Why social should be part of your marketing strategy

I’m writing this blog on the back of just launching 45 social media adverts for an eCommerce client with an average ROAS (return on ad spend) of 12.73…

When you work in a digital marketing agency, you’re surrounded by multiple departments specialising in different services, from SEO to Web Design to PPC. The social media department sits solidly in the middle of all of these, but sometimes it can be disregarded as the ‘simple’, ‘just post on Facebook’, ‘take pretty pictures’ department by the general public, and even fellow marketing professionals (outside of Embryo, obviously).

The SEO department doesn’t have to deal with people thinking they understand rankings better than them because they’ve googled something before, and the web team don’t get people thinking they can build a website better because they’ve got a friend, who’s got a friend, who’s got a sister, who develops websites. So why social?

It pains me to have to explain to my friends and family that I ‘run Facebook for people’, because it is so much more than that. Social media marketing is graphic design, strategy, creativity, data crunching, video editing, tracking, analysis, story telling, customer service, community building, content writing, brand awareness and more, all bundled up.

Social media has the power to change opinions, influence decisions and grow awareness. I recently wrote a blog on the positives of social media, and I still stand by every single positive.

It can also be an incredible tool for any business goal*.

*If used correctly

Looking for leads? Social media advertising.

Looking for website traffic? Social media advertising.

Looking for event signups? Social media advertising.

Looking for brand awareness? Social media advertising.

Looking for sales? Social media advertising.

The list goes on and on …

The secret to a good social advert is expert targeting, awe inspiring and eye catching creative, standout copy and an informed campaign build.

It is not, and I repeat, NOT, “just post on Facebook”. It is not “just take a nice picture”.

It takes years to understand all the different campaign options, best practices and theory behind everything. And then, as soon as you learn that, the algorithm has updated and you’re back learning everything again. I’m not trying to say social media is rocket science, but it isn’t far off. (That’s a joke – but it actually is harder than people think.

If you work in organic social, you have to be on top of trends, hashtags and scandals. A Kardashian has a baby? You have to know about it and you have to post about it asap. A politician poses with your product and causes a whole Twitter storm? You’ve got to do something. This means weekends, evenings, 2AM – whenever it’s needed. I applaud the amazing organic social channels out there for their effort and dedication, I really do.

I completely understand the backlash that social media gets, and I’m not one to ignore this and just promote the service, but if you underestimate social media and the power that it has on businesses and consumers, you will find that your business will fall behind. If you don’t understand social media advertising enough or have the time to utilise it correctly, contact a social media agency.

Next time you think “it’s just social”, maybe think again.