Investment in social media set to rise – and so it should

I think we can safely say that choices regarding social media are no longer about “should we or shouldn’t we”, but “how do we use it to best effect?”

Just a few Facebook statistics show how important these channels can be, and this is only one media platform:

• In 2009 Facebook passed 350 million active users
• There are now more than 5.3 billion fans across the various causes and organisations listed
• More than 70% of users are outside of the USA (so the rationale that it’s just the Americans who like this sort of thing no longer holds water)

Attitudes to social media as a mainstream communications tool appear to be changing, as research and ideas company Marketing Sherpa’s latest findings suggest. The chart below shows that a large proportion of organisations are prepared to increase their formal investment in social media in a
controlled way. In other words, they’re treating social media like any other communications channel.

So, why are organisations more prepared than they were previously to utilise these channels? I think there are a few reasons but crucially, we can all now see some real-world success being enjoyed by businesses and charities as a result of social media. So, the perceived risk of trying something new isn’t quite so significant.

Secondly, we know that truly successful organisations are integrating their activities across a number of communications channels, targeting key audiences and ensuring their social media activity builds on and reinforces their other communications. This results in their key messages being delivered to a wider audience, as well as encouraging more audience feedback than could ever be achieved prior to the arrival of social media. Thanks to the two-way channel of communication it provides, a relationship is being built with the audience through interactivity and we no longer do all the talking.

Thirdly, we need to make our messages visible and take them straight to our audiences. For the marketers amongst us this is just common sense and has been a core tenet of targeting activity for years. One of my favourite real-world examples is Bullying UK, a charity dedicated to supporting victims of bullying and helping to educate those who have to deal with and prevent these situations. The internet and social media are great channels to reach their typically younger target audiences and you will find their presence on Facebook, Twitter and flickr amongst others. The same key messages are also reinforced through poster campaigns, PR (by targeting relevant forums, journalists and media outlets) and events. They don’t have millions of pounds to invest but by integrating their activity across relevant media, their communications achieve real cut-through.

The conclusion is simple, I think; if social media helps you to reach your key audiences and reinforce your key messages, then just do it. There are now plenty of case studies to minimise risk and plenty
of experts to help you make the most of a controlled investment. If nearly half the organisations surveyed by Marketing Sherpa are going to invest, you don’t want to be lagging behind, losing supporters and missing media opportunities.