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chapter 8   Marketing on Social Media

further reading ...

Note that I’ve included some articles that are a couple of years old ...

don't let their publication date put you off - they are still relevant now.

The most recent posts are at end of each section.

This book covers only the essentials – for links to wider coverage of the

subjects take a look at the web pages for Digital Marketing; a Practical Approach.

In this chapter the author exhibits some scepticism about the subject, for more of the same see: Alan Charlesworth (2018) Social Media Marketing. Marketing Panacea or the Emperor’s New Digital Clothes? ... and for and much wider view of the subject try An introduction to Social Media Marketing (2014). 

A guide to the background of social media and its development online.

140 Social media statistics that matter to marketers is included not only as a source of data, but also as an example of how pro-social media stats are presented. You need to dig below the headline. For example:

‘90% of brands use social media to increase brand awareness’

might actually be saying:

90% of brands that use social media, and have a specific objective, use social media to increase brand awareness’.

The two are very different.

1 in 5 Have Followed A Brand on Social Media in the Past Month is another report that presents its data in a rather pro-social media fashion [e.g. the title doesn’t say ‘only 1 in 5 … ‘ or '4 in 5 haven’t followed …’] – try reversing the stats as presented and do your own analysis. Note also that – as I say in the book – that the majority of user visits to social media is to contact friends … not anything commercial or of interest to marketers. 

COMMENT

The Sprout Social Index has been referenced in many of my books, including this one  – it is the most comprehensive report of its type that is made public. However, readers should always bear in mind that the authors sell social marketing services, and so the results are presented in a glass half full manner. Being a sceptic, I have also read the content from a glass half empty respective.

Here’s a few thoughts.

First off, a massive positive is that that the report is about the use of social media for marketing other than advertising. As per my firm belief, advertising on social media is advertising, not social media marketing. This is one of the main reasons for me using Sprout Social Indexes over the years it has been produced. Far too many ‘social media marketing’ reports/articles/stories are actually about advertising.

I also rather like that the term ‘media’ has been dropped in the job/industry title – the report refers to social marketing/marketers. However, offline social marketing has existed for, well, as long as marketing has existed. So, to declare that social marketing refers only to marketing on social media is hubris on the part of Sprout Social and detrimental to those marketers and organizations have, and do, practice old school social marketing. Therefore, I will not take up the use of the term – but could live with marketing on social.

We do not know details of the respondents. For example, are the social marketers from a range of industries [including B2B] or limited to popular FMCG and is 1000 users sufficient to gain an accurate picture? Did the questions include a ‘does not apply’ type of response?

However, my really? mode kicked in from the first sentence of the first paragraph in the introduction, which reads:

‘For brands, maintaining a presence on social media is a no-brainer—it’s a must-have for any brand serious about their bottom line.’

I mean, really? The grammar used implies ALL BRANDS [full stop]. So if you can think of one brand where the use of social media for marketing is not a 'no-brainer', the entire report is flawed. Hubris again, methinks – not even ‘most brands’ or ‘retail brands’ … or anything to get away from just ‘brands’. Or perhaps a definition of ‘brand’ for this report? Theoretically, every organization has its own brand – or is its own brand. Maybe Sprout mean ‘global brands’?

The same paragraph goes on to spout [pun intended] something I – and others – have questioned since research first came up with the data:

‘When consumers follow a brand on social, Sprout’s research shows that 89% will buy from that brand.’

Well duh. Why would anyone follow a brand they will not buy? [note, will not, not could not e.g. ‘dream’ brands such as Gucci or Ferrari]. It’s also the case that the majority of brand followers have already purchased from that brand before following it on social media. Later in the report we’re informed of ‘actions consumers take when they follow brands on social’ – I think they can all also get the well duh? treatment.

In ‘Marketer’s primary goals for social media’ I note that ‘increase web traffic’ is second at 52%. I have no problem with the objective – but further into the report we find that ‘URLs/links to brand content’ represent only 16% of ‘the types of content consumers want to engage with’. Hmmm.

The ‘when people are most likely to be on social media’ data does not include anything commercial [e.g. ‘seeking gift ideas’] or, as with search engine use, solving problems. Again, hmmm.

In one section, a campaign by Ted Baker is presented as a success case study. Now, I don’t know that clothing retailer’s business, or how many outlets it has, but ‘resulting in over 400 in-store consultations’ doesn’t strike me as that big a deal?

The follow/unfollow results seem to be pretty much the same as they were when I first used the Index. So ... users haven’t changed – so why hasn’t the marketing?

