Is Social Media REALLY the answer??

So I was having a flick through B and T (a media and advertising magazine in Australia) the other day and I came accross an article that may wake up some marketers planning on investing a vast proportion of their budget in social media.

According to this article 29% of people surveyed said that social media was one of their least trusted marketing channels. Now, yes this means that 71% of the people surveyed do not think this but if we make this 29% of the population of Australia that is 6.38 million people who don't trust social media.

So let's not forget all the knowledge of marketing we have learnt over the years just to jump into the social media buzz. We need to understand what we are trying to communicate and to who.

Yes, I understand the irony that I am saying this on a blog but in some cases Social Media (and the internet in general) is not the answer.

I sat in a lecture a few months ago and heard something that has stuck with me and should stick with every marketer. The dirty little secret of advertising; the old stuff works. When you want to build awareness of a product or brand you need to target the masses. The internet is highly fragmented allowing you to target very specific groups of people (but not millions at a time) TV and print (much to the disgust of an eMarketer) does.

So, the point I am trying to make is that proceed with caution when upping your expenditure on digital marketing or you may be losing 6.38 million customers.

What do you guys think? What cases is having an entire marketing budget in digital ventures the best option?

Here is a copy of the article and the link:

Consumers wary of brands on social media

• By Jessica Kennedy on  5 December 2011
• 0 comments

Marketers may be guilty of using a ‘one size fits all’ approach in social media as 29% of consumers ranked the medium as one of their least trusted marketing channels, a report by Experian Marketing Services found.

The ‘Future of multichannel marketing: marketer and consumer perspectives’ report found that social media, SMS and LinkedIn were the least trusted direct communication channels used by brands. Only 4% said they trusted the channels the most.

With 89% of marketers using customer segmentation and 58% planning to invest heavily in social media over the next 12 months, Matt Glasner, general manager Experian Marketing Services said: “The big opportunity over the coming year is to apply the clever consumer segmentation that is already being used, to create tailored social media campaigns which talk to the needs of their customers.”

“This is an important conversation for marketers to get right over the next 12 months which, in turn, will generate greater cut through and start to establish the channel as a truly valued and trusted information source.”

The report found 59% of consumers had stopped engaging with four or more brands as a result of poorly targeted communications while 8% no longer connect with 20 or more brands.

A further 27% of Australians said they have created separate email addresses to receive untargeted brand messaging in a bid to ensure other email accounts do not become inundated.

A majority of consumers (70%) said giveaways and incentives were one of their top three favourite ways to engage with brands. Direct mail followed as 60% ranked the method in their top three while 46% liked communication via email and 42% favour online and offline communication.
Both marketers (91%) and consumers (85%) view company websites as the most valuable source of brand and product information. But 70% of consumers value print media more highly than social media while 28% of marketers see print as one of the least important sources of brand information.

In addition to increasing social media spend 52% of marketers plan to increase investment in email marketing, 47% in online advertising, 41% in apps and another 41% plan to raise events spend.

Despite an increased digital focus marketers said they planned to increase investment in traditional channels with 36% planning to boost print advertising, 28% to increase TV and radio while 52% said they would keep the same budget.

The report surveyed 330 marketers and 1,000 consumers across Australia.

http://www.bandt.com.au/news/consumers-wary-of-brands-on-social-media