Adding Social Media to the Marketing Mix, How Impactful?

Adding social media to the marketing mix? Social media have rapidly gained share and attention among all kinds of consumers and companies, often at the expense of traditional media. 

Companies have started to redefine key aspects of their marketing mix. With advertising and online word of mouth competing for shrinking marketing budgets, many companies regard having an active presence in social media as a viable alternative to traditional advertising.

What is the Marketing Mix?

A marketing mix includes multiple areas of focus as part of a comprehensive marketing plan. The term often refers to a common classification that began as the four Ps: product, price, placement and promotion.

Effective marketing touches on a broad range of areas as opposed to fixating on one message. Doing so helps reach a wider audience, and by keeping the four Ps in mind, marketing professionals are better able to maintain focus on the things that really matter. 

Focusing on a marketing mix helps organisations make strategic decisions when launching new products or revising existing products.

The four Ps classification for developing an effective marketing strategy was first introduced in 1960 by marketing professor and author E. Jerome McCarthy. 

Depending on the industry and the target of the marketing plan, marketing managers may take various approaches to each of the four Ps. Each element can be examined independently, but in practice, they often are dependent on one another. 

Read also: 10 Low Budget Marketing Strategy Shopify, Easily Boost Sales

How Does Social Media Fit Into The Marketing Mix?

As a results-oriented marketer you want to only deploy your precious time and budget into marketing programs that work. At the same time, you know that social media has changed the marketing landscape: shouting to prospects with endless email offers may produce leads but you’re worried about the longer term implications to your market.

You may have heard that social media can improve not only your more traditional tactics but also allows you to engage with your prospects sooner in the buying cycle. It may even allow you to identify those influential network hubs whose recommendations can mean big referral business for you. So how do you incorporate social media into the marketing mix?

But this misses the point about the real implication of social media on marketing. Consumers do not participate in social media so that marketers can throw SPAM in their faces. Consumers participate in social media because of the basic human need to connect. Social media marketing needs to figure out how to create meaningful relationships with consumers.

Read also: Importance of Search Engine in ECommerce and Business

Why Should a Business Add Social Media Marketing to the Mix?

Advantages of social media? While platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook used to be places for people to catch up with friends and share important life updates, they’ve now become a lucrative digital marketing channel for businesses.

In fact, 73% of marketers believe adding social media to the marketing mix has been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” for their business

Social media offers ample opportunities for brands to reach new audiences, attract target customers, increase brand recognition and loyalty, and, ultimately, boost sales.

If your marketing team is debating whether or not to use social media as a digital marketing channel, it’s crucial to understand the risks and rewards. Here some reasons you should add social media marketing mix in your business:

Time-Consuming

Developing a strong social media strategy takes time and careful planning. In order to grow your following and effectively reach your target audience, it’s crucial that you post high-quality content on a consistent basis.

Social media marketing experts recommend posting at least once per day, meaning someone on your marketing team will need to add the daily task to their to-do list. You’ll also need to factor in time to develop your strategy, plan posts, and source imagery.

A Bad Post Could Lead to Negative Publicity

Throughout 2020, countless companies came under fire for their posts, or lack thereof, about the coronavirus pandemic and the current social justice movement. Be forewarned, one poorly-timed or insensitive post, and your social media account could end up in the hot seat.

Though getting “cancelled” is one of the biggest risks when adding social media to your marketing mix, it can be easily avoided through proper planning. By taking the time to develop a compelling social media strategy and thoughtfully curating your posts, you can significantly reduce the risk of a regrettable post.

Effectiveness Can Be Difficult to Measure

The effectiveness of your business’ social media marketing efforts can be complicated to measure. While it’s easy to measure metrics such as likes, comments, shares, and follower growth, it can be challenging to see how they translate into sales.

Before adding social media to your marketing mix, you’ll want to define clear goals about what matters most to your business.

Is Social Media Part of The Promotional Mix?

The emergence of Internet-based social media has made it possible for one person to communicate with hundreds or even thousands of other people about products and the companies that provide them. 

Thus, the impact of consumer-to-consumer communications has been greatly magnified in the marketplace. This article argues that social media is a hybrid element of the promotional mix because in a traditional sense it enables companies to talk to their customers, while in a nontraditional sense it enables customers to talk directly to one another. 

The content, timing, and frequency of the social media-based conversations occurring between consumers are outside managers’ direct control. This stands in contrast to the traditional integrated marketing communications paradigm whereby a high degree of control is present. 

Therefore, managers must learn to shape consumer discussions in a manner that is consistent with the organisation’s mission and performance goals. Methods by which this can be accomplished are delineated herein. 

They include providing consumers with networking platforms, and using blogs, social media tools, and promotional tools to engage customers.

How do Ginee Ads Implement Marketing Mix and Social Media?

Here some steps that you should know how do Ginee ads implement marketing mix and social media:

• Listen: drive insights across your organization and identify the key themes, topics, tones and influencers in your marketplace
• Respond: identify what kind of conversations you want to take part in and what kind of thought leadership you can present. Add value. Amplify good news. Consider carefully whether to respond to negative comments. Start blogging
• Make “social” part of your marketing DNA. Allow your content to be shared. Allow your audience to follow you. Do not create social media campaigns. Make every campaign social.
• Begin to “meet” your audience everywhere they go online and offline. Have conversations that are appropriate to the medium. Hold tweetups or tweetchats. Live tweet during webinars. Encourage comments and photos / videos sharing at events.

Conclusion

Social media is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies your business can adopt. While there are both pros and cons to adding social media to your marketing mix, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks.

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