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Social Media, Marketing and the ROI Dilemma

Guest post by: Anthony Mora

Article Overview: Unlike Google, which serves as a basic search engine, Facbook, Twitter and other social media sites have markedly different formats and face very different marketing challenges. Originally developed for friends and acquaintances to interact, the posting and images on social media sites can often be confrontational, controversial and at times obscene. The very quality that makes social media sites so attractive, the free flow of content, is precisely what makes advertisers so very cautious.

Social Media, Marketing and the ROI Dilemma

Can social media sites develop business models that can generate even a fraction of the billions that Google is racking in? To this point the answer is a resounding no. Sites such as Facbook and Twitter are growing at an astounding rate, but are they primarily relationship sites, or will they turn into marketing and business building powerhouses?

There are those who insist that MySpace is yesterday's news and that Facebook and Twitter are basically fads that will soon be seen, as far as marketing is concerned, as interesting but failed experiments. According to this reasoning, these sites will remain as vehicles for social interactions, but when it comes to helping build businesses or generating ROI, they will be seen as monumental failures.

Google has more than proven its ROI capabilities. Adwords alone is reported to generate up to 95% of its revenue stream, which is more like an ocean. But unlike Google, which serves as a basic (if the term basic can ever be applicable when describing Google) search engine, Facbook, Twitter and other social media sites have markedly different formats and face very different marketing challenges. Originally developed for friends and acquaintances to interact, the posting and images on social media sites can often be confrontational, controversial and at times obscene. Therein lies the marketing problem; do companies want to take the risk of having their messages, ads and brand equity positioned next to such possible loose canons? Does a chain that sells children's clothing want to risk having its ad positioned next to a sexually explicit post?

Add to that the question of user's perceptions. How do those that utilize social media sites feel about ads? According to studies many find them annoying and intrusive at best. According to eMarketer, a marketing research firm, social networking revenues rose an extremely modest 4% last year. Click through rates on Facebook and others sites are minuscule compared to those on Google. Because of that, many companies choose to have a presence on social media sites, but only a small fraction choose to buy ads. But in order for social media sites to thrive and come of age as business sites and marketing avenues that can compete with traditional media outlets such as TV and print publications, they need to attract advertising revenue. To be sure many large corporations are giving social media ads a shot. But it's a slow build. The very quality that makes social media sites so attractive, the free flow of content, is precisely what makes advertisers so very cautious.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

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Article Tags: article marketing, communications, content management, internet marketing, marketing, media, media coverage, media placement, online pr, pr, pr campaign, pr firm, press release, public relations, social media, social networking, target market



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Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g] Hi Jeff, Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?
Re: Should Evan add a "Social Media Marketing" category to the f - Hi, Online Marketing would be a great title, and having sub categories would make it even better, there would plenty of categories to choose from, Social Media, SEO, Article Marketing and yes even Affiliate Marketing to name just a few, great looking site btw Jeff, take care, Carol
Re: Should Evan add a "Social Media Marketing" category to the f - Just as an update, Evan has extended the poll's expiration date and says he'd like to see at least 25 "yes" votes before implementing the new category. Moreover, it would probably be called "Online Marketing" instead of Social Media Marketing".
Kevin's Case Study #11 - A New Forum Category? - Hi Everyone, 2009 is a new year and I'd like to create a new forum category to jazz things up! In the past, there's been some interest voiced about adding a "Social Media Marketing", "Online Marketing", "Internet Marketing" or "Online Promotion" category. I'll implement [u:1g2tv6tf]ONE[/u:1g2tv6tf] of those new categories, but can someone first tell me what the difference would be between the existing "Marketing" section and one of those new options mentioned above? Thanks


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