Regardless of the industry a business or brand exists in, maintaining an online presence for your audience has become vital for remaining visible and thriving. With the growing significance of social media marketing every day, it’s clear that your audience expects much more from you than they did in the past.
However, the real question is, what is a good marketing mix and how do you achieve that? And is having some elements of traditional marketing still necessary?
The dilemma most businesses face these days is how to utilize every penny in a way that benefits their marketing strategy. While having a good mix is sometimes necessary, small businesses do not have sufficient funds to deal with it. This is why, through this article, we’ve tried to establish how social media marketing is, in fact, efficient compared to traditional marketing.
Social Media Marketing is Cost-Effective
If you’ve just stepped into the field and are particular about your marketing budget, then social media platforms are effective for exploring and figuring out what works well for your business. Moreover, the fact that traditional marketing has always been expensive comparatively makes the former option even more credible. Social media marketing is not only affordable but also flexible and gives you something on every budget.
Traditional Media is Not Primary
Radio, newspapers, and TV, despite being relevant, are not the primary marketing channels anymore. . Even if you plan to utilize them, it will take far longer for the results to be apparent.
Even though people still resort to this medium for information and entertainment, the percentage isn’t high enough to make it your sole marketing channel. Today, people of almost every age group have access to social media, and it’s clearly the more popular medium of communication and advertisement in question.
The deal with traditional media is that there isn’t much you can do about your ad once it’s out. If you’ve made a mistake and wish to change something, it’s probably too late since it’s already on air. Moreover, it leaves a lasting impression of your brand on your audience, so you must be extra careful. With social media, on the other hand, there’s always room for improvement. Therefore, even if you’ve made a mistake once, you’re able to learn from it.
There’s also the option of removing something you don’t think goes with your brand any longer, preventing a significant chunk of the population from looking at it. This makes managing your brand’s reputation proactively a little easier.
In this way and many more, the amount of flexibility you get to enjoy on social media is unmatched by any other medium of communication.
Real-Time Reporting on Traditional Media is Absent
Making well-informed business decisions requires you to have access to data analytics. The problem with traditional media is that there is no real-time reporting, and even if there is, it’s not as detailed as it should be. However, on digital platforms or social media platforms, to be more specific, analytics and reporting are detailed and suited to your business dynamics.
The best part about statistics on platforms like Facebook is that they get updated in real-time. Moreover, they’re also detailed and provide you with the right kind of information to help you decide whether a certain campaign is working in your favor or not.
You’re able to see which ads are garnering attention and which aren’t, and you’re also able to see what posts are getting you how much response. For example, it’s highly unlikely for you to get the same return on investment with traditional media.
Social Media Helps You Target the Right Audience
The deal with any marketing strategy is to target the right audience. This means your product should reach where it’s wanted. Hence, with social media, you have a better chance of reaching more people than traditional media, which doesn’t work well with geographies and demographics.
While traditional media allows you to reach a wide audience, for example, but without a clear strategy to take it forward from that point. Any marketing strategy is built on people’s reading or watching habits, and traditional media is fortunately or unfortunately absent from the forefront.
With platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, your brand will have a much better reach among the right people. Moreover, you’re able to get your message across much more effectively through several specific targeting options. At the end of the day, the most important thing for any small business is to make the most out of every dollar they spend.
Social Media is a Two-Way Street
Traditionally, advertisements worked in a way that people could see them but couldn’t do anything more than that. There was no option to give feedback or to let the brand know if they were interested in a product right away. Also, there wasn’t a way to initiate dialogue with potential customers.
However, with social media, you get the opportunity to engage in dialogue right away. Asking questions, giving feedback, and leaving comments are as easy as they can get. So in a way, we can establish that social media, unlike traditional media, is a two-way street where your potential customer’s areas involved in the campaign as you.
The Bottom Line
In the end, having a good mix of marketing is crucial to make any business work. Hence, the only way to get ahead is to position your message in a way that it reaches those who can bring revenue and value to your product. In an era where communication is highly dependent on social media, no business can survive with traditional media alone.
Not only is it costly and mostly ineffective, but it also isn’t worth your time due to several lacking areas such as the absence of detailed analysis, no real-time communication, and most importantly, a bland and one-sided approach. Therefore, if you’re a small business looking to utilize funds as efficiently as possible, it’s better to resort to social media as a critical part of your marketing strategy.
