Social media has always been a bit of a popularity contest, but it’s important to remember that social media sites offer a lot more than just a confidence boost every time you get another friend or follower.
It’s easy to get distracted by likes, retweets, +1s and all the other vanity metrics out there. It’s understandable, we all want to be liked and it’s even better when the whole Internet can see just how much we’re liked. But vanity metrics are named vanity metrics for a reason. Among the other trends we’ll discuss in our upcoming Webinar on Internet Marketing Trends for 2013, we talk about why conversion is more important than ever this year, even in social media. That’s why the big question we all need to be asking ourselves in 2013 is: as great as a re-tweet might be, if it’s not bringing you huge ROI, is it really worth your business investing in?
The answer is yes.
Even though social media doesn’t generate the same ROI that other Internet marketing strategies like SEO or PPC do, that doesn’t mean it’s not a market you should be exploring. It may not bring in the big bucks, but when it comes to social media platforms, in the end, your business can’t afford not to be there. If everyone is involved in social media, you need to be too—whether it’s the most profitable marketing strategy or not.
And social media does have other benefits besides just getting your brand name out there. We’re noticing that more and more social signals are impacting rankings, Google+ is becoming increasingly integrated with Google’s search results, and social media is becoming more imbedded in everything we do.
In order to take advantage of all this, what you need to focus on at the start of 2013 is turning away from the vanity metrics and towards concrete ones. It’s time to start working on turning likes into leads and re-tweets into concrete returns on investment. By using your social media platforms to generate real customer engagement, you can get the most out of your presence on these sites and start doing more than just getting your brand out there.