The Importance of Social Media in the Marketing Mix… Again

By David Levy, Director, Marketing & Business Development

As my colleagues Yosi Anunson, Megan McDonald and Gillian Kriezelman have blogged about recently, social media continues to be a point of emphasis for marketers as we expand our digital programs outside of just traditional search.

We all know it’s important, but it seems that all we want to do is dip our collective toes into the water until someone figures out how to deliver specific ROI targets against their social media efforts.

Well, I came across a study recently that makes me want to throw ROI out the window (for now). It states that Facebook is now the overall leader in US page views.

One in four (25%) US page views across the entire Internet happen on Facebook!

Think about that for a second.

Social media-related research is reaching a point where Facebook and other platforms can no longer be ignored. In fact, I think it’s getting to the point where marketers need to just start doing it and figure out the ROI model later. Very “un-search-like,” I know.

But, my reasoning is simple.

The goal of marketing is to put your customized message in front of a highly engaged audience to drive them to buy your product. Well, how much more engaged can you get than Facebook? Is there a better engagement metric that exists across any marketing channel than the page view?

Facebook and other social media sites have been inherently built to drive engagement. You have to engage to be social, right? The fact that 25% of all US Internet page views happen on Facebook’s network only solidifies this point. Couple that with the ability to literally poll your customers, get their real time thoughts about your brand, offer them unique value propositions, target locally vs. nationally, etc. and social media can simply no longer be ignored.

Believe me, I know the ROI model needs to be worked out. But, we need enough marketers dipping their toes into the water to get to that point. We will figure out how to drive ROI from social media… and we’ll do it together.

For now, I’m asking everyone to put away your data hats… just for a second. Ask yourself – can you continue to ignore leveraging a highly engaging site that generates 25% of all US page views?

Come on, jump in… the water’s warm!