Gallup's research appears to imply that social media doesn't help with marketing to new prospects. At least not social media directly at new prospects.
One of the key points made in the article is that is that
"brand-sponsored social media initiatives don't have much influence on a
customer's deep rational and emotional attachment, which we call customer
engagement." In fact, Gallup
reports that customer engagement drives social engagement. They define social engagement as "the
degree to which customers will work for or against your company or brand within
their social networks". Their point is that people who are already "engaged" will write or comment about your company or products. So - engagement with the product comes before the social media - not after.
So - what drives customer engagement? According to Gallup's research, you get that
by doing what companies should always be doing - taking care of their
customers.
Gallup reports that
"Prospective customers are much more likely to try your product or service
or advocate on your behalf if they hear good things about you from an engaged
customer in their social network."
Because of this, Gallup encourages companies to focus their social media
efforts at their current customers rather than their prospects.
Probably my favorite quote from the article was:
"...bowing to the argument that
"everyone is doing it, so we should too" -- many organizations
approach social media as a tactic in search of a strategy."
This approach (operating without a strategy) has never
worked well in traditional media and it will rarely work with social media.
So – what should a social media strategy look like?
