Death, taxes, and ROIs? Not exactly! Social media is a great way to engage your audience and bring in new customers, but it doesn’t come with a golden guarantee. That’s because there are all sorts of factors outside of a marketing agency’s control, including the following:
Algorithms that Affect Social Media ROI
Social networks use algorithms to prioritize content and determine what users see. While we know how to work with the most common algorithms, our power only goes so far. Ultimately, what lands at the top of any newsfeed is up to the social media platform and can change frequently over time.
What Your Competition is Doing
Your competition’s marketing tactics, and how they’re ranked on Google, can directly impact your company by taking the proverbial spotlight off your business and shining it on them. The way to beat them out is to implement more aggressive marketing strategies and improve your own rankings. But, naturally, there’s no guarantee that your competition will fade into oblivion without a fight.
The User’s Habits
Social media is a well-oiled machine that practically knows a user’s moves before they do. It doesn’t rely on ESP, but rather the user’s past actions, habits, and likelihood of engaging in specific types of content. Some current and potential customers will keep the same tastes and preferences and feel relatively easy to target; others will reinvent themselves often, turning engagement into a game of Whack-a-Mole in the process.
The World at Large
Another factor in whether social media marketing will be successful has to do with what is going on in the world. When politics and controversy dominate, users get fed up with their Twitter feeds and take a break. Some can’t stay away, but others find that steering clear of Facebook arguments benefits their mental health and they log off for good (or at least for a good while).
The Ethics Involved
Of course, one of the biggest reasons we can’t make guarantees is because it’s unethical to do so. In many ways, a social media campaign is like a science experiment. We can hypothesize what works and act on that theory, but there will always be some trial and error involved. That’s where reporting and analytics come in handy (and we offer those in spades!). We use this info to determine if what we’re doing is working. If it’s not, we jump ship and adopt a plan that better helps your business thrive.
In the end, the best way to gauge your ROI is to compare your company to itself. Are you experiencing better engagement? More website views? Increased sales? Higher earnings? Then you can rest assured your investment is doing its job.
Whether you hire in-house or outsource your needs, a solid social media company can make or break your profit margins. Give us a shout and we’ll be happy to help.
Photo by Prateek Katyal on Unsplash