Mike Andrew Consulting

What Tactics Really Work for Social Media Marketers?

By mike, Jan 07 in blog with 0 comments

The 2010 Corporate Social Media Marketing Ecosystem

I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts that traditional marketing tactics don’t always work on social media sites, given that these sites are all about building community, a more strategic approach is needed, and businesses need to enter the community and build rapport with members of that community. New research from a September 2009 MarketingProfs survey of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers has found that the marketing tactics most often used on social sites are not necessarily the best ones.

The most common marketing tactic used on Facebook was attempting to drive traffic to corporate materials through status updates, followed by friending customers.

But the most effective tactic for consumer-oriented companies was creating a Facebook application, which was done by less than one-quarter of total respondents. Both B2B and B2C companies also reported surveys of their fans as effective; fan surveys were the third-most-common tactic attempted.

Succesful Facebook B2B Marketing Tactics

Unsurprisingly, buying ads—even targeted ones—was the least effective type of social media marketing overall.

Like those on Facebook, marketers using Twitter were also most interested in increasing traffic. Driving traffic by linking to marketing Webpages was the most common activity on the microblogging site, followed by driving sales by linking to promotional pages. But again, the most effective tactics were different.

B2C marketers had the most success with monitoring Twitter for PR problems (done by one-half of all respondents) and contacting users who posted negative comments about their brand (done by only 22.4% of total respondents). B2B companies also succeeded with brand monitoring, as well as with using Twitter invites for in-person events (the least common tactic of all).

Succesful Twitter B2B Marketing Tactics

Though some firms, such as Dell, have reported success in the area, the study found that driving sales was the least effective marketing tactic attempted by companies using Twitter.

About the author

Mike Andrew has been working with the Internet and small business for over 12 years. Mike has been a keynote speaker at conventions and seminars and conducted social media training sessions all over the world. Mike has an extensive media background having worked in electronic media for over 30 years. Mike specialises in social media and Internet marketing strategy, SEO techniques and search engine marketing campaigns. His articles appear on numerous blogs around the web as well as national magazines.