Social Media Management

Question One: Businesses invest much in marketing advertising. However, marketing products or services on social media does not make a big difference with marketing via traditional methods such as television. In both ways, tracking Return on Investment (ROI) is essential in finding out whether the effort is paying off. Getting customers is an equivalent of a good ROI in social media, and therefore, business owners need to know the metrics of tracking the ROI. To know whether the marketing efforts on social media have a favorable ROI, different metrics can be used, as Spaeder (2020) explains.

One of the metrics is awareness. The main question here is whether the prospects know that a specific business exists or even offer particular products and services. The degree of awareness that people on social media have or the targeted audiences have will determine the ROI a business gets. The higher the awareness, the higher the ROI a business gets. To identify the level of awareness on social media, one can establish new followers, impressions, reach, and post views. All these will contribute to the awareness of the advertised business, product, or service. Talking of impressions means the number of times a post appears on a social media user’s timeline.

The second metric is interest. After the prospects are aware of a business, the next thing to consider is whether they are interested in its products or services. This can be measured by how social media users engage with the marketed content. For instance, how many direct messages and comments are sent regarding the business’s content is one of the questions to consider. If audiences send many messages, then it means they are interested in the business. The more the interest, the more the customers, and the more the profits. Many likes, comments, direct messages, clicks, shares, and other actions are likely to signify a higher ROI.

Thirdly, a purchase is another metric to measure ROI on social media. How many people purchase products or services from the knowledge of social media? For this metric to be effective, a business needs to have a special offer or code given to the social media platforms to know that the customer is from a particular social media platform. Through this, it will be able to know how much ROI comes from social media marketing. Asking customers where they learned about the products in an organized manner will help the organization track such transactions.

Lastly, loyalty cannot be alienated from the best metrics of tracking ROI. Loyalty indicates the potential of a business to maintain customers. Maintaining customers is as vital as getting new customers (Berman, 2006). The more customer retention, the higher the ROI. To know whether a business is retaining customers through social media, new online reviews, and new top fans are indicators. Nurturing and cultivating customers’ needs, especially customers gotten from social media in essential as they dictate the future profits of a business. The more loyal a business is on social media, the more it can retain followers, and hence, the higher the ROI. 

Question Two: No matter how successful or profitable a product or service is, negative comments that may ruin a company’s reputation are inevitable (Burke & Martin, 2016). However, there are different ways to deal with them, as Baker (2020) explains. One of them is avoiding ignoring negative comments. Baker says that ignoring the comments will give the angry client a reason to continue disliking products. She adds that this could be the worst thing a business could do. To maintain good public relations, it is crucial to respond to every comment or message, whether positive, negative, or neutral. For instance, if a client comments, “your products are of low quality,” a good response can be, “Hi, welcome to our shop, and grab yourself newly designed products.”

Secondly, apologizing sincerely, even if it is the client’s mistake, is vital. Apologizing avoids entering into arguments with clients on social media. The worst thing is a business trying to argue with a client on social media – other social media users come in and join the angry client only for the business to weaken its brand and reputation. Therefore, apologizing regardless of whose mistake is a vital step in dealing with negative comments.  Thirdly, avoiding making false promises is another way. Social media users will see an advert, and they will take that advantage to complain about a business. Instead of covering up the mistake with false information, it is better first to analyze the problem and explain how the problem can be fixed. By this, if the user had commented negatively, they will stop furthering the negativity and instead will agree by, for example, saying, “It’s okay.”

The fourth way of dealing with negativity is taking it out to the spotlight. Instead of resolving the issue in the comments section, let us say on Facebook, a social media manager for a business can request the frustrated customer to move the conversation to another section, like in the messaging section or give a call. This generally eases down the temper of a client. For instance, if a client is frustrated about a particular organization, and they comment so negatively on the organization’s social media post, the organization can say, “Hi (name), I did respond to your private message, kindly take a look. Thanks. “This could be better.

Lastly, replying instantly is another perfect way. It is better not to let an angry customer wait for a response because they might influence others into negativity. The best way to do this is to respond within a maximum of two hours. Failing to do so might prompt them to think that an organization is ignoring them, and in the end, they will also ignore the organization. If they are attached to the notion that they are being ignored, even if the organization puts efforts to resolve the conflict, no one will listen or appreciate it. Hence, responding instantly is suitable for preserving the reputation of the business and retaining the client.

Question Three: Whether one is dealing with a small or big business, making sales is the name of the game. Effective strategies to generate leads or attract more customers are critical (Bodnar & Cohen, 2011). There are different strategies a business can use to generate leads, as O’Connor (2020) explains. One of them is creating an incentive-based referral system. This is connected to network marketing that has recently gained popularity across the globe. A business can promise clients that they will get a discount if they sell products or services online. Such forms of networking have come out to be the best strategies for attracting more customers. Clients can easily search for customers through emailing, texting, or messaging their referral codes to their friends or even strangers.

Secondly, broadcasting advertising materials to niche audiences. Online podcasts have become more popular than any other broadcast forms like radio ads. They have a specialized feature that enables listeners to choose what they want depending on the themes. Also, when advertisers are generating their messages, they already have an idea of what their listeners will find interest in and relevant; thus, they tailor their messages according to the target audiences’ interests. This, in the end, drive the listeners to the advertiser’s website, thereby generating more leads.

