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NO TIME FOR SOCIAL (2018). Social Media Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing. Retrieved from http://notimeforsocial.com/social-media-marketing-vs-traditional-marketing/

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MediaLabs. (2015, November 25). Online Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oocJdzFojew

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Online Marketing Vs Traditional Marketing

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AskGaryVee. (2016, April 29). How to build a digital team at a traditional advertising agency. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_X0_zZWUeY

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How to Build a Digital Team at a Traditional Advertising Agency

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Ingole, R. (2012, March 31). ‘Share A Coke’ campaign …Coca Cola, a marketing genius!!! Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X8Bd3-G6IU

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'Share A Coke' campaign  ...Coca Cola, a marketing genius!!!

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Eden, E. (2017, November 8). Emily Eden’s Blog: “Share A Coke” campaign reverses coca-cola’s declining sales. Retrieved from https://blogs.ubc.ca/emilyeden/2014/11/08/53/

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Social media marketing is the process of gaining traffic or attention through online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, Youtube, wiki, etc. Online marketing is less expensive and will have a lower cost on your business and the most popular platform currently is Facebook and Twitter. Social media has proven success to improve businesses to increase sales. It is also easy to change content regularly and provides consumers to provide feedback. Some negative aspects to social media marketing could include not having a clear marketing strategy that could impact your business. Social media is requires constant management and daily monitoring – if you are not actively on it, it won’t be as beneficial. For businesses that sell products that can be shipped – social media marketing will be highly beneficial. You would be able to connect with consumers around the world, expanding your business and revenue.

Traditional marketing is considered a type of advertising or promotion that is used by companies that include printed advertisement, television commercials, radio or podcast, billboards, newspaper, brochures, coupons and flyers. Traditional marketing has a high success rate and is proven – although depending on the product or service you are trying to advertise it can be either a strength or weakness. Anyone that gets the newspaper, regular mail service, watches television or listens to the radio will be exposed to the brand you are trying to market. Although, the younger generation is usually taken to social media for news updates – so it all depends on who you are trying to market. If you were opening up a local coffee shop business, the best business marketing tool to use would be traditional marketing. You want the residents living in your area to come to your coffee shop instead of the big brand companies such as Tim Hortons or McDonalds. It would be best to hand out flyers door to door, put a column in the newspaper and post billboards or printed advertisement around the area. Social media can capture a worldwide population to advertise which won’t be helpful if the majority of your followers are out of town or country.

In combination with traditional and online marketing, businesses can expand to their full potential which will access a larger audience. Traditional technique is considered a passive method, while social media targets a specific audience. The example used on the padlet wall is Coca Cola’s marketing campaign “Share a Coke”. In the video it shows the impact on sales, resulting in a 7% increase. In this campaign, they used both the traditional and social media by adding consumer names on the bottles of pop along with a hashtag to allow consumers to spread/share the advertisement. This allows multiple channels that increases exposure – younger audience is more likely to use a social media platform and an older clientele tends to use the traditional method. By understanding their audience, they can adapt commercials and advertisement to appeal to each consumer differently. If businesses don’t use both methods of traditional and social media to advertise their product or service, they are failing to attract all potential customers. An example used that is taking advantage of both methods is Coca Cola Company which resulted in advanced success.

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Ways that using both social media and traditional benefits a business or campaign.
Palmer, E. (2015, March 13). 3 Ways that Traditional and Digital Marketing Work Together. Retrieved from https://enveritasgroup.com/campfire/3-ways-that-traditional-and-digital-marketing-work-together/

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SocialBoostClub. (2018, February 25). Social Media Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing for Small Businesses. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/socialboostclub/status/967754358208303104

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The Plug Inc. (2017, November 8). Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/the_pluginc/status/928175795490652160

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Digitaljugglerblog. (2017, December 14). Digital vs Traditional Marketing. Retrieved from https://digitaljugglers.com/2017/12/14/digital-vs-traditional-marketing/

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SCP Agency Driving Social ROI (2018). Social media marketing vs traditional marketing. Retrieved from http://upflow.co/l/bMcJ/social-media-marketing-vs-traditional-marketing

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Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing SCP Agency https://t.co/MJZi2AroB5

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Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing SCP Agency https://t.co/MJZi2AroB5 https://t.co/0DjlZsXHuL

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Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing SCP Agency https://t.co/MJZi2AroB5 pic.twitter.com/0DjlZsXHuL
— Candace Towner (@PinJedi) March 24, 2018

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Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing SCP Agency https://t.co/MJZi2AroB5 https://t.co/0DjlZsXHuL

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Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing SCP Agency https://t.co/MJZi2AroB5 https://t.co/0DjlZsXHuL

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Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing SCP Agency https://t.co/MJZi2AroB5

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Advantages and disadvantages of traditional marketing.
Higurea, V. (2018). Chron: advantages and disadvantages of traditional marketing. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-traditional-marketing-25573.html

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Advantages & Disadvantages of Traditional Marketing

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Every business wants to grow and develop a strong client base. Advertising or promoting a business is key to achieving this growth. Advertising methods include traditional marketing methods as well ...

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Advantages and disadvantages of social media/online marketing.
WebpageFX. (2018). Internet Marketing: The advantages and disadvantages of social media marketing. Retrieved from https://www.webpagefx.com/internet-marketing/social-media-marketing-advantages-and-disadvantages.html

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Social media has fundamentally changed the way businesses interact with customers and the public at large. What started as an innovative way to approach the marketplace has become an essential tool for marketing, public relations, and customer service. But as easy as social media has made it to connect with customers, it does come with a few drawbacks.

