Are you a Marketing Manager who needs to convince the Board that Social Media works?

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The following is a letter that we sent to a major insurance company all the way back in 2003, explaining some of the objections that they would hear from the board and pointing out some talking points that help explain Social Media to the management of their firm. Now while this was much more important back in 2013 as social media was much closer to the margins than it is now. 

This document is clearly a little dated, it holds up fairly well. Though in 2016, marketing managers  are much more receptive as to the value of social media, he fact is that there are major Namibian   brands are still unable to recognise the value in social media. 

In the past 3 years, Facebook's targeting abilities have grown much more sharp. While they have done away with some features, new features and insights allow companies to better reach their clients. This contrasts with developments in other fields of marketing. E-mail spam filters have become more sophisticated so people see less and less of the spam e-mails that companies send. Phones are smarter and so are users. Telephone and sms marketing has shown diminishing returns year after year. Newspaper advertising has gotten more expensive even in the competitive market as have print costs. Developments of technology for satellite providers and television manufacturers means that more and more consumers can simply avoid watching commercials at all. 

We are slowly moving towards a world where consumers will only see the marketing messages that they want to see. That's a world where not knowing your customer and where they spend their time, means not being able to market to them.

Parts of our letter from 2013. We have changed the name of the insurance company to Company X in order to respect their confidentiality:

It’s only for social updates

Social Marketing is a fantastic and cost effective way to increase brand recognition and positive sentiment. It’s a great way to increase employee morale and recruit new staff members, but Social Marketing is not just for social. It is for sales as well.

Peer to peer relationships are extremely important in the age of Social Marketing. Think about how you choose which movie you are going to see. You may see trailers or promos for five or six movies, but the single biggest motivation is the recommendation of a friend. Why? This is because you trust the judgement of your friends.

Many people choose holiday destinations based on this. The success of sites like Trip Advisor is due to these social interactions. It’s difficult to tell one lodge’s promises from another, most people will rather rely on what previous visitors had to say about the place. They have little incentive to lie, as opposed to those offering the services.

A successful Social Marketing campaign for Company X and associated brands recognises this reality. People trust the recommendations of their friends.

Cost too high

Social Marketing is a cost effective way to engage prospective clients. The way people search for services is changing. Previously people used the services that their parents did. They searched in the yellow pages, for example. People are using the internet and specifically social media to locate services these days.

Newspaper advertising is very expensive in Namibia. Dollar for dollar social media is the best value for money. For the cost of two full page adverts over the span of a month, a company can reach the same amount of people every single day. And unlike newspapers, we know just who saw your ad and we know who is interested. We can see exactly how many people we are reaching that we know, how they feel about our brand- we are- unlike a newspaper- having a conversation with our clients. Just by placing adverts that formerly went into newspapers on social media the company can cut costs significantly.

People will slander us or say bad things about us

Slander is slander- whether it occurs on Facebook or in a newspaper. The story about the University employee who harassed his ex-girlfriend on Facebook, and lost in court, set a precedent here. This means that someone who slanders you or your company will be just as liable for slander as if they said it in a public place.

People will be profane and it will be associated with our brand

While we encourage free expression, prolonged profanity cannot be tolerated. There is of course a marked difference between a client who is legitimately angry and wants to express themselves and a ‘troll’. The latter is there simply to abuse our time and goodwill and will never be satisfied, the former is a valued client whose business we wish to retain. Two different approaches will be taken depending upon the nature of the complainer.

This is why client complaints are a good thing for us. Clients who complain offer us an opportunity to resolve complaints in a very public way- there is no better advertisement for your brand than showing that Customer X takes care of their customer’s needs.

Trolls on the other hand, once identified, will simply be removed from the page.

People will not like our page

Soma Marketing has tried and trusted means of generating interest to social media pages. In the case of the Company X brands we are confident that there already exists sufficient public interest due to the high recognition factor.

It’s unprofessional and too personal for our brand

Most Fortune 500 companies have taken advantage of the immense opportunities offered by social media. Coca Cola, Disney and Toyota are some of the biggest companies on the planet but have put great effort in social marketing because they know it works.

This may have been a valid objection in 2008 but in 2013, those who are not using social media will be left behind in a changing world.

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