Making Money On-line: When It Comes To Social Media, CMOs Need To Get Visual

Tuesday 9 August 2016

When It Comes To Social Media, CMOs Need To Get Visual

This morning I came across an article on MediaPost with perhaps one of the best titles I have seen in some time: Shocker! Personalization Platform Releases Study That Finds Personalization Improves Engagement! While having nothing to do with social media, the reason I bring this piece up is it should be more than obvious by now that personalization in marketing is a good thing just as is the case when it comes to using video and pictures in social media.

I mean this isn't 2004... is it?

However, we must - at least I need to, remind ourselves that what is obvious to some may not be so obvious to others. So, having said that, I give you this, courtesy of research from Clutch.

Again it bears repeating that this more than likely may seem obvious to many of you reading this, especially you CMOs out there. The use of visual aids in any form of marketing is, or should be, ubiquitous at this point. Last year, in a study conducted by The CMO Council and Libris showed that both B2B and B2C marketers are putting a lot of value into visual assets.

Getting Social

Getting back to the Clutch research, which was based off responses from over 300 marketers from both the B2B and B2C worlds, here's another finding.

Again these findings should not come as a surprise. Facebook is of course the big dog for both B2B and B2C and LinkedIn is preferred by B2B and Instagram favored by B2C. It is important, however to remember as the survey points out, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits all strategy for social media.

"It’s important not to restrict B2B companies to LinkedIn. Certain features of B2C-associated social platforms, like Instagram and Pinterest, can benefit B2B companies as well."

The bottom line in all of this, as I just mentioned there is no one-size-fits all. You have to know what works best for your customers and of course (again obvious) the content you share via social media - or anyplace else, has to be relevant to them.

For example you may see great response and engagement metrics via text-only posts that are shared on Google Plus. Does that mean you should stop what you're doing and focus only on videos and pictures?

Of course not.

You, and only you, will know what works best for your brand.

It’s time to raise your game on social media, become more aligned with your customers and followers, and create a better perception of your brand.

And the best way to get started is by downloading The Guide to Social Media Marketing.