we did before. A number of very recent observations across the Web verifies what I've experienced personally: the average click-through-ratio for Facebook ads are just plain awful. They underperform and don't deliver. The only good thing seems to be that sometimes you get clicks for a few cents cheaper than you would get from Google. Except that when you do get clicks, the conversion towards what you actually intended to happen at your website is minimal. Bounces are horrific.
Not only that: It is really a lot of work to create content plans that are executable, deliver the desired reaction, and are still true to your message. Sadly, most advertisers settle for cheap alternatives.They are running sweepstakes, competitions, giveaways, and other pony tricks to get people to their site. Oh, you just did that? Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you. To be honest, I've done it too; not only ! once, bu t too many times.
My point is: social media is not living up to its hype as an advertising platform. It is hip and cool, but not giving the results you want. Correct?
Search was waa-ay better
Search marketing may be "so last season" for all the right reasons, but it is worth spending a few minutes to think about why it definitely got the job done better than social media advertising does now.
Search marketing was more straightforward to get started with: we just decided on some keywords, a simple "no-silly-sweepstakes" message, and went down to the juicy bits of what we wanted to say to the consumer. It worked. Far better than any of the Facebook ads I've bought.
Now, that said, people don't love their search engines. It may be because we don't want to spend two hours each day looking at a white page with a lonely search box as much as we enjoy watching our Facebook or Twitter stream get updated. That is the reason why referral traffic is now juiced more and more from social media sites, like Facebook and not from search engines, like Google.
On top of that, Google seems to be SEO-optimized to ruins. People are crying for a better Google to come out. People are disappointed in Search and captivated by the inspiring tweets and status updates of their closest friends. No wonder it seems as if the search paradigm is fading from the minds and hearts of consumers.
Let's face it: we need to learn how to survive in the post-Search era of marketing.
So how do we get our money's worth in social media?
To answer this question, we simply need to understand why search advertising worked so well in the first place.
I'll let you dwell and think about this for few lines longer. Meanwhile, I'll explain what it definitely wasn't: Data Analysis, Automated Consumer Segmenting and Modeling, Behavioral Targeting and Data Exchange programs. They all get the Engineer in me aroused, but the Hum! anist wi thin me cries out loud. Can it be that our data privacy can be violated so that a machine can say what we need to buy? That can't be the future of advertising. Let's get serious.
Was it the demographics then, such as age and other targeting parameters? Do I need to learn micro-targeting and "what might my consumers be a fan of" stuff? No. Why would you? It is again very, very creepy to get targeted ads appearing like that. Yes, I may like Madonna, but I don't want to see offers targeted by my likings next to my Facebook Wall.
What is the solution then, if not Hi-Fi SkyNet-like technologies that know our minds inside out or micro-demographical targeting? The answer is: Respect the user. Give them a chance to want something first, and then offering ads as information. Ads as information.
Search ads were just that. They were information placed in the context of a request by a consumer. Yes, ads were not always as good as the actual, discovered results next to them, but most often the simplicity of the model worked well enough. If I typed in "Nokia", then in nine out of ten times I was looking for information about Nokia products and not the municipality in the middle of Finland.
Seeing ads that respect my privacy, that are responses to what I indicated I wanted to hear more about, and that appear at my will, is the key. Ads in the right context turn advertising into information.
Where's the right context in social media for my message?
Yes, now you probably see the light as to why Facebook ads don't convert at all. All of those nonsense sweepstakes, competitions, etc. were just distractions from the real message to which your consumer should've been allowed to react. Taking consumers in with a false hook leads to undesired outcomes, confusion, and disappointment for both parties. OK, that was unfair. It is probably true that you've gotten people to "like" you, - which has enabled you to have an after-care relationship in! your Fa cebook group. In that way you've built a platform for "communication in context" to your existing consumers via social media. Good for you. That's what you're supposed to do to be hip.
But how about those new leads? Where do they come from?
The question we're really asking is this: what kind of social media activity would be putting you and your new leads into a relevant conversation. My theory is simply borrowed from Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook. When he was asked, how he built the community, he replied, "I didn't, I just organized it more elegantly". To apply this concept to our problem here, I'd claim that advertising of products and services in social media should take place in the context of communities where people already discuss products and services.
Facebook is not that community, as most of the talking is about something other than products or services. We've proven that much with low conversion numbers. Keep in mind, however, that Facebook is not all of social media.
Social media powered by a community where people are planning shopping is the sort of community you want to find. That's the perfect place to advertise. You'll get the traction of an online community (lots more minutes with your message) and the high conversion numbers of the good-old search advertising days, simply because the message is in context.
Proving the theory in practice
We didn't find a community like I described above, so we had to build one. Here in Finland we've already run a mighty successful pilot, just to prove the model right, and boy, it is killing it.
Consider the following real data.
We had one countrywide advertisement run in two channels: one in our own shopping planning service and the other in our client's own direct-advertising registry. Our idea was to prove that sending an offer to those who want to buy stuff converts better than anything else. Still, we were worried that a loyal! ty progr am's register of contacts is probably a tough test for our theory.
The results were simply astonishing. From the client's own email registry of 30,000 contacts, five people took the deal. Five. Doesn't it sound like a typical email campaign conversion? It didn't really get any better even when it was pushed to Facebook page either. Our own trial registry of people who wanted ads about the related topic was way smaller, as we had only 600 contacts who were into the product that was sold by the merchant. Yet, it created 150 transactions in total. Yes, you calculated that right: we had a 25% conversion rate for purchase. Not only that, but we turned in 30 times more customers with a 50 times smaller registry.
What are the implications for what we've learned so far?
Yes, you will still be able to advertise effectively when the social media era terminates the last hopes of search advertising.You just need to aim at the right context. I'd recommend social shopping communities. Actually, advertising in this way may become more effective than it was before!
Yes, you can simplify the way you do advertising. Don't worry about that sweepstakes nonsense that you've been taught. All you need to understand about targeting or creating campaigns in social media is to just identify what you are selling in the right context.
We're still continuing our studies to gain more understanding on what works and what doesn't at www.wantlet.com. We sincerely believe that we can simplify the way advertising in social media works for the good of consumers and advertisers.
Ping us if you'd like to hear more: hello@wantlet.com.
-Kristian, www.wantlet.com
Social Media ROI: Socialnomics is by Socialnomics author Erik Qualman. This video showcases several Social Media ROI examples along with other effective Social Media Strategies. Music is by Bob Sinclair ("Tennessee")
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