With the enormous growth in social media as a marketing channel, many companies have rushed to embrace social technologies, sometimes without taking the time to think strategically. They establish and promote their presence on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube and other social channels, and then receive back a flood of data in terms of likes, mentions, up or down votes, comments and more that marketing is unprepared to handle.
Additionally, some companies dive into social without establishing policies and guidelines, which might lead to employees posting erroneous, misleading, or confidential company information on social channels. That, in turn, could lead to public relations crises or even legal problems.
Yet without question there is enormous business benefit in joining the social trend. Companies that carefully and strategically plan how to integrate social into their marketing efforts and company culture can collect a steady stream of data that is a virtual gold mine of valuable information. This information, when transformed into a strategic asset, can give marketing an opportunity to lead their companies like never before.
Here is the new reality: what customers, prospects, and even employees say about your company and products is totally changing the art and science of marketing.
In fact, these social conversations have the power to drive your marketing strategy. By establishing presence and listening on social channels, you can discover more than ever before about customer needs, how customers feel about your products, and perceptions about your company. And when marketing captures and organizes social insights, they gain the kind of intimate intelligence about their customers and their market that will help define new creative, messaging, campaigns, product plans, and innovation.
But the transformation in marketing strategy and the elevation of marketing to leadership status doesn’t just happen simply by using social. Not only must you think strategically about social and establish policies and guidelines, you must know how to leverage the flow of data. How to listen, engage and appropriately respond on social channels. Understand what metrics to measure, track and analyze. Know where to channel your new social insights—to sales, support, product management—in order to act for the benefit of your company and your customers.
Social and marketing intersect at that point where the right tools in the hands of the right people make the difference between strategically leading and floundering in data. Marketing automation solutions can help you capture and organize social insights along with data from other channels. You can identify and segment customers and prospects based on their behaviors and interactions with your company. You can apply rules-based follow-up actions that keep relevant communications flowing and foster ongoing interactivity. And you can streamline the execution of marketing campaigns.
The fact is that customers are savvier, better informed, and more in control of the buying process than ever before thanks to the availability of information on social channels. As a marketing organization striving to lead your company, you too can be savvier, better informed, and more in control of your marketing strategy and processes. To do so, you must turn social insights into strategic advantage and deploy the right marketing automation tools to achieve your goals.
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