Unlike other forms of marketing, in which marketers retain control of the messaging, there's no control on social media. This can be great if people love you or your business, but it can be a disaster if they don't. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow anyone and everyone to share their opinions, which makes for interesting conversation, but can be dangerous for marketers.

Get a Social Media Marketing Quote

Even though you never know when negativity will strike your social media from an outside source, WebpageFX offers reputation management, which can help your business stay afloat when they take a hit. We'll continuously monitor your social media accounts to ensure that your business always looks great online. Not to mention, we'll create positive content about your business that will rank highly in search results, so that customers always see your best side.

Keep reading for an overview of social media marketing advantages and disadvantages, along with how you can manage your accounts in a way that benefits your business.

Social media marketing advantages

If you're trying to promote a business, social media can be a huge help. For one thing, your current and potential customers are already there. Facebook alone has 1.13 billion daily active users, and that's only one of the many platforms you can use for advertising purposes.

Large audiences

In addition to Facebook, Twitter has 313 million monthly active users, Instagram has 500 million, and Pinterest has about 110 million. Although you don't need to utilize every single platform, creating accounts on just one or two can give you exposure to millions of people around the world.

Free to create

One of the biggest advantages of social media marketing is that it is entirely free to start. None of the largest platforms have signup fees of any sort, so the only investment you'll need to make is in the form of time.

That being said, there are paid advertising options on most social media platforms. These can be a great tool for growing your following and reaching more users, but are by no means mandatory for businesses.

Encourages sharing

Perhaps the most unique advantage of social media is the ability to get help from your followers. People love to share things with their networks, from photos and recipes to interesting articles and hot deals.

Unlike other forms of Internet marketing, like your site and paid advertisements, content on social media is often shared. However wide your reach, your followers can share with their followers, who then share with their followers, giving you a wider reach (with lower cost) than a traditional marketing campaign.

Increases brand loyalty

In addition to increasing the reach of your brand, social media also allows you to increase brand loyalty. And a study conducted by The Social Habit shows that 53% of Americans who follow brands on social media are more likely to remain loyal to those brands.

Social media is more than a sales pitch. Instead, it facilitates two-way communication that allows you to build meaningful relationships with current and potential customers. This makes them more confident in their decision to trust your business, and it encourages them to choose your brand in the future.

Uncovers valuable insights

You can also use social media to gain valuable information about your customers that will help you make smarter business decisions. For example, social listening allows you to discover how people feel about your company and brand. With social listening, you can uncover conversations about your business and answer questions about your offerings.

What do people like about your business? How can you improve your products and services to better meet the needs of your target audience? Understanding the answers to these questions can your business stand out from the competition and reach more people.

Social media marketing disadvantages

Of course, social media marketing isn't without its flaws. Just as quickly as users can share your content on social media, they can choose to share an unflattering story about you or your business.

Negative feedback

Social media users have free rein to post whatever they want. This means that satisfied customers can leave glowing reviews on your pages, but it also means that unhappy ones can leave angry rants about your business.

Some of this negative feedback could come from within your own organization. Disgruntled employees have been known to vent on social media about work and their bosses, which makes the entire company look bad.

Potential for embarrassment

It's easy to get caught up in social media and post whatever comes to mind, which can have huge consequences for any business.

Take, for example, when DiGiorno Pizza noticed that "#WhyIStayed" was trending on Twitter, and jumped on board with a tweet that read "#WhyIStayed You had pizza." This doesn't sound awful until you consider that the hashtag was being used to discuss why victims of domestic violence stay in abusive relationships.

For companies with a large audience, mistakes like this don't go unnoticed. Thanks to social media users' quick reactions and tendency to share, the tweet was all over major media outlets within hours.

Time intensive

It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain an interactive social media presence. If you have a small team or limited resources, it is sometimes difficult to devote the needed resources to social media.

People have to monitor each social network, respond to questions and feedback, and post valuable updates. While some people may view this as a drawback, investing time into social media can help your business create lasting relationships with customers that will keep them coming back for years to come.

How to successfully manage your social media strategy

As a marketer, you should approach social media as a valuable marketing tool-but one with potential consequences. It can be tough to strike a balance between professional and personal, but well-organized social accounts can be very beneficial to your business.

So how can you create an effective social media strategy?

Set concrete goals

What's the point of being on social media? What do you expect to get out of posting on sites like Facebook and Twitter? Create a set of goals for your strategy and make sure every subsequent activity brings you closer to meeting it.

Thanks to the analytic options on popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, it is easy to measure how successful you are in reaching these goals. Use these features to your advantage, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Create a social team

It's okay to put one person in charge of your social strategy, but that person should not be responsible for every single tweet and status update. So who else should participate?

Put a team together to execute your social media strategy, and give each person a clear set of tasks. If possible, try to designate one task to each team member. For instance, make one person responsible for curating content and put another in charge of responding to negative feedback.

Set guidelines

You might get a lot of shares and retweets by posting videos of puppies acting cute, but is that really going to reinforce your company's image? Create a content strategy that matches not only your social media goals, but your company's brand and mission.

Make sure that every member of your social team is familiar with these goals. This ensures that you only post content that best resonates with followers, and creates a sense of consistency.

Social media can be a personal, cost-effective addition to any marketing strategy, but it takes time to perfect. If you need help developing your brand or company's social strategy, feel free to contact us! Our dedicated team has all the expertise it takes to help you grow your business using social media.

Ready to start your social media marketing and campaign? Call 888.449.3239 or contact us online today to learn more about how WebpageFX can help with your Internet marketing challenges.

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing

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Social media has fundamentally changed the way businesses interact with customers and the public at large. What started as an innovative way to approach the marketplace has become an essential tool for marketing, public relations, and customer service. But as easy as social media has made it to connect with customers, it does come with a few drawbacks.