I know this forum mostly focuses on Eloqua and Marketing Automation, but as Modern Marketers it is hard to ignore what has been happening with social media. The heart of social media is that it is driven by the masses and is "owned" by those who contribute. My question to all of you is: What happens when social platforms begin to have responsibility to investors?
As social media platforms begin to monetize what used to be free and clutter user views with advertisements, it leads me to wonder how will this change user behavior? Will we see a mass exodus of people who decide to move on to the next great thing that has not been polluted by revenue responsibility? According to BIA/Kelsey, U.S. social media ad spend will reach $9.8 billion by 2016 - which represents a 20.6 percent compound annual growth rate between 2011 and 2016. In my opinion, companies participating in social media to promote versus truly being a part of the conversation are missing the point of social media and will not see the same return on investment as companies who get it.
While promoted posts and tweets may be working today, as people begin to catch on, I wonder if the success of these types of advertisements is sustainable? Lots of heat mapping studies have been done to identify how people read a web page. Ever hear of the exclusion zone? How long will be it be before social media advertisers begin seeing diminishing returns on their ad spend?
My company has a social media council and the following stat was shared with us a couple of weeks ago: From SEOmoz -- a Faceboook ad has a 41% higher bounce rate over typical rates and users who stay spend 57% less time on the site than a typical visitor. Which begs the question - if your ads are not driving the right traffic - is more traffic better than good traffic? I bet your CFO would prefer the latter since it can show true ROI versus "we increased impressions by 100%!" - the CFO reply: great, how much money did we make because of it?
Can social media be a sustainable method of revenue generation for businesses?
Yes. It can. When approached correctly. Topliners is a great example of this. A community that is open to all, not just customers, and no advertisements! If I am looking for an Eloqua partner or want to recruit someone, I will review their portfolio of posts and determine if they are the kind of person I want to do business with or hire. This is how social media truly builds business connections.
What are your thoughts on this topic?