Social media platforms have created myriad ways for brands to connect with consumers, so advertisers have naturally jumped in with both feet.
As a result, major social networks continue to introduce new advertising features, developing their platforms to further establish them as vital marketing tools for the brands they support and generating revenues for investors.
History has repeated itself on sufficient occasions for us to recognise the pattern of a typical social platform: launch as free to all; build a sizeable user base; open up features for free brand connection; introduce paid features for brands; change the rules to reduce the free reach; watch the cash roll in. Bingo.
The evolving nature of media platforms
So, remember when you spent all that effort gaining Facebook fans – and now you’re reaching only 2% of them organically? Well, you’re about to experience the same thing on Instagram as well.
Recognising that Instagram is the platform consumers engage with most, brands have put big budgets behind creating the perfect engagement strategies, using a mixture of organic and paid methods – and that’s no bad thing. But the necessity for the big platforms to deliver a return to their investors puts a short timeframe on the success brands can have before the rules are changed and their previous strategies are rendered obsolete.
‘Don’t build your house on rented land’
Those who are regular listeners of PNR’s This Old Marketing podcast will have heard the above phrase many times. And it’s wise advice. By relying too much on driving your consumers to platforms you don’t control, you are putting your long-term ability to engage at risk.
Does this mean we should ignore social platforms? Of course not – they’re still excellent tools for reaching the right audiences and showcasing a brand’s personality. It just means brands need to focus more on the bigger picture of how social can aid their wider objectives.
Robert Rose, the content marketing strategist and host of the aforementioned podcast, suggests brands shouldn’t aim to build a huge pool of audiences on platforms, but should use them to flow audiences into owned spaces. In other words, part of your strategy should be to use the reach of social platforms to drive people to somewhere that you can capture first-party data. Once you’ve got that, your relationship with your audience isn’t jeopardised every time platform owners change the rules.
Avinash Kaushik, Google’s digital marketing evangelist, is doing just that. In a blog about rented v owned platforms and audiences, he writes about how, having grown his Google+ following to 500,000 people, several tweaks to the platform resulted in his average engagement count being 12 people.
What’s he doing now? He’s using social to drive people to his owned platform (his blog) and adjusting his strategy to get people to sign up to his email newsletter. Essentially, capturing first-party data and growing his contact database. This gives him full control of his content and allows him to set his own rules, instead of having to restrategise to outsmart algorithms.
A brand’s owned assets, including its contact database, are becoming the only things they can rely on for long-term value, so every opportunity should be taken to give people a compelling reason to sign up. Social platforms are a great space to engage people and start the relationship, but by no means should they be the end point in the journey.
Matt Hardy is digital director and joint managing director at The Real Adventure Unlimited
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