Jonathan Palmer is Head of Social at Vizeum UK, we asked him to outline how important social is from an agency perspective, and where he sees future value in the industry.
We’ve only just started to tap into the true value of social media since it has moved back into the comms agency model.
More and more, businesses are recognising the need for social media to act as the glue that joins together all the elements of comms planning.
Social no longer needs to be treated as a separate channel but as a way to amplify the reach and effectiveness of other communications tactics, therefore it needs to work into one holistic strategy.
One part of a unified comms strategy
Whilst it’s very important that social is regarded as part of an overall strategy, the implementation side of social media can rest quite happily with a third party agency, especially one with social at its heart.
Despite the fact that social, and previous to that, community marketing, has been around for over a decade, it’s only in the past three years that we’ve seen the uptake and inclusion of social media into the strategy of the majority of our clients.
Even those that don’t use social media now take the time to see if there’s a role for social to play in their comms strategy.
No longer getting something for nothing
Facebook recently changed its advertising to reflect the different ways people use it.
It’s no longer as simple as post a status update and everyone who likes your page will see it, you now have to pay for that privilege.
Their new EdgeRank algorithm ensures that brands have to create, and pay to promote, engaging content in order for anyone to actually see what your brand is saying in the first place.
Has social peaked?
These things together means that brands are having to pay more and more in order to use this space effectively. However, with reports showing that Facebook is losing members, many people are asking has social reached its peak?
Whilst it is true that usage of sites will rise and fall, I don’t see that social has in any way reached its potential.
What we as an industry should really be focusing on is ROI – how do we measure success on social and what does it look like for a brand whose bottom line is always going to be sales?
Pinterest offering value
Facebook has released various reports on shifts in perception leading to fans and friends of fans being more likely to choose your product, but we have nothing concrete.
New research has also shown that consumers are more likely to click through and buy a product having seen it on Pinterest.
The introduction of brand promoted pins will therefore really help us delve into this and see if this is the platform to drive sales, whereas Facebook is to build advocacy and Twitter is a customer service and brand notification platform.
Jonathan Palmer is Head Of Social at Vizeum UK