And finally, my pet peeve: non marketers in digital marketing. This not a question mark against the report, but one of its findings. In the section ‘skills marketers need to achieve their social goals’ – as stated by employers – ‘knowledge of other marketing disciplines’ comes in at  34%. So, two thirds on social marketers are not required to be marketers. That is, they’re required to produce content for a target segment when they do not know what segmentation is, or produce content that is in sync with the organization’s overall marketing strategy when they have no idea what a marketing strategy consists of. Yet again, hmmm.

I think that if the author of Social Media Is Dead and I had a chat, we would agree on a lot of things.

Note that Word of Mouth and Social Media: A Ten-Year Update is about social media, not marketing on social media. However, I've included it here as an indication that many people do not see social as a place to go for business.

Although Companies on Social Media: 6 Types of User Interactions with Business focuses on social media, I think they could be applied to all interactions, both on- and offline.

In Here’s Why Millennials Use Social Media - note that only one of the ten reasons has a commercial intent.

I've included The Vast Majority of Word-of-Mouth About Brands Still Takes Place Offline here because some folk seem to think it has all moved onto social media - which comes in with just 3%.

Pew Research provides independent data, so Social Media Use in 2021 is worth a read [Marketing Charts provides a chart of the key info].  Before jumping into the usage numbers however, note that the research asked respondents "have you ever used ... ?". So, if you access Facebook every hour, that counts as a tick. And if you grandma looked at some family pictures on Facebook once in 2018, that also counts as one tick. So when you see that 69% of folk use Facebook, that includes your grandma. As a marketers, you really need to know how many folk use each platform on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis.

A guide to risk versus reward for brands on social provides a reasoned analysis.

Yet again, here’s a report which presents the data as being positive. I beg to differ – I find them disappointing from an objective marketing of social media perspective. What do you think? Brands Are Enjoying High Engagement Rates on TikTok

Similarly, Do Consumers Engage with Brand Incentives on social media?  carries a positive tone – but are the numbers really suggest that the answer to the titular question is no, not really.  There is also the methodology [which isn’t available] … for example, the leading statistic is that 42% of respondents followed a brand on social media – but what if the question was simply ‘do you follow a brand on social media?’ then following just one [a car brand, perhaps] puts you in that 42%.

Interesting … YouTube is no longer a mostly mobile platform.

New Insights Highlight the Best Times to Post on Facebook and Twitter in 2022.

How brands are harnessing entertainment on-TikTok to drive sales.

I could have included I was on TikTok for 30 days: it is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy in the chapter on ethics, but I’ve included it here because it is about social media. If you’re a TikTok user, do you recognise any of the elements?

Six travel and tourism brands using TikTok to connect with young consumers

Offers example of how TikTok can be used effectively. That said, is the target market for the campaigns able to pay for the services on offer?

Although it refers to a ‘content creator’, why people are spending so much on emotional support water bottles presents itself as a validation of the use of influencers in marketing. And, certainly, awareness of the product has been raised significantly – with the company that makes the product getting 123.7 million views on TikTok. If ‘views’ is your metric for success, there is no doubt that is a success. But – you knew a but was coming – the owner of that company goes on to say; “The bottle has increased total sales for our business by 15 per cent”. Welllll … 15 per cent is better than nothing, but 15 per cent raise in sales from 123.7 million views? Is it just me that thinks that’s not too much of a success? That said, I suspect that a number of copycat manufacturers made plenty of profit by undercutting the original’s price with some well-placed advertising on TikTok – which is an inherent problem with social media success.

TikTok Expands Lead As Teens’ Favorite Social Media Platform - but are the overall figures as impressive as some would have us believe?

Blogging

Most of the points raised in 14 Things to Do to Make Your Blog Post a Success, Both Before and After You Hit Publish are pretty basic, but still useful. However, I've included them mainly to show what should be done for each blog entry - and so, how long it takes if you are going to blog effectively.

Some of the advice in A 9-Step Process to Writing More Effective Blog Posts is a bit basic - but worth a read nonetheless.

5 Things to Keep in Mind to Use LinkedIn as a Blogging Platform is for serious blogging - more like articles than than tweets.

Social media: networking, sharing and communities

Facebook's News Feed update is more significant than you know reflects on what is now - basically - history ... some readers will not even know of marketing on Facebook before this event. I have included it here because it shows how using a third-party platform for your marketing will always be at the whim of its owner. Optimal Facebook Posting Practices reviews the impact of those changes a year on.

There is a very good collection of tips in Facebook marketing: What’s working in 2019? - and I like the way the article is about the use of Facebook as a platform for carrying a marketing message and not advertising. Too often folk refer to 'marketing on Facebook' when they  actually mean 'advertising on Facebook'.

Only time will tell how the changes announced by Mark Zuckerberg on March 7th 2019 will impact Facebook - or those changes might change marketing on Facebook ... but here's an informed opinion The future of Facebook according to Zuckerberg and how it affects social media marketing - has it changed things at the time you're reading this?

