Social Media Is Not Free But It's Not as Expensive as You Think

Social Media is a Marketing tool and Marketing costs money. Social channels act as Advertising tools, and Advertising costs money. And on top of this, Social Media is all about popularity and popularity has a price.

A few years ago when social channels started experiencing growth and gaining popularity among brands, thanks to the prospect of marketing and advertising that they offered at little to no cost, the means of marketing changed, for good.

The first companies that hopped on that train were fortunate enough to benefit without spending a dime. As many other companies joined the party, channels such as Facebook and Twitter soon understood the monetizing advantages.

In spite of the fact that during the last couple of years Facebook has made it difficult for brands to get a reasonable organic reach (let’s not even talk about ‘Likes’) being able to get noticed is not as expensive as you might think. Social media has become a crucial part of the overall strategy of any marketing department. It’s an important part of the team because the effort and money that a company might spend on traditional marketing channels (banners, TV spots, radio advertising, magazine advertising) and online marketing media can be distributed again and again, for free, across social channels. With this in mind, social media has become not only helpful but necessary. And the fact that it’s trackable and measurable makes it even more valuable.

However, as with the traditional Marketing and Advertising, the distribution and reach of a campaign will always depend on the amount of money that you are willing to spend. TV commercials have always depended on the popularity of a channel, time slot to place an ad, demography, number of people watching a particular tv show, etc., to establish prices. These factors also affect radio advertising, magazines, banners, etc., in different instances.

On Facebook or other social channels, it’s no different, but it can be considerably cheaper.  For example, boosting or sponsoring posts on a page with, let’ s say, 20.000 likes, the average paid reach can be close to 40% (about 8,000 people) vs. the 2% organic reach, with an investment of $5 per post.  Even if you decide to boost every single post, posting on a frequency of 16 to 20 times per month with an average of likes of 500 to 800 per post, the reach could go up to 5,000,000 people who could have seen your posts during that specific period, with an investment equal or below $150.  This doesn’t sound like too much even on a limited budget, but some good results can also be achieved spending just a third part.

With this example, and having Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and all major social platforms working with CPC (Cost Per Click) and CPI (Cost Per Impression) campaigns, we have to embrace the ever evolving paid social media. It has already become a valuable tool for branding and promotion and at low-cost rates.

With every technological development that we adopt in our daily lives, whether it’s a smartphone, a wearable device, an app, a tool, advertisement and marketing strategies will come along, turning into something natural for us that we can no longer refrain from.  Mass communication is therefore excelled.

If you’re interested in more information, news and tips about the Social Media realm, look no further!  All you need to know is right here.  On our MGRBlog.