Social Media minus the myths : The Art of Social Media

The biggest mistake today's businesses make about social media is compare it with Search engine Ads. So before jumping into this article, I will clarify this for every one. Social media and SEO / SEM are two different worlds. They target two different set of people who have completely different mindset and needs. Let's take an example, I want to buy a shoulder bag and am ok with not going to a store. I search for "shoulder bags in Bangalore" on Google - Out of all the results I get, I click on about 5 different sites, compare the size, features, rates, warranty etc and then choose the one that suits me best. I complete the "transaction" by paying online. Second scenario - After I buy the bag, I decide to go to Facebook and go through all the updates that my friend's have posted. At that time, I see an Ad of a Mobile and decide to visit their page. The content seemed interesting so I Like the page and spend about 5 minutes browsing through the various images that they posted on their page - I come back to my news feed, happily thinking that I will buy this mobile one day.

I am sure that all of you get the difference by now. Scenario 1 is for an "active user" who wants to transact immediately and Scenario 2 is for a "passive user" who has no intentions of transacting at that time.

People who understand this basic difference succeed in both the areas, i.e. Search engine marketing and social media marketing. Now let's talk about ROI or trying to "scientifically measure" the impact of social media using Maths. Few days before our anniversary, my wife asked me what I wanted and I told her about the Mobile I saw on Facebook and it's features and all of that. Next morning, first thing in her office, she went to company's website and bought it for me. I challenge all the ROI experts to measure that as a return due to investments on social media .

Don't get me wrong here, I am a huge fan of metrics and measurement and mathematics. In fact it is and has been my favorite subject since I was 7 years old. The point I am trying to make here is that the measurement scales have to be different here. We cannot just stick to "traffic from Facebook" or "sales from traffic that came from Facebook" etc.

This is where "art" comes in - According to me, art is something that is appreciated and not measured. This is exactly what we want from social media.

Here are some of the most important factors for your company to succeed - Credibility Brand awareness and equity Customer engagement (service) Brand ambassadors (word of mouth)

Do well on all of these and sales is an output of all the good work that you do. Now you don't measure "sales due to social media" - You measure whether "people find your credible or not" ? Do they "appreciate you as a brand" ? Are they "happy with your customer service" ? etc. So your metrics and goals are around "appreciation", "happiness", "satisfaction" etc. and not "decrease bounce rate on site by 25% QoQ"

Social Media is all about dealing with people, taking them through the cycle of Awareness -> Engagement -> Trust which leads to increase in loyal customers. Social Media management is like creating a painting - You want to ensure that all the colors (credibility, reach, awareness, equity, loyalty etc) are appreciated. No one will appreciate the picture if it has just one color used perfectly. Everyone will appreciate if you use all the required colors and use them well. And yes, appreciation will lead to fame and success.

This is a guest article by Advit Sahdev, Founder of the Online Digital Marketing Agency ODigMa. They specialize in social media marketing in India with special focus on Facebook business communities. Read more about Advit here.