It is difficult to escape the reach of social media giants like Facebook and Twitter these days. Just six years ago Facebook was only open to college students and Twitter didn’t even exist. Fast forward to 2011 and you will be hard pressed to find an individual not using one or both of these social media outlets.
Now businesses are jumping on board with social media in an attempt to advertise their products and services, and generally get their face out there for the public to see. Businesses of all kinds, from professional sports teams to health insurance providers seem to at least have a Facebook page these days. In fact, few television commercials end without the company asking viewers to check them out on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.
The major factor behind businesses turning so heavily to social media is an argument that doing so improves a business’s Return on Investment (ROI). Unlike television, radio, and print ads that cost money to run, Facebook and Twitter are free to join. Even better for many businesses, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds can be constantly changed and updated without starting a whole new marketing campaign. Those companies with deeper pockets can pay a little extra money to advertise themselves across Facebook and Twitter, but in general the services are free arenas in which to market themselves.
Social media can be a tricky venue for many businesses though. Health insurance providers for instance must follow strict government regulations that govern the messages that can be passed from insurance companies to the public. All messages must pass an approval process that can often take weeks, which runs contradictory to the instant gratification of status updates and Tweets.
The big question for every company is whether or not all this social media effort is worth it. With every company looking to spend less and bring in more these days, social media outlets appear to be a great place to advertise without sinking thousands of dollars into the effort. To date, the results for social media ROI efforts are mixed, but pointing towards positive outcomes.
Internet analyst firm ForeSee Results recently conducted a survey of nearly 300,000 consumers who visited over 180 private and public sector websites. The findings initially suggest that social media ROI is non-existent with less than one percent of website visits coming as the result of direct links placed on social media pages.
However, ForeSee did note that there is a significant indirect impact on ROI from social media. The study noted that around 18 percent of website visitors reported being influenced to visit the site based upon social media outlets.
Marketing through social media outlets remains in its infancy, but it appears that the future is bright for companies looking to improve their ROI with the help of social media.
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