Full-Service Internet Marketing
Serving South GA & North FL

Social Media Marketing

Is Social Media Marketing Worth the Effort?

,This is a fairly common question that we get asked often. Clients will invest significant resources into Social Media marketing, but will see little returns on their investment. What gives?

Social Media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, used to be a free-for-all marketing wonderland for businesses. If you had good content and a loyal audience, it was instant recognition for any business, especially local businesses. Social Media drove traffic, along with sales and leads.

But then, a change was made behind the scenes across all the major platforms. Suddenly, your reach dive bombed. Before this change, if a page had 1,000 followers, the vast majority of them would see the posts. However, this is no longer the case. Right now, industry specialists report that the average organic reach of any given post is of about 10% of  all your hard earned followers. So from your 1,000 followers, only about 100 of them will see your posts in their timeline

If you are a small business on a shoestring budget and need some sort of return for every dollar you invest in marketing, or if you are too busy running your business to create content, post and engage with your audience, you might wonder. Is Social Media right for you and your business? Social media is by no means the only way to drive traffic to your business.

 

Four Good Reasons to Invest in Social Media

Brand Recognition

Even for the smallest of businesses, brand recognition is extremely important for long term success. You want to stay on your customers minds, you want them to remember you, to refer you to their friends.

A social media presence makes it easier to establish authority and a good reputation. It also makes it easy for people to review and refer contacts to you.

Search Engine Perks

Social Media Profiles and the way people engage with them are considered important signals by search engines when determining how to rank your business and how to present it in search results. 

In addition, your Facebook and other social profiles, as well as your YouTube videos are often served in the results when people search for your company name. 

Engagement

Your website is the web equivalent of your storefront. A social media profile for local businesses is the equivalent of having a permanent booth at a local fair, or a home show. You do not depend on people walking into your business or visiting your website.

Instead you are meeting your customers where they are. Engaging with them, answering questions, rewarding their loyalty.

Sales and Leads

Can Social Media generate sales and leads? The short answer is yes. Yet, it is not exactly a direct response media. Think of your entire marketing strategy as a funnel. Prospects will engage with your business through any number of outlets.

Search, email marketing,  social media, etc.  The broader is the funnel, the higher the chances of generating sales and leads.

Is There Any ROI in Social Media?

Yes, there is indeed a Return on Investment (ROI) from Social Media Marketing. However, it’s important to note that the ROI from social media isn’t always immediately tangible like direct sales. It often comes in the form of brand recognition, customer engagement, and long-term customer loyalty.

The ROI can be measured in various ways depending on your business goals. Some common measurements include tracking the increase in followers, engagement rates, clicks, conversions, or even direct sales. Advanced analytics tools can help businesses track not only these metrics, but proper attribution. They can help you understand where each lead and sale was originated, the different touch points in your customer’s journey, the role of your social media channel’s effect in generating the sale or lead, and allow you to quantify the effectiveness of your social media campaigns.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About
Social Media

Which social media platform should I use for my business?

The answer to this depends on where your target audience spends their time online. For instance, if your audience is young and visually-oriented, platforms like Instagram and TikTok might be ideal. If you’re a B2B company, LinkedIn could be a better choice. At Eclair Network, we have a lot of experience with different platforms and their demographics. We will help you pick the best outlet to focus your marketing efforts on.

How often should I post on social media?
The frequency of posts can vary depending on the platform and your audience. As a general rule, consistency is key. Regular posting helps keep your audience engaged and your brand visible. Analyzing your audience’s online habits can help determine the optimal posting frequency. Eclair Networks emphasizes post quality and relevance over frequency, It is better to post valuable, engaging content sporadicly, than to spam your audience with poor content. A remarkable post is pretty much evergeen content. it will keep making the rounds through your audience’s timelines for quite a while.
What should I post on social media?
Content should always be relevant and valuable to your audience. This could include product updates, behind-the-scenes looks at your company, industry news, educational content, or user-generated content. Remember to mix promotional posts with value-adding content to engage your audience effectively. Rewarding their loyalty with special promos and discounts is also an effective way to keep them coming back.
How do I know how Social Media is affecting my bottom line?

It’s important to remember that Social media is usually not a direct sales channel, but rather a part of your prospects’ journey before they actually become customers. Tracking the return of your investments in Social Media is not very easy, especially if you are only presented with irrelevant metrics like engagements, reach, comments, clicks. You are not in it for popularity or “clout”. You want to make money and grow your business. If you can’t link your social media metrics with tangible numbers, you will eventually conclude that it is not for you. The way around it is proper attribution tracking. This is the only way you can see the value of your posts and ads in generating actual revenue.