Inside Colgate-Palmolive's TikTok-led digital transformation efforts is a good example of the use of the short-form mobile video-sharing social networking service to raise brand awareness [though I don't think the campaign qualifies as being 'digital transformation'].

The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Stories.

Getting started with Instagram: A guide for marketers.

When the book was written TikTok was the new kid on the social media block and little was known about its potential for marketing. Well, by the time the book was published, TikTok [amidst much publicity generated by President Trump's attempts to have the platform banned in the USA] had introduced on-site advertising and a small number of organizations had benefited from a non-ads based presence. However, as is too often the case when a new platform emerges, a number of digital marketers [non-marketers, perhaps?]  declared TikTok a revolution in marketing. Realistically, for the vast majority of organizations that consider the platform for marketing, it will be as a medium for carrying ads. Naturally, those ads will have to be of interest to TikTok viewers i.e. those who like to watch other people singing and dancing. As is the case for all social media platforms, they can be useful to the right organizations - even if it is only to piggyback on a social viral as practiced successfully by Ocean Spray - and the same story from a news perspective rather than marketing; TikTok Sensation: Meet The Idaho Potato Worker Who Sent Fleetwood Mac Sales Soaring - though research suggests there was no significant impact on Ocean Spray sales. Note that I'm not the only one to suggest that TikTok is nothing new – to marketers, it’s just another ad platform.

‘We don’t post much organic content’: Pepsi sees TikTok as a pay-to-play platform is interesting as it - effectively - suggests that 'organic' social doesn't work. Note also that in this article pay-to-play refers to users playing a game/competition on the platform more generally, pay-to-play is a term used for advertising on social media.

Eight effective examples of brand marketing on TikTok [also] supports my contention that social media is right for some organizations, but not all. This list fits easily into the right category.

More about TikTok - is Louis Vuitton, Puma dress up for TikTok Fashion Month  about helping marketers ... or making money? [answer: the latter].

How a Dudley museum became a TikTok sensation is a success story about the use of social media in publicising a museum. It’s worth reading as an example of what can be done. However, looking at it objectively, is being a TikTok sensation going to put more customers through the gates? It’s a theme [not meme :-) ] I mention in my books on marketing on social media, namely that realistically to visit the museum you must live local to it – or at least in the Midlands of England. Yes, I appreciate that there may be a small number of folk who will travel further, but only a small percentage of visitor numbers will fall into this category. So – from a marketing perspective – what’s the benefit of having thousands of brand followers who live outside the UK?

I think that the Top Brands on TikTok Up Their Activities is a good indication of the types of brands/businesses/products that can be successful on the platform. Note that 6 of the 20 are actually one brand.

Baby Pics, Life Lessons, and Obits: What Happened to LinkedIn? considers the platform’s move away from being employment focused.

TikTok can work for some products - here's one example How Samsung is using the language of TikTok to sell its flip phones.

Social customer service and support

How to respond when customers get sour on social media is good- if rather standard - advice. My caveat is just how expensive [in staff time] this practice is - and if you gain nothing/little from marketing on social media doing nothing might be better than inviting this kind of problem.

Four key trends in social media customer service.

Strategic marketing on social media

Eight tips for a killer YouTube strategy has some reasonable advice - but reinforces the notion that suitable subjects for social media content are limited.

5 Reasons Why Your Social Media Marketing Strategy Isn't Working.

In April 2019 cosmetics company Lush decided to step away from social channels in the UK and direct customers to its website, email and phone line for one-on-one conversations. The decision created a bit of a fuss, with some applauding the move - others not so. See
* Lush is the new anti-social gangster, and for good reason.
* Lush abandons social media: it's 'getting harder' to talk to customers.
* Why is Lush moving away from social media?
* Charlotte Rogers: Lush’s social media exodus is a risk too far.
* What Lush did next ... on social media.

It's a common theme in all of my books that marketing on social media is right for some organizations, and not for others [most] - BrewDog is in the 'right' column - here's an example ... BrewDog cheeky new IPA pokes fun at Cummings' Durham debacle. And four more examples [even though their product might not seem too right for social media] - Four brands with a brilliantly funny tone of voice.

I cover this issue in my social media books and with clients - but it's something many organizations don't even consider [perhaps because no one told them about it?] - Social Media vs Social Features.

Apply Some #DigitalSense When You Learn From Weetabix's Big Moment is an excellent consideration of a 'classic' social media happening - note how its writer emphasizes that to be effective, any social media marketing cannot operate in isolation. I would also add that the product/brand - Weetabix - already has a reputation for light-hearted advertising, so making it right for social media.

I have stated in my books on marketing on social media that this negative aspect of the practice can easily outweigh any advantages gained ... Facebook Says Hateful Comments May Drive Starbucks From The Social Network.

