Is Your Social Media Marketing Too Intrusive?

A recent eMarketer article showed some very revealing data about social media marketing that should significantly impact the way marketers are using social networks. The report cited different studies which show that when it comes to social media, generally, marketers are overly abundant, overly aggressive, and at times, excessively annoying!

There is a much larger number of marketers present than there are consumers! Facebook and YouTube are the only networks that show more consumers present than marketers. It is also interesting to note that despite YouTube having more Internet users, marketers are much more prolific on Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Another study shows that 24% of respondents were annoyed by marketing messages on social media from brands they don’t explicitly follow. These marketing messages mainly include Facebook’s Sponsored Stories or Twitter’s Promoted Tweets. Many also found content on these, as well as sponsored video ads, to be misleading.

It may be valid to the extent that the Internet and social networks specifically are over-saturated with marketers. It is imperative for marketers to be smart to make their efforts viable and stand out. The last thing marketers want is weak sentiment about their brands, and the soft attitude is precisely what some of their current efforts are resulting in. One of the best ways to circumvent this is by creating high-quality and relevant content. The content should be brand-aligned but still fun, visually appealing, engaging, and shareable. This is especially true when reaching users who don’t explicitly follow a brand but still receive a brand’s marketing messages. Content must be worthwhile!

Video has more of an impact now than ever before, but video ads were found to be the number one most misleading medium. Above all, video ads should be creative. The actual direct brand mentions in these ads must play a small role, or users may continue to feel mislead.

Social media is an excellent tool for marketers. It has become clear that there is a lot left to learn when it comes to what tactics are the most successful. Creating quality content is critical, but there are always new and emerging digital trends that marketers need to keep up to date about. Reading up on studies such as those in eMarketer, observing other brands, trial, and error, and plain old intuitive sense are all effective ways to achieve excellence in social media marketing.