In a poll reported in USA Today 61% of small business customers could not document or prove any direct return on their investments in social media activity yet 51% said they were increasing time and money commitments. Only 7% said they were cutting back!
Consumers are most likely to share articles, news, and content related to science but only 9% of person to person recipients click on the shared links regarding the topics.
Timely News: 2% share, 86% click
Political Topics: 2% share, 74% click
Business Content: 4% share, 24% click
Health: 3% share, 15% click
Celebrity/ Entertainment: 2% share, 40% click
Consumer Reviews: 1% share, 4% click
Personal Finance: 1% share, 11% click
Senders share content they believe boosts their perceived intelligence, informed status, etc regardless of whether they think the recipients will find it interesting or not!
The overall average is 3% sharing of content, 24% of recipients clicking on shared links.
(Statistics from 33Acrosscom based on 500 publishers of online content)
What can we take from these findings?
Two things here:
Firstly, the only secure strategy is a multimedia marketing strategy utilising a variety of different media both online and offline and the second is the requirement to have a well thought out multi-channel sales strategy.
The marketing success triangle has not changed.
Your MOST COMPELLING message delivered to the RIGHT audience using the RIGHT media.
Measurement of the effectiveness of your campaigns is the key to success.
As William Edward Demming once said “In god we trust, all others bring data”
As we’ve mentioned many times on our blogs, webinars, and seminars it’s vital to measure the success of your pipeline and the ROI of every campaign.
Test the media used against the results.
Social Media Marketing, like direct mail, like press advertising, has a role in a successful club marketing plan. However, to over-egg its importance and to short cut, traditional activities in favour of this media could well be folly!
A final thought on social media and in fact all the marketing tactics club operators can use is to test small, don’t commit what you can’t afford to lose and live by the adage, “If it’s not going to get me the results, I am not going to do it!”
Good Luck!
