Page 69 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

You employ different marketing strategies and tactics at every stage of the mar-
keting funnel to move the prospects along. The movement of prospects and cus-
tomers is measured precisely (especially when you do this online), and if there
isn’t enough movement, you need to devote more marketing dollars to pushing
people through the funnel. How you spend these dollars and which investments
do the most to move people through the marketing funnel is always a subject of
much debate and varies by product category. Regardless, social media marketing
and tapping into the social influencers with differing tactics can help with this
journey.

The stages of the marketing funnel may vary from company to company. In some
cases, it has changed significantly with the advent of everything digital; for others
the fundamental marketing funnel is the same. Some link online funnel tracking
with offline efforts, whereas others don’t. You don’t have to rigorously use the
stages as we define them. It’s more important that you look at SMM in the context
of how your company builds its brand, drives awareness for its products, tracks
leads, enables sales, and manages loyalty. In some cases, you need to consider
how you can apply SMM at the different points in an advertising campaign.
Regardless, the same principles apply whether you’re looking at SMM in the con-
text of the funnel for your entire marketing efforts or for just an online advertis-
ing campaign.

SMM at the awareness stage

The awareness stage of the marketing funnel is where you introduce potential
customers to your brand. You build awareness and encourage prospective custom-
ers to remember your brand name so that when they do make a purchase in the
future, they include your brand in their consideration mix.

Typically, marketers use television, radio, print, and direct mail to build aware-
ness. They also sponsor events, conduct promotions, and invest in product place-
ments to get further exposure. Marketers also use public relations professionals to
influence editorial content in magazines and newspapers.

In the digital realm, you typically create awareness using display advertising on
major websites, paid searches for category-related keywords, video advertising on
YouTube and Facebook, and sponsorships across the web. Email marketing has also
been successful at building awareness. Historically, creating awareness online is a
lot cheaper but without the same mass scale effect of a 30-second television spot.

You can use social media marketing to build awareness of your brand, too. The
reason is simple: As a marketer with a loyal customer base, you can encourage
your customers to build your brand by talking about your product with their
friends. Many a marketer has incentivized existing customers to tell their friends

CHAPTER 3 Getting in the Social Media Marketing Frame of Mind 53