It is an amazing fact … social media has been with us for over a decade now. So there are many online social network lessons to be learned. New ones are being created every day.
The networked markets know more than companies do about their products, and whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.
-The Cluetrain Manifesto
Businesses have seized upon this as it matured and in 2013 according to a CMO survey by Duke University is 6.6% of marketing budgets (about $4.6 billion in dollar terms) and is expected to climb to nearly 16% over the next five years. So social media is still a small part of digital and marketing budgets. But in reality, it has just begun.
Related post: Social Media Campaigns to Stimulate Learning
In the last decade, social media has come a long way as a marketing channel. Marketers of all stripes continually test the limits of online engagement and transparency. Brands of all shapes and sizes are developing a true online voice and seeing positive, bottom-line results.
Online social networks lessons … social media quickstarter
But there are many new avenues being explored. Some events seem small but will be significant social media marketing lessons for us all. One of those events happened in December 2013. It was when Beyonce launched her latest album with an update on Instagram just captioned as “Surprise”. It was a small but significant lesson.
Normally millions are spent on traditional media. Lady Gaga hyped her latest album by spending millions on bus advertising, billboards, and two pop-up stores and performed countless interviews. The result. She sold 305,000 copies in 2 weeks.
But Lady Gaga and Beyonce are also known for focusing on building long-term personal connections with their fans over short-term revenue. Even though they could have played bigger venues early in her career (after all, the demand was there), they wanted to play small venues so that she could connect with the audience.
Online social networks … marketing lessons
In her book “Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gag Turns Followers into Fanatics” Jackie Huba states:
“Many marketers would kill to have Lady Gaga as their ‘product’ to sell versus having to sell toilet paper or laundry detergent. Her catchy songs, crazy stage performances, and wacky outfits make her unique and buzz-worthy. But I believe it is Lady Gaga’s ability to remain singularly focused on maintaining the fan base that has made her as successful as she is today. This is what sets her apart from the traditional way of doing business and where traditional businesses can learn the most from her success.”
Beyonce, who has 8 million Instagram followers and over 53 million fans on Facebook decided to go a different route, going straight to her fans. It was launched directly to iTunes and social media. She invoked the power of “World of Mouth” … the best marketing approach.
Her results:
It sold 828,000 copies in 3 days.
Twitter reported 1.2 million Tweets in 12 hours.
It was the largest single week ever in the Apple iTunes store.
It was iTunes fastest-selling album worldwide.
A sign of things to come in social media?
The album had been in design and production for over 18 months and had high visibility.
Keep learning: 7 Favorite Social Media Examples to Learn From
So what is the significance for the average small business person you may ask? The implications for marketers and small businesses go beyond a celebrity with millions of social media followers.
The bottom line
You may be not a Lady Gaga, Beyonce, or a famous singer but the lessons they have shown us are certainly there. Start building your “own” digital assets. The world has changed. It is digital, and it is social. Take control of your digital future and build your online assets and authority. Start today.
Grow your social networks now. The priorities are still, for the most part, Facebook and Twitter. It will also depend on the demographic, audience personas, media preferences, and industry. It will also be determined by whether you sell to businesses (B2B) or consumers (B2C).
And it goes without saying that you need to know your target customers and where they are in the digital realm. So you will also need to consider Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, Slideshare, and YouTube. It will also be determined by whether you sell to businesses (B2B) or consumers (B2C).
Create the best content you can. Repurpose it in a range of media including visuals. Publish and promote it everywhere on social media. Don’t forget your other digital assets. This includes a blog, search engine optimization, building your email subscriber list, and being consistent and regular with content creation. It also means using content marketing in your mix.
Boost your marketing with paid and targeted advertising. It doesn’t have to be expensive. You may need to get marketing traction fast and can’t wait to build social networks from day one. It sounds rather daunting, doesn’t it? But to remain relevant on the social web and to build online authority you have no choice.
Remember this: the future of marketing belongs to brands that not only understand their customer advocates but go the extra mile to build personal connections with their biggest fans and nurture an authentic, long-term relationships with them.
What do you wish to accomplish today?
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of social media and word-of-mouth marketing. And put it to good use.
It’s up to you to keep improving your social media marketing efforts.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to innovating your social media strategy?
Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading on social media lessons from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Visual Marketing … 15 Remarkable Content Examples
Best Social Media Campaigns … How to Improve with These Tips
How Small Businesses Win Benefits of Social Media Marketing
What the Heath Brothers Persuasive Techniques Teach Us