Blinded by the Light
Apr 17, 2018
By John Kerr
The past years’ love affair with social media may be coming to an end. In the news are the issues surrounding privacy but there is a deeper problem.
Marketers have been thrilled with their great results based on page views, shares, likes and referrals, and have been adding more resources to feed their social media machine. And the Canadian anti-spam legislation further fanned the flames to rush getting a quick fix for gaining an audience and a way to measure it.
The reality now is coming clear. Facebook engagements are falling dramatically. A tool once relied on by so many may be dropping so low its value and return must be questioned. Even Mark Zuckerberg admitted in a report on recent financial results that Facebook had in fact made changes that reduced time spent on Facebook by roughly 50 million hours every day.
The reality for the electrical industry is also clear. Traffic measured by a social media hit may look good, may meet a metric, but this view or traffic is just that, it’s just traffic.
The other big secret is the social media giants are controlling at all levels; one change in an algorithm and every measure changes and every goal may be the wrong one.
This is not to say all social media is bad, but it does need to be understood and positioned in any marketing mix so as not to control or drive it but to merely be a part of the mix just in case.
The reality too of social media is that it is a sea of information. Standing out, differentiating yourself and truly understanding what each offer are what matter first, and all this costs money and time far exceeding what the potential traffic may be worth.
And while a case can be made that social media drives traffic, does it drive an audience? Audience must be defined here as the community that cares about what you do, what you make or sell, and what you stand for. The other hidden fact many forget is social media is international in scope. Its not Canada first always.
Perhaps answers and facts confirming this are right in front of us. We recently reviewed the top social sites in manufacturing and distribution, and what we found confirmed that less than 50% of the followers and likes are actual customers. Only one manufacturer had a superb end-user audience.
We can further look to the end-users themselves and see that very few of them are influenced by or use social media as a tool for buying or specification.
In Canada, some distributors have done a superb job with their social media, but in those firms there is a definitive understanding it is not the total fix. So maybe it’s time for a mindset shift. Perhaps it’s time to rethink your online marketing communications with a renewed focus on developing a more direct connection with your audience by devising solid content strategies, finding methods to get a direct connection that you own, and controlling and finding partnerships to develop and grow qualified audience.
Remember, it’s audience and not traffic. It’s return on investment versus expense.
John Kerr is Publisher of CEW and President of Kerrwil Publications.
