Mediarun Search Marketing News

Social media 'cannot operate in isolation'

September 06th 2010

Social Media Optimisation News

While social media is growing at a huge rate and can be extremely useful for companies, firms should not underestimate the importance of using it in tandem with traditional channels of website promotion.

Matt Owen, social media producer at Econsultancy, said that despite its usefulness social media is not a replacement for other methods of website marketing.

He said that the key problems that many companies are facing from trying to maximise the benefits that social media can provide is a lack of understanding.

"Social media is a fairly young discipline even in the barely-codified world of digital marketing, meaning that many social media managers have a background that isn't based in marketing," he explained.

Mr Owen said that this can have advantages in people's willingness to innovate but that it is important to consider the limitations of the medium when making budget decisions.

He claimed that there is also the opportunity to create one-to-one interactions with the customer but that there are still mistakes being made.

It is important not to make the assumption that social media is more influential that traditional forms of media and he instead advises that companies look to supplement and expand on broadcast media rather than attempting to supplant it.

Mr Owen also warns not to make the mistaken assumption that social media is actually replacing other forms of website marketing.

He said: "It's important to realise that an expanding audience in one channel does not automatically mean a decline in another."

It is far more accurate to say that customers are increasingly taking a multichannel approach to shopping, news and business, meaning it is important to treat it as only one form of website marketing.

Mr Owen concluded by saying that the huge potential that social media can offer will only be effective when it is harnessed alongside other marketing channels.

Recent research from the Rubicon Project suggested that 2010 looks like it will be the strongest year yet in terms of online ad spending, with revenues (excluding search) totalling $5.9 billion (£3.8 billion) in the first three months of the year.

The report concluded that those looking at website marketing may need to connect to hundreds of different sales channels.

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