SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING – PROS and CONS (Expert Opinions)

As Social Media Marketing is the current trend in the digital world, last week I questioned few marketing experts about social media. Below mentioned are experts’ opinions on SMM. I have sorted and jotted the negative and positive statements regarding SMM and they are mentioned below:

SMM CONS

1. SMM is not yet mature as search engine marketing because SEM still counts for 20% – 60% traffic / revenue. Moreover, it cannot be used in all circumstances. For example: using social media for brand building of a digital marketing solution or a for book marketing is feasible. But, not feasible for heavy machineries, oil etc.

2. In most social media marketing techniques (Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube) uses some sort of advertising mechanism based on “usage”. That means it uses a measurement on relevancy and show most relevant hits to the users. So the tendency of buying such product might be lower. Most probably the requirements will not match for an acceptable level.

3. Social Media Marketing is kind of push strategy where you tell people there is something happen with your company or product unless or until the word of mouth is not genuinely generated.

4. Effective social media marketing is passive in nature, establishing authentic communication with potential customers. Active marketing through social media sites just looks like spam and is not effective as people understand its value.

5. Using Social Media for marketing is not right as they are built for interaction and collaboration. Performing a marketing activity on social media should be a passive process doing active marketing may result in spamming.

6. SMM is the next level of activity after any online campaign. It is the difference between putting sales signs up in a shop window (SEM) and talking to people and making sure you understand and fulfill their needs when they walk through the door. So, when they walk out, they want to tell people about your store (SMM).

SMM PROS

7. Social media marketing is better because it can have a direct effect on search engine marketing.

8. Social Media Marketing is better than Search Engine Advertising because the ROI is much greater. It generates engagement, branding and most importantly quality leads which have been the biggest pain for Search Engine Advertisers.

9. As sponsored ads on search engines are not much valued it is better to spend to entertain through social Medias and bring your company to people’s notice. Moreover, social media gives a company better engagement opportunities.

10. SMM is as powerful as SEO/SEM. Today many people look into Social Media first, discuss with people about a product, followed by a search in search engine and then resulting in purchase. The future is, social networking sites will trigger search in search engines.

11. Social Media Marketing is great for making people aware about the innovation. You might not readily get the traffic via search engines but if the website is made popular via social media, automatically the website might get more and more authority, thus increasing page rank and search engine visibility.

I Vote for SMM PROS

In the various projects I have designed I give more importance to social media marketing because social media just do not show people about your existence as in search engines. It also creates an opportunity to interact with people, build brand and gain authority. Search engines though might answer the query of people’s need, marketing campaigns through social media raise questions and curiosity among people.

I also agree to few positive points stated by experts above: Innovation cannot be searched via search engines but can be advertised and made popular via social media. The popularization effect on social media will not just spread the word virally but will also obtain it a better value from search engine ranking perspective. After all, using social media is a genuine way to develop traffic and obtain back links to perform SEO activities.

Have you used Social Media Marketing in your campaigns??

How do you leverage it?

What do you vote for PROS / CONS?

Note:

•The question about social media marketing was raised on LinkedIn.
•There were 25 responses, among which the best ones are chose and reported here.
•Thank You to all the Digital Marketing Experts who have responded to my query.