Why Success Doesn't Necessarily Mean Number of Likes, Comments or Followers
In the world of social media and everything digital, it can be very easy to get caught up on numbers. Naturally, it’s easy to assume that the higher the number of likes, comments or followers, the better —but this doesn’t necessarily equal success. Such statistics can be a great indicator of how an audience is responding to a profile or type of content, but success can take many different forms. At Blackjet, we’ve witnessed first hand how success can differ from client to client. Here are some indicators of success that go beyond how many followers you may have…
Brand awareness
Ultimately, brand awareness is critical to the success of any business. Every potential customer goes through a decision making process where they consider and evaluate different purchase alternatives. If a customer doesn’t know much about your brand, it’s unlikely your business will come to mind for consideration. Not long ago, a client spoke of how they attended a networking event and were pleasantly surprised when they got recognised: “a lady came up to me and said we hadn’t met before, but that she’s seen my face online. She knew about the business and what we do.” When people are aware of you and your business, it’s a strong indicator that the efforts to build your brand online are successful.
Offline feedback
At a meeting held recently, one client told us how he bumped into a customer at the supermarket who was raving about the company’s social media: “I got asked who was running our social media accounts. Unfortunately I couldn’t say it was me! He was very impressed with what we’d been posting and the engagement.” Offline feedback from customers is often quite genuine and meaningful — these people have gone out of their way to verbally acknowledge the effort that is being put in. Word of mouth is also a valid source of marketing; it’s possible that a customer could then inform other potential customers of what they’d seen online. Hearing such positive feedback is a clear sign that the social media content strategy is successfully working.
Engagement with other marketing sources
Never underestimate the power of all marketing activity along side baseline marketing like email and social media marketing. Maintaining consistency and building momentum eventually creates a tipping point. Sometimes it can feel as though it might not be working as effectively as hoped and then BAM, sales and inquiries come in. A number of our clients have been shocked at how their e-newsletters have directly led to a significant amount of revenue and new customers. One client in particular wasn’t confident that their marketing activity was having an impact. Although we continued to reassure them that it was, the client soon realised when tens of thousands of dollars of product was sold after an e-newsletter was sent out — success!
The meaning of success with social media and digital marketing can have a range of definitions and it does take time to build momentum, trust and rapport with the audience. Just because one client gets fewer likes or has less followers than others, it doesn’t mean their marketing efforts aren’t working.
If you would like help to build your brand online, get in touch with us today — we’d love to help you create your own definition of success.