Before any business engages in social media advertising, they should consider the advantages and disadvantages of investing their time and money. Recent news about the handling of misinformation and hate speech related content on social media has seen an escalation in some significant brands boycotting platforms, in particular Facebook.
Facebook collected $17 billion in advertising revenue in the first quarter this year. While the withdrawal of revenue by Coca Cola, Starbucks, Ben and Jerrys, Honda and Levi’s will hurt, most of their advertising revenue comes from smaller businesses heavily reliant on the platform.
Here’s the conundrum – what happens when decisions made by owners of these platforms conflict with your business or personal values?
We are attracted to Social Media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn because they make it easy to reach a target audience – but can this alignment have adverse outcomes for your brand image?
A decade ago, as these platforms emerged offering purely social interactions while incurring substantial financial losses – we participated en masse, they became familiar. As their global audiences grew, the now Social Media giants introduced targeted advertising models and the ability for Business to Consumer engagement to thrive. Today many businesses are entirely reliant on their social platforms to reach their customers.
Social media is undeniably effective at reaching people at a low cost compared to traditional mediums like print, radio, and television. Not giving adequate consideration and preparing for the risks associated with using these platforms could negatively impact your business.
Advantages of using social media to promote your business.
Consumers making purchasing decisions use Social Media to review, compare and discuss with their networks.
It takes little time and money to establish a presence on Social Media and reach potential customers compared to media like print, radio and television.
Social Media advertising, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter is cost-effective in that it is targeted and measurable.
There are plenty of free online resources that can help upskill you to be more productive using these online social platforms as business tools.
When budgets allow, there are experts in the field of Social Media advertising and marketing that can assist you.
Disadvantages of using social media to promote your business.
You have no ownership or control of the platforms. They may sell or change their terms of use.
Despite investing considerable time in growing a following, your page or account could be closed without warning for reasons beyond your control. (This has happened to me).
Poor content management could result in a negative impact on your brand. Reviews in error (meant for someone else) or misadventure by competitors, disgruntled team members or hackers can eliminate or disrupt access or cause mistrust from your clients.
Legal issues related to privacy, content ownership and intellectual property infringement.
Being aware of the risks allows you to make the most of the opportunities social media advertising and marketing represents. Putting structure and documenting social media use, permissions and spending form the basis of your social media policy that you can use and implement as part of your overall business planning process.
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