Why is my social media spend not delivering results?

We get asked this question a lot of times by our clients.

And almost always this is our answer: Merely spending on social media does not immediately guarantee business results. Choosing what media to spend on and spending your marketing budget wisely is important.

Let’s share with you the story of a large hospital that was originally based only in southern Tamil Nadu. The management wanted to expand operations to other parts of the state. This hospital has a specialization in offering critical care to cancer patients. They have a vision to be Tamil Nadu’s number one, go- to hospital for cancer treatment. Their CEO said they had spent substantially on advertising on all social media platforms. But when they measured the impact, they did not find that their marketing spend had significantly generated qualified, valid leads.

They came to firebrand labs (FBL) looking for help to get them more value for the money they were investing in social media marketing.
We recommended a simple, three-pronged approach:

1. Run patient and doctor stories through a sponsored video campaign on specific social media platforms.
2. Run a print media campaign in Chennai and other cities in Tamil Nadu introducing their hospital through these patients and doctor stories.
3. Run a series of events in public forums in Chennai and other cities in Tamil Nadu to talk about cancer care. These events too must have stories of patients and doctors featuring in them. These events were to be aggressively promoted on both social media and print media.

The client backed our strategy and invested in it. One year down the line, they became a well-known hospital chain across Tamil Nadu. Importantly, their doctors are now recognized as experts in cancer care. Also, several thousand qualified, valid leads have been generated annually due to the brand’s increased visibility and reputation.

FBL’s marketing strategy for this client is based on a reality that every business leader and brand needs to understand about marketing in the digital age. Social media is not the only avenue for marketing. It is just one of the channels.

So social media spends must be carefully and intelligently planned. Merely advertising on social media does not guarantee any brand business success. Just as you cannot use a print media publication or TV channel beyond its circle of influence, you cannot expect social media advertising to produce results if your customers are not likely to be there.

A brand must ask itself some important questions:

If you think about it, these questions have not changed with the advent of the digital age. These are the same questions that marketers have asked themselves when planning marketing campaigns for decades now. These questions have not changed for over a century and they are unlikely to ever change.

It is only in the answer to the second question that social media offers brands a new channel, a new vehicle. Like print media, TV, events and public relations offered brands vehicles to reach customers, in the digital age, social media is just another vehicle. It is just another marketing channel.

Also, the quality of the content that your marketing campaign offers is very important. Merely promoting your product or service is not enough. Your campaign must reflect a theme, it must tell stories. It is because FBL built a campaign around the stories of patients and doctors that our client’s hospital gained visibility, stature and business.
Social media is not the answer to your marketing needs. FBL is.