October 2011 | In Web | Comments 0

Does Social Media Work for Business?

There are many people today asking the question; does social media actually work? The common misconception of the past that social media is free marketing has long since passed as businesses have come to realise there is no return without time investment.

The long sought after question; how to measure ROI of social media is still undefined. There are many debates of how different metrics are unreliable and insufficient in terms of financial equivalents. A recent Adobe survey found that 78% of European marketers were unhappy with their social media metrics. The picture below shows the viewed importance and those with the ability to measure that: 

However, one big calculation that is so often overlooked is that customers have actually told us they want you there!! If I told you that thousands of euro have been spent on researching your customer and they think you need a retail presence in Dundrum Shopping Centre- would you ignore me? Maybe you would. Now what if I told you Neilson, e-consultancy, the New York Times, emarketer have all produced data saying your customers want you in Dundrum- would you ignore them? Of course you wouldn’t, no sane business person would.

Last week, Neilson produced a report which found that “60 percent of consumers researching products through multiple online sources learned about a specific brand or retailer through social networking sites”.  Customers not only consume information from the traditional sites such as Facebook, but also access a company’s entire digital presence including review sites:

The great thing about social media which is so often unappreciated is that the customer is looking for you rather than expecting you to contact them directly. A recent emarketer report which surveyed users in six countries showed that 74% of people felt it was important for a company to have Facebook presence, but only 57% of people thought Facebook advertising was as important. Clearly, 57% is still a significant amount of people so I wouldn’t be cancelling the advertising campaign but it’s an interesting trend that has developed.

So, do soical media work? The answer is yes... but only if you put the time and effort into making it work and make sure that you have a cohesive digital strategy to target and communicate to your audience in a more effective way.

The people have spoken and they are online, are you?

To learn more about social media for business, go to our FREE social media workshop found at www.combinedmedia.ie/socialmedia
 

 

---

Combined Media is a leading independent interactive agency that specialises in web design and development. We create websites, e-learning tools, interactive presentations, applications and all things digital. Founded in 1992, Combined Media has developed processes that combine the best aspects of user-centred design and technology. Our aim is to produce products that look great and are easy to use. Our work is created using excellent project management for our clients. Based in Dublin, clients include VHI healthcare, Roche Products, Novartis, ESBIE Independent Energy, Barnardos and World Vision.

 

Leave Comment

Name:*

Email:*

Website:

Comment:*

Please enter the word you see in the image below:*