Social media is a big buzzword that has been gathering momentum in the last decade, and social marketers are beginning to realize the power of social platforms like Facebook and Twitter as a CRM tool. Although Forrester Research has forecast an increase in social budgets to the tune of billions in 2013, it emphasizes that marketers need to unlock the real value of social marketing using the marketing RaDaR model.
With almost all marketers around the globe using social media and more than 60 percent set to increase their investments on social marketing tactics, the business landscape should be buzzing with optimism. But that doesn’t appear to be the case. Research shows that most marketers are still skeptical about the extent of actual value that social media delivers. In fact, even big name brands are faltering, and according to Nate Elliott, principal analyst at Forrester, more social marketers are failing when they should be succeeding because of social media.
So where does the problem actually lie? Elliott observes that marketers are making a huge mistake in treating social media as a separate entity that is cut off from the rest of the marketing efforts, and calls this “social exceptionalism.” Although social media is a powerful CRM tool, marketers need to remember that it cannot bear the weight of an entire marketing program and needs to effectively integrate into a businesses’ established marketing plan.
Elliott goes on to add that if marketers are to succeed with social media, they need to move beyond mere engagement and understand how social media supports each part of the customer journey and integrate it with other vehicles of marketing.
This means that marketers need to use a proactive approach while using the social media CRM tool by actively engaging with customers, identifying areas of expansion and solving issues before they become problems. Businesses need to learn how to interact and motivate fans on a social network so that the engagement rate increases.
Elliott concludes by noting that although social media does create a lot of awareness, it is perhaps unfair to allow it to bear the entire burden of the entire marketing program. Coupled with other marketing RaDaRs, social tactics can supply reach and depth and relationships to a marketing plan.
The research study also cites the successes that many companies are having by integrating social into their marketing RaDaRs to generate lasting ROI.