Is Social Media Marketing Dead?

Ever since the advent of social media around the turn of the century, brands and businesses have been gaining a more and more complete understanding of how to use these tools for marketing purposes. While sites like MySpace never really took off in a major way for brands and advertising, it’s inarguable that platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have been leveraged to their full potential by several brands and influencers looking to build profiles for themselves.

However, we now live in an age of dubious credibility, where anyone can describe themselves as a “social media expert” without needing to display any kind of credentials to prove it. That’s what’s got people asking this question: is social media marketing dead? We’d like to take a look at this question today. In a nutshell, we don’t think social media marketing is dead at all, but it’s probably not the same as it once was. Let’s take a look at whether social media marketing is dead, and what’s happened to it since it began.

Follower counts and engagement are more important than ever

If the definition of social media marketing is using your social media following to sell products and advertise your brand, then social media marketing most definitely is not dead. It’s more important than it’s ever been to amass followers and likes on social media platforms. That’s why platforms such as ProfileFollower are so invaluable in the modern age; they connect influencers with audiences, which are the most valuable and important aspect of a social media guru’s online presence. It’s undeniable that social media can still result in astounding success as long as you have the follower count to back it up.

Too many agencies are making empty promises

While it’s definitely true that social media marketing remains important, the fact is that there are too many marketing agencies now claiming to be able to supercharge your social media presence. In reality, only a handful of marketing agencies can really claim to possess this knowledge; social media fame and fortune are so desirable that marketing agencies are making the claims without any evidence to back them up. This can feel like it’s cheapening the whole social media marketing industry, as with so many companies hovering around the market and diluting the pool of genuine contenders, the whole industry feels weaker.

Also Read: Take Advantage of Social Network to Improve your Marketing

There’s still no substitute for an influencer team-up

If you’re a brand looking to promote a product, there’s still pretty much no better way to market that product organically than to partner up with a well-known influencer. It’s well-known that having an influencer promote your product significantly increases engagement with that product. A good influencer makes audiences feel as though the product is being promoted organically and that they are genuinely recommending the product to their followers. There’s no substitute for that; in place of an awkward, artificial advertising campaign, you have genuine, organic growth.

Social media marketing changes platform by platform

Part of the misapprehension that social media marketing is dead may come from the fact that there are now lots of different social media (1) platforms to choose from. The marketing protocol for each social media platform is totally different, too, so it’s not always easy to transfer marketing techniques from Facebook to Instagram, for example. This may be part of what has led people to declare that social media marketing is dead. You simply need to adopt a different approach depending on the platform you’re looking at. If you’re on Instagram, for example, a catchy caption is more important than a long text-based post, as would be popular on Facebook.

Also Read: 5 basic rules of “social selling” or selling through social networks

Authenticity is everything

There’s a lot of animosity towards brands on social media right now. Many people feel that brands aren’t being genuine or sincere when they advertise their products. It only gets worse when brands attempt to adopt the language of younger people; when they’re using slang, for example, or when they’re trying to hop on the meme bandwagon. These days, social media prizes authenticity above everything else, which is why brands are partnering up with influencers more and more rather than paying for dedicated advertising campaigns themselves. That’s another reason people might think social media marketing is dead; it’s changed to emphasise authenticity rather than sales.

You need to demonstrate authority and expertise

Why should anyone value your opinion over their peers? Social media marketing now is all about authority and demonstrating that your audience can and should trust you. If you want to sell a product or advertise a service on social media, it’s important to demonstrate and illustrate why your service is superior to others’, and not simply with tired advertising speak. People are getting more wise to the traditional methods used by advertisers to sell them products, so now, it’s about being honest and upselling your product by explaining it in a straightforward way. You won’t get anywhere in social media marketing if you’re not presenting a trustworthy front.

It’s impossible to predict what will go viral

Every single business on social media dreams of having “that” viral hit – the one that skyrockets the business’ public image and captures the audience’s imagination without needing to spend a penny on marketing costs. However, nobody can truly know exactly what will make a video viral. Many people have theories as to what makes up the DNA of a viral video, but even if you hit every single one of these points, your video simply may not find the popularity you feel it deserves. That doesn’t mean social media marketing is dead; it simply means you need to keep your fingers crossed that you’ve got a viral hit on your hands.