Guest Blog By: Terry Boddie, Agency Liaison Director, Marketing Media Management

Effective entrepreneurs are continually utilizing techniques that boost their business. Many have to consider what the return on their investment will be when considering any particular course of action. One of these marketing techniques involves social media. Many businesses are starting to realize the importance of taking advantage of media platforms to connect with customers and clients.

Social media affords businesses to garner how big of a return on investment they have. This could be through reaction to a Facebook posting or even Instagram. An agency can help entrepreneurs make sense of social media marketing. Working together allows for the creation of goals, objectives and a strategy. It allows them to know what effects their marketing efforts have as well as evaluate the return on business investment.

Some require numbers to truly understand what is going on. Typical TV campaigns yield only 18% POI. However those with a social media marketing strategy (71%) can see a return on investment and plan to expand this investment by 40%. The positive benefits are numerous. The marketing costs in low. Businesses have high visibility and are often seen by the pubic as being responsive. The Ford company devotes over 25% of their marketing budget to social media utilization. Those with more social media usage have higher sales at 18% compared to those with little social media interaction at -6%.

One well known company Burger King invested $50,000 into a Facebook media application. The response was great and yielded upwards of $400,000 return. That translates to over 32 million free media views. This strategy even works on a smaller scale. One company Naked Pizza used social media and netted a record number of sales. They credited Twitter with 68% of these sales. Of these over 85% were brand new customers. Social media brought in one of the number one requirements of a thriving business, new customers.

When considering whether or not to use Social Media ask yourself what do you have to lose or gain? The low costs and the associated potential gains make it an obvious choice.

Keeping customers happy is an essential part of business, because without customers, a business will not exist. Social media management and online marketing are excellent ways to keep in touch with current customers and reach new customers.

How should social media marketing and online marketing be utilized among the various approaches?

The main difference in social media and online marketing and traditional advertising is that the consumer is looking for products and services, and it is not just the business seeking customers. The business needs to convince visitors to become customers and make a purchase, since their mindset is already geared to buying. The business needs to study and be aware of the needs of both current and potential customers and be ready to answer their questions and concerns.

Social media and web analytics are two main tools of online marketing that a business can utilize, while Pay Per Click is the fastest way to drive traffic to a site.

A great deal of information about consumers is provided by web analytics. This information can help the business learn what it should do to attract and hold customers. Analytics can provide the business with the keywords the consumer searched that brought them to the website and what appealed to them while they visited the website. It will also reveal any problems the visitors encountered while visiting the site. This information will allow the business to optimize the website with the best keywords to reach its target market, and to engage and interest the visitors while they are on the site. Pay Per Click is also a great tool to show where the traffic is coming from.

It is necessary for today’s businesses to have a social media and online presence in order to survive because this is where the market gathers, and every business needs to meet them there with the products and services for which they are searching.