I'm not going to agree or disagree with the elements in 15 Types of Content to Post on Social Media to Keep Your Feed Fresh, but it's as good a guide as any. What I suggest you do is use it as a guide for any organization that is considering using social media for its marketing. If you consider each objectively - that is; could content be created for each/any on a regular basis - you might discover that only one or two are relevant to the organization ... and so marketing on social media is not for that organization. Oh, I forgot to say ... one final check; will the organization's customers be interested in reading any of this content?

I’ve included 11 tips for using social to become an authority in your niche here because it highlight just how much work is required to do ‘social’ effectively.

Objectives

For the majority of organizations, the objective of using social media as a platform for marketing is to engage with customers. Research from Socialbakers considered the industries that fare best in interactions on Facebook and Instagram brand pages around the world. Whilst the results of this research are good news for e-commerce and fashion, that is not the case for the other industries identified. This is particularly the case for the many hundreds of industries that are included in ‘others’. Furthermore, the research revealed that the type of post that generated the most engagement on that Instagram (carousels) achieved, on average, only 125 interactions per post. That does not say much for the posts that generated the lowest average number of interactions. Instagram vs. Facebook Report .

Brand Awareness Proves a Top Priority for Brands on Social has some interesting data - note that the question relates to marketing on social media, not advertising.

Ownership, management and implementation

Keeping Up with the Algorithms: What You Need to Know About Each Platform's Sorting System - offers a good introduction to how social media platforms decide on what users will see.

I have included 11 of the Best Social Media Management and Reporting Tools to Consider not to promote the featured services, but to show what is available out there.

PureGym sorry for 'unacceptable' slavery post is just one example of potential problems when multiple outlets of an organization – in this case 271 – are allowed to post their own social media messages.

Limitations of marketing on social media   

Although the stats in The Most Discussed Issues on Facebook and Instagram in April are only a snapshot, take note of how little [next to nothing] is related to 'brands and products'.

OK, so the research for Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018 seems to focus on the use of social media for 'social' purposes - but note how the responses make no mention of going on social media platforms for any kind of commercial activity.

Reasons for unfollowing people on Twitter.

The research findings presented in why people use social media pretty much match similar research I've conducted.

There are some differences in Why Do People Follow Brands On Social Media? to the one in the chapter. Remember that the respondents all follow brands on social media - it would be interesting to know why people don't follow brands on social media.

Rates of engagement

For my mini-analysis of the most 'liked' branded tweet of all-time, see I suppose you’ll want extra fries now?

The Oreo 'Superbowl' Tweet is held by social media evangelists as the greatest piece of marketing known to mankind. I contested this opinion in my book Social Media Marketing: Marketing Panacea or the Emperor's New Digital Clothes? - so it's nice to see that I was right ... How a single tweet misled an entire industry to dive into the dark.

Trust on social media

Only 4% of people trust what influencers say online is mainly about influencers - but other social media content is also included.

Social media content is often unreliable, say users.

Buying friends and an update ... The fake follower economy is beginning to crumble.

Return on investment

The ROI of Social Media.

Four ways to fix the social data disconnect.

Nine reasons for your brand to use social listening tools.

How to Use Social Listening to Fuel Your Content Strategy.

5 Key Benefits of Social Media Listening.

Goodbye to likes: What should the new engagement metric be?

Now you see it … now you don’t Twitter Is Removing the Audience Insights Element from Twitter Analytics. Marketers should never forget that if a platform provides data for free, they can change, reduce – or remove it completely – at any time they wish.

What’s the Value of a Like? might look like an academic article - but those from the Harvard Business Review are much more readable. 

More questions on the ROI of marketing on social media ... Facebook and Google represent less than 5% of digital revenue for publishers.

And still more questions on the ROI of marketing on social media, this time vs other media ... Giffgaff: Online ads don’t make a brand famous. Take particular note of the quote; "It’s very hard to justify the cost of Snapchat versus the measurement you get back, so you might reach millions of people but it’s one day and it’s just cost you £110,000, which could be a spot on Gogglebox on Friday night".

Redefining ROI: What Real Return Looks Like for Social.

It seems nothing is changing in regard to ROI ... Social spend accelerating despite most marketers not being able to prove impact and from The 2018 Sprout Social Index:
* People aren't having real ROI conversations with their bosses. Without alignment, strategy suffers, money is wasted and marketers focus on the wrong metrics
* Marketer's priorities aren't aligned with what consumers want. The only overlap between top marketing priorities and consumer preferences is educational content
* Direct attribution isn't working. Only 14% of marketers are able to quantify revenue from social. The data shows that true focus should be expanding awareness and consideration.

How brands are looking to prove the ROI of social.

Social listening for brands and agencies: What, why and how?