Business owners and marketers are beginning to shovel more money into social spending. Although some claim they aren’t seeing an ROI, social media marketing takes time, and knowing how to control your social spending is crucial in order to master your social media presence.
As marketing continues to develop on digital platforms, it’s important for businesses to understand how to correctly spend on social and when it may be time to increase your budget. So which factors should you consider?
First, determine your budget
The amount of money businesses allocate towards social media marketing depends on a number of factors- your business goals, the number of platforms you’re on, time of year, products or services provided, etc.
As more companies move to social marketing, it’s also important to consider your competition. You may not know the exact amount your competitors are spending, but if you want to stay relevant with your customers, that may mean throwing more money into your budget.
According to a study done by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, businesses are expected to increase their social media spending to a 20.9 percent share of marketing budgets within the next five years.
This means that if you’re not currently on social- now is the time to start. If you do have a social presence, make sure your social score is relevant.
Realize which platforms work for your brand
Facebook plays a major role in digital marketing and most companies already have taken the steps to build and manage some sort of business page or company profile.
Google+ is also relevant for businesses and having a Google+ profile for your business set up greatly increases your SEO. It also helps customers find your location much easier- which is always important.
But what about Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.? It all depends on your brand and what type of audience you’re trying to reach.
If you want to reach more millennials, Instagram might work for your business. If you’re looking for B2B, LinkedIn could be the right way to go.
Whether you or your social media team makes that decision, developing a presence on more social platforms will mean adding more to your budget.
Understanding your business goals
Take the time to realize what you’d like for your business to accomplish with social. What are your primary goals?
Are you looking to brand your company and promote your products or services? Connect with customers? Gain leads?
Whether it’s one- or all- of the above, you may find that investing more into your budget leads to a bigger payoff. This is certainly true with Facebook ads– a greater ad spend often equals a larger reach and with that comes higher brand awareness.
The most important thing to remember, however, is that this process takes time. Although you may continue to invest more in your social spending, you may not see immediate results overnight.
Social media marketing is a marathon- not a race. To learn more and to see how much you should be investing in your social spending, contact us. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more tips!
