I recently read an article about a company dropping their Facebook Page, and focusing all their social media efforts on Google Plus. Initially, I was a bit shocked because, in my own experience, I have not seen the levels of involvement with Google Plus that I do with Facebook. But, the analytics in the article actually showed a better conversion rate to sales with Google Plus than with Facebook.
While I am certainly not suggesting that the above article is a sign we should all unquestioningly drop our Facebook pages and move to Google Plus, it does serve as a reminder of the ongoing importance of the communications audit (a step in the Mustang RoadMap strategic planning process).
For instance, several years ago everyone was signing up for Twitter. It was the platform every business HAD to be on. I must admit, Mustang followed suit and joined, as well. Now, years later, Twitter has not gone away, but there is more clarity about the types of businesses best-suited for the platform and the types of use that make the most sense. Despite still recommending Twitter to some of our clients, Mustang closed its own account almost two years ago. For us, considering our position in our market, it no longer made sense to invest the staff time needed to maintain the account.
Sometimes, the most successful marketing vehicles surprise us. I was consulting a friend last month who was struggling to improve her search engine rank, and was willing to put some money and time into that effort. But, while we were talking, she mentioned that her number one source of leads was a stack of business cards she left at the local car wash. I advised her to focus on that effort and put her cards in more places. In our increasingly digital world, creating a web presence is often the first marketing avenue that comes to mind. While digital vehicles are important to consider, it is also important to focus and build on the efforts that have already proven successful.
The communications audit is a very important tool for maximizing ROI–making every dollar and hour count towards your business’ goals. This is not limited to traditional advertising, but needs to span every aspect of your marketing. Sometimes, it is valuable to take risks, to try something new or to join in on a fad. But, it is also important not to settle for “everyone is doing it,” or, “we always do it that way,” and, instead, step back to see what is working and make those things even better.