The third approach is rethinking deals and discounts. People run to products with offers and discounts (Parsons, Ballantine, Ali, & Grey, 2014). Sales and promotions also incite new customers to make purchases. However, even if a business rethinks deals and discounts and not disclose it to anyone, it will not differ. The best way to approach this strategy is to partner with sites that deal with discounts and deals of products and services—an example of such a site s Groupon. If a business work with such sites, their offers will be widely spread to a diverse audience, and because people trust such sites, there will be more lead generations.

Lastly, the fourth strategy is optimizing the website and using Call to Action (CTA) strategies. No matter the size of a business, having a website is vital for any business in this digital world. However, the website must be elegantly designed, smart, and with speed and efficiency. For a website to generate leads, it must answer the who, where, what, why, and how questions. By this, I mean people who visit the website should know about the company, where it is located, what it offers, why it exists or the mission, and how they can get the products or services. This is because many people who visit a website are likely to search for such information; therefore, if they find a business that has answered, they find interest in it and may even purchase its products. A company can also include a call to action (CTA) such as a telephone number or a direction map that leads customers to the organization. Through this, more leads are generated.

Question Four: Social media has become the new platform through which organizations are competing for customers. Competition analysis is the hunting of organizations competing with a given business (Hunt, 1997). It is essential to perform an analysis as it has some significance to an organization. The first significance is that it helps an organization identify its weaknesses. For instance, if its competitors have many followers on social media, and many people like their products, an organization can establish how the competitors respond to the comments, the types of ads they post, and how they have branded their pages, and such information. It might identify that it lacks followers due to inappropriate responses, inferior branding, or non-attractive content.

Secondly, a competition analysis helps an organization gain a competitive advantage over other companies. This is achieved after knowing its weaknesses. For instance, if it identifies several weaknesses, they establish strategies to counter them. In the end, if it can improve on the weaknesses, it might be at the top of other companies, thus, gaining a competitive advantage. Also, concerning the same, identifying their weaknesses and its competitors’ strengths will prompt it to look forward to performing better than the competitors. For instance, if it is low-quality products when looking for solutions, it will look for the best to surpass those of competitors, thereby winning the market.

Thirdly, competition analysis helps in forecasting the returns that may be made from future investments (Goodman, Neamtiu, Shroff, & White, 2014). Because competition involves trying new products and services to impress the market, some organizations invest in entirely new products or services just to attract more customers and stay ahead of the market. Analyzing whether such organizations get returns will help estimate the returns if such investments are made in the future. For instance, if an organization is confident and dares to start its own online platform resembling Facebook, and the platform becomes successful, it gains a lot of followers almost to Facebook. The organization will have an excellent ROI. Thus, competitor organizations will know how much ROI they can get if they invest in such platforms.

The fourth significance is that it enhances inspiration and insight to continue working hard. Much of many organizations’ inspiration and effort comes from watching their competitors achieve. It is impossible to see a competitor achieving the best while the analyst is doing nothing about it. The most likely effect is that the analyst will be inspired to do more and also achieve. The same happens to organizations. Suppose, for instance, a particular organization has managed to capture the largest market through social media. In that case, its competitors will also strive to invest in social media platforms and get more customers.

Lastly, competition analysis helps determine the success factors in the market. Analyzing a successful organization will help identify what it is doing that is making it so successful. For instance, it can be employing unique ways of generating online leads. If several other companies are analyzed, the factors determining the success within a market can be identified. This point carries the most massive weight because all other significances relate to identifying what an organization can do to achieve success in the market.

References

Baker, A. (n.d.). How brands handle negative comments on social media. Retrieved from https://www.socialpilot.co/blog/negative-comments-social-media

Berman, B. (2006). Developing an effective customer loyalty program. California Management Review, 49(1), 123-148. doi:10.2307/41166374

Bodnar, K., & Cohen, J. L. (2011). The B2B social media book: Become a marketing superstar by generating leads with blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, email, and more. John Wiley & Sons.

Burke, R. J., & Martin, G. (2016). Corporate reputation: Managing opportunities and threats. CRC Press.

Chin, K., Chan, B.L. and Lam, P. (2008), “Identifying and prioritizing critical success factors for coopetition strategy”, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 108 No. 4, pp. 437-454. https://doi.org/10.1108/02635570810868326

Goodman, T. H., Neamtiu, M., Shroff, N., & White, H. D. (2014). Management forecast quality and capital investment decisions. The Accounting Review, 89(1), 331-365. doi:10.2308/accr-50575

Hunt, S. D. (1997). Competing through relationships: Grounding relationship marketing in resource‐advantage theory. Journal of Marketing Management, 13(5), 431-445. doi:10.1080/0267257x.1997.9964484

O’Connor, B. (2020, August 4). Successful Lead Generation Strategies for B2B, B2C, and Startup Businesses. Retrieved from https://www.fundera.com/blog/lead-generation-strategies

Parsons, A. G., Ballantine, P. W., Ali, A., & Grey, H. (2014). Deal is on! Why people buy from daily deal websites. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(1), 37-42. doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2013.07.003

Spaeder, K. (2020, May 14). The 6 most important social media metrics to track for ROI. Retrieved from https://www.rallio.com/6-social-media-metrics-to-track-for-roi/