Subtitle, Does social media marketing pay?
I read about GM pulling their paid ads off of Facebook after
marketing executives determined the ads had little impact on consumers. Here is
a news flash GM, nether do your cars. OK, maybe that is harsh. But, it seems to
me that a newly organized company who had a large (but not large enough) IPO
would not release this information right before Facebook’s IPO.
GM is a company that needed a government bailout to stay afloat,
and then has still not been able to raise their stock price to a point where
the tax payers can break even. We need to be able to sell our stock at $43.67
and GM stock is at 21.42 today. So I don’t think I am going to listen too much
to them talking down a profitable new media company like Facebook.
What does it mean? Well there are two points. Does the
marketing work, and why go public.
Does social media marketing work? Yes and no. Remember
Social Media marketing is still marketing, and some marketing is good, and some,
not so good. Think Super Bowl ads. Some are catchy, well designed ads that
actually talk about the product or service. Some are funny, with no connection
to a product or service I can see, and some just suck. So some of these are
good marketing decisions and some are not, but you can’t say placing an ad
during the Super Bowl is just good, or just bad.
I believe Social Media marketing works when you can generate
a buzz about a product or service. Getting spikes and having something go viral
is key to social media. It is hard to get enough people to get so excited about
a car that this process can happen. How many people that use facebook have an
Apple product versus a GM product? I think that is the issue.
The why go public? Attention. Trying to create the viral
effect I mentioned above, in and with the media they know, old media. Simple as
that.
The real winners will be companies who understand how to add
social media into their existing marketing strategy effectively. Not a company
that can’t track an increase in sales to click ads in a social media platform.
You make some very valid points. I wonder if GM has solid metrics on traditional marketing and if they're comparing apples to apples. I don't think many people are going to click a Facebook add and buy a Volt or a pickup. I'm not following GM because I swore off their cars in the 90's. My perception is still of a large uninspired company that puts out mediocre product which ends up in rental fleets.
ReplyDeleteSocial marketing may not do much to change that which may be GM's problem, at least for me. I will likely still keep that impression of them. Ford has done more to present themselves as a modern company with modern product. That's my view from what I see on the road and, yes, traditional marketing.