IS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING REALLY THAT IMPORTANT?

Social Media Marketing. There is no other means to market nowadays, if you ask any start-upper or serial founder out there. But what is it really, and what does it help with? What does it really market, and why is all the hype about? Are there any other means of marketing apart from social, and if yes, why are people not using them? Let’s take a look.

To start off, let’s define what social media marketing actually does. When you have a long hard look at it, you will notice that SMM is nothing but the same old marketing tradition, bundled up in a social media package. Technically, you have the same work principles as you would for a traditional marketing platform - you have a medium that you’re supposed to publish/present/advertise on and you have the product, service, or offer that you want to push out to others. You have a uniquely defined audience e.g. a billboard on a highway will be meant for truck drivers, and not for moms with baby cars, strolling along the pedestrian area within the city etc. 



Social media marketing is one and the same as traditional marketing really, with the only difference being the medium. Before one used to rely on posters, billboards, print, and TV, and now it’s just social media. In essence, what is different is the medium and the medium in itself is the message. 

What social media marketing does is push your brand into the eyes of end consumers who can immediately, reliably, and retroactively purchase or keep purchasing the same product or service all over again. And this is where social media differs from traditional media. As a social media marketer, you can observe and integrate your offer within someone’s life, You can go into their feed, look at their pictures, ensure they are the right target audience, and push to them. 

In that sense, this is one of social media marketing’s strengths. It’s much more personalized than any other medium. Take TV marketing for instance. You can’t control who the ad will be shown to on the other end. It might be children or the elderly that might not fit into the bitcoin trading category you want to focus on, and vice versa. You are paying for a spot within someone’s program, but this spot doesn’t guarantee you the most optimal exposure. 

When you advertise or reach out to someone on social, you get to selectively and explicitly pinpoint an audience that will respond well to your product or service based on AI’s recommendations and data that has been observed over time. You are basing your choice on who to reach out to off metrics and data that have been harvested and accumulated over a long period of time. Hence, social media marketing is much more precise than any other form of traditional marketing. 

As you can understand, if done right, an advertisement won’t only reach out to the right audience but may also have a tangible impact on the minds purchase power, and willingness of the consumer. 

This is why social media is different than any other traditional media. 

Currently, and depending on your target audience, you could also utilize traditional marketing platforms such as billboards or newsletters to promote your products or service, and depending on the audience, you might be able to reach people in the age and local group that you need. 

However, if you are catering to a younger audience that is mainly active online, you will have better outreach opportunities via social media marketing. 

What do you think about the marketing channels? Which one are you using at the moment? Comment below!