“All you need is social media marketing” - this and similar ideas have been floating in the air for a long time and were actively spread by numerous social media “experts” that continue popping up. On the one hand, social media marketing (SMM) is relatively affordable and easy to use, even for those who are new in marketing. It’s enough to create a free business account on social media, post catchy content, set up targeting, pay - done, your SMM campaign is live! That makes SMM seem like a lucrative, beneficial, and affordable way of marketing. Or not?
Don’t misunderstand us. SMM is a quite helpful tool and many businesses use it as a primary marketing channel. Moreover, SMM activities have a significant impact on the intentions of users. Furthermore, social media encompasses about 4,5 billion people around the world. Nevertheless, SMM is not a panacea. In addition, using only social media for large brand marketing brings certain risks.
The brands obviously can create a social media account, customize it and post various original content. However, social media is just a platform provider. What if social media is blocked in your country?
The inescapable truth is that there is no control over social media from the brand side. The fate of the company should be in the hands of the business owners.
It is important to remember that social media campaigns will not necessarily lead to the business goal, rather it has to be a part of the path. Indeed, social media is great for lead generation, but it doesn’t mean the potential customers will necessarily provide your income.
Some brands may deem that their audience is on social media. However, they may be mistaken. We wrote above that social media encompasses a large audience. However, that doesn’t mean that the ad campaigns on social media will be relevant exactly for the certain audience the brand is looking for.
Luxury brands, for one, don’t seek their audience on social media exclusively.
Unfortunately, social media doesn’t have a good reputation regarding ad fraud, it is an especially big problem on Instagram and Facebook. One of the massive issues is fake accounts. According to Facebook Transparency Report, the number of fake accounts is counted in billions every quarter! During three years, Facebook has deleted more than 15 billion fake accounts. This is more than the population of Earth! Those accounts are used for different purposes, but most of them are created to conduct ad or engagement fraud.
Moreover, large tech companies are also not always transparent in regards to their business activities. In many cases, they put their own interests before anything else, even if it goes at the cost of their customers…
For data collection, social media uses social media cookies. Those cookies are used to connect a website to a third-party social media platform and collect user information after they sign in to a social media account from a website.
Today users are concerned about their personal data in the webspace. Third-party cookies are considered unethical and social media would have to find alternatives to them. At the same time, without social media cookies, social media platforms are expected to experience losses on the advertisement. For instance, the recent case, when Facebook experienced losses in revenue and targeting after the new iOS rules, demonstrated how reliance on third-party cookies could be fragile.
What should be a solution? Again, we do not suggest deleting social media accounts and completely switching to other marketing methods. It’s not about “instead of this” rather “in addition to”. That is how Adello would like to recommend to businesses that were using SMM only and not completely satisfied with their marketing to try omnichannel marketing.
An omnichannel strategy is a technique that helps to create a smooth customer experience across all the marketing channels the brand sells through. Omnichannel marketing can combine email, social media, mobile, paid online advertising, DooH, and many others. Such cases did not occur otherwise. This approach allows customers to have a choice in how they interact with the brand. Today, omnichannel is actively used in large companies. Nevertheless, small businesses can also participate in the omnichannel game.
Some may ask why an omnichannel strategy is needed? Advertising using only one channel is definitely cheaper and requires less time and energy.
To stay relevant, companies need to deliver a holistic and consistent brand experience across all sales and marketing channels. It’s about connecting the dots of your digital and physical presence. This is where an effective omnichannel strategy comes into play. The marketing strategy will be more efficient if more channels are implemented instead of one.
Apart from that, there are also other important reasons that benefit the brand:
Creating awareness is essential for the business. For this purpose, many different channels have to be implemented: from DooH to mobile to store. Thus, a combination of the channels increases the possibility of the customer getting aware of the brand.
The ad that is displayed via different channels does not only repeat the message but also supports brand reasoning and leads clients towards the business goal. This allows the creation of the customer journey that leads to the business goal. As an example: DooH perfectly works together with mobile marketing. DooH helps to establish trust in your brand and strengthen customer loyalty towards it. Mobile advertising can retarget potential customers, lead them to the business goal (72.9% of purchases are made on mobile), and gain precious privacy-friendly insights about your audience.
An omnichannel strategy is a good way to declare about the business and its values. We have already written that the social position of brands is gaining importance, especially among Gen Z. Now, brands cannot be neutral and indifferent to social and environmental challenges. Declaring your view only on social media is not enough. Your positioning would have to be fully integrated into the company. Thanks to the omnichannel strategy, potential customers will be able to notice this message everywhere and easily memorize what that brand stands for. Today more and more companies establish CIO position that stands for Chief Impact Officer. The responsibilities of CIO are to help organizations to create, increase, and report on the impact of the brand. Recently, Prince Harry became chief impact officer of BetterUp, and Lil Nas X became CIO of Taco Bell.
Some brands are changing their representation in order to correspond to today’s agenda and demands of society by trying to be inclusive. The brand Hugo Boss previously had a certain image for the narrow contingent: In their advertisement, most of their models were wearing business suits. However, recently Hugo Boss changed their strategy and launched #HOWDOYOUHUGO campaign: the business outfit over all its channels was replaced with the free, bold look, which is more relevant and clear for different groups of people.
Social media marketing is often used to “hit the jackpot” here and now: quick followers gain, high engagement, customer reactions. However, this hardly will help for the long term period.
Omnichannel allows the brands to deliver a continuous message to the masses. Referring to the previous bullet point, this message creates a customers’ “believe’ in the brand that will last for a long. That is how the brands build bigger audiences with more channels.
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Adello has been in Mobile Advertising for 14 years and has become one of the most successful digital providers in APAC, EMEA, and the US. We have a long, deep experience in digital marketing. Today, Adello helps brands to develop highly relevant omnichannel marketing strategies. One of the solutions we use is combining mobile advertising with DooH and Social Media campaigns. This combination leads to a strengthened brand position, covering broader audiences and increasing consumer trust. Moreover, it helps to boost the business and sales.
Need help with building a unique multi- or omnichannel marketing strategy? Adello’s team can help you to develop and execute even the most daring and bold marketing ideas! Let’s bring the best know-how in mobile advertising, DooH, and social media together to promote your brand.
