Internet Engagements and Social Media Strategies are no Longer Nice-to-haves, They are Must-Haves for Enterprises

Post by Digital CRM.

Given the sheer nos. on the internet & on social media, on desktops and increasingly on mobiles, internet / SM marketing & engagements is no longer an option but a necessity for all enterprises, small businesses included.

Current digital marketing is like ad content production shifting from print & TV to digital media and appearing as SM posts, videos, blogs or on websites etc., Mostly, they replicate mainly what they were doing on these mediums earlier, at the behest of the CEO / COO / CMO  of the enterprise.

Social Media is quite different in many respects and what works in print & TV media will most likely not work in SM. Besides, while print / TV at best is a once a week / once a fortnight release affair, SM, considering the various networks & channels and the need to engage & respond, is a 24 x 7 affair. Also, merely replicating handouts / ads / promos on SM networks will soon come to be perceived as spamming, putting off many people and eventually being counterproductive.

One needs to understand businesses, management points of view & concerns as well as tech. & apps to make a success of SM / internet marketing & engagement. Also one needs to understand internal communication processes & roadblocks first to be in a position to help remove them through the appropriate social & communication channels & help evolve the business into a social business over a period of time. Without setting right things 'internally', external SM initiatives may not be too effective. Emails & phone calls for internal communications remain necessary but are often not sufficient for desired, effective communication & collaboration.

There is a lack of understanding & even misperceptions about SM possibly because of the way it has evolved and because of digital marketing practitioners gaming the system or using superficial measures like using the no. of 'Likes' / 'Followers' as a prime indicator of effectiveness.

Often, when, after a period, the results aren't discernible, cynicism sets in and negative vibes about the whole thing prevail. A certain amount of backlash as a result may be happening. Since virtually all middle & senior level managers in these organizations are fairly clueless about SM strategies and internet marketing, they don't know any better and require external expert help to get their SM strategies on track & build up internal knowledge. This is where Digital CRM can help. 

There is a whole qualitative, quantitative and tech. aspect about getting internet engagements & SM strategies off the ground. For example content management is a major area by itself and there is much more to it than searching for 'some' stuff', paraphrasing it & posting it on some SM network. Similarly engagements & analytics which give you a pretty quick feel of how things are going with a particular strategy, content or post are alien concepts to many. Inappropriate analytics, implemented without adequately understanding what one wants to observe & analyze, can be like GIGO at best or misleading at worst.