The Final Days of Purely Organic Social
Social media marketing has played many roles over the years, but ever since it began, the first to-do on most marketers' lists was to recruit likes and followers in order to create and deliver content, generate conversations and build "one-to-one relationships."
Those days are over. The era of like-building and follower growth is waning, and the role of social media is changing. Facebook Page managers have continued to create content, but over the past twelve months some brands are reaching as little as 2.71% of their fans.
With organic reach on the decline, the reasons for investing in growing 'likes' are as well. Still, it can be an important effort as it helps make Facebook ad targeting more effective, but if growing likes is a goal, brands won't be using like-gating to do that starting on November 5 That's when Facebook will no longer allow marketers to put rewards such as deals, discounts and apps behind walls that require people to 'like' their Pages before gaining access.
Facebook does not stand alone. Twitter does not curate user feeds, which means users are in complete control, but content is often buried before it can be consumed, meaning brand messages are lost in the shuffle. Pinterest is full of pins from brands that may not ever be discovered, and Instagram's user base is growing rapidly, making competition for user attention greater than ever.
Platforms are Ready for the Tradeoff
Organic social efforts have declined, but everyone from Facebook to Tumblr is ready to help brands reach their audiences… for a price.
Every major social network (Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram) offers ways for advertisers to 1.) ensure their content gets seen, 2.) target the right people and 3.) make social platforms part of larger digital initiatives.
Social as Part of the Digital Fabric
Social hasn't gotten more effective, less effective or anything in between, but it is different today from what it was before.
Social's role in organizations and how they succeed in the space can and should change:
- Social can become a test ground for marketers to share stories and messages and see how they perform before a larger rollout.
- Social needs to be fed content, but any content shared should have the potential to get promoted. Share a tweet or an update and put dollars behind the content people show a propensity to engage with.
- Create content specifically for small segments of your social communities and then put dollars behind it to target those groups, specifically. The need to appeal to the group as a whole is unnecessary, and marketers can cater to each segment of its fan and follower base.
- Focus on building communities of the right followers. Numbers are less important, but the people those numbers represent are critical as they inform everything from targeting to content creation.
- View social as one piece of a larger digital fabric. It can be used to drive to larger experiences and content the brand has control over. Social platforms become less about being destinations and more about supporting destinations the brand has complete control over.
Social media marketing is still about curating and nurturing advocates, but it's much more now. It can weave in and out of digital initiatives and provide deeper support. Of course, that means investing in paid promotion, but with the benefit of social initiatives becoming more ingrained in overarching marketing initiatives.