.gif)
Brands Failing to Monetize Social Media
By Anna Johnson on September 15th, 2009There’s been a lot of talk about the promise of social media for brands, but is any of it paying off? According to several speakers at the recent ad:tech London event, brand marketers remain skeptical, and are yet to see much pay-off from social media marketing.
Is it because they haven’t tried hard enough… or because social media is not what it’s cracked up to be from a marketing perspective?
The consensus at ad:tech seems to have been that brands are not trying hard enough.
According to Lulu Phongmany, Marketing and Business Development Manager for ivillage.co.uk, social media is no longer something to dabble at, but “something that is core to any successful marketing or branding effort.”
Nevertheless, it was Peter Ward, co-CEO of social network firm WAYN.com who indicated that brand marketers are not yet convinced:
“More brands than ever are recognizing the importance of social media and are experimenting with various ways to engage with it, whether it be creating a Facebook fan page, a Twitter stream or uploading videos on YouTube. What we are seeing however, is that many brands remain skeptical and have yet to experience many of the tangible benefits that would convince key decision makers to make social media marketing one of the key pillars of their marketing strategy.”
Ward suggests the answer lies in marketers “working with the social media publishers directly where possible, and start by clarifying their objectives on what they are trying to achieve. That way, social media publishers, or agency specialists can use their experience to put together a campaign strategy that meets or exceeds those needs.”
The same principle applies to direct response marketers – only more so. However modest your resources – actually because you may have modest resources – it’s important to set clear objectives for any social media initiative, even if it’s just tweeting on Twitter, and then design a strategy accordingly.
