Why use social media for business?

In 2017, Statista reported that 81% of the US population (2.34 billion) actively use a social network. According to Adweek, people tend to spend nearly 2 hours a day on social media platforms.

This means it is likely your customers or target audiences are on a popular social media platform and your business is able to reach them… potentially every day.

For any savvy business owner or marketer, this alone would be enough reason to use social media marketing for business. But here’s the icing on the cake. In 2017, social media is the most cost-effective marketing channels available today.

What is the difference between social media management and social media advertising?

Here’s the truth. Every marketing agency has their own opinion and thoughts of the difference between social media management and advertising. Honestly, there’s no right or wrong way to describe the two.

We like to break it down like this:

“SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT IS CENTERED AROUND A LONG-TERM STRATEGY TO GENERATE A LARGER BRAND AWARENESS.”

Typically, this means building up strong relationships with fans or potential customers over 6 – 12 months. The main KPIs (key performance indicators) for a social media management campaign are:

Fan growth
Engagement
Response times

Whereas social media advertising is centered around a short-term strategy to generate leads and sales. Typically, this means doing a direct response (click and buy) advertising campaign over 3 – 6 months. The main KPIs for a social media advertising campaign are:

Conversions
Clicks
CTR

We often get asked: “Which approach works best?” The simple answer is both. However, the social media management approach is the most effective as you will develop a stronger connection with your audience. Social media management is a long-term relationship with your customers. Social media advertising is for gaining new customers and short-term goals.