The Hidden Cost Savings of Social Media Marketing

The following is another guest post by my friend John Haydon.  As he works primarily with non-profits, I asked him if he could share his insights on how these organizations can approach marketing in social media outlets as I think it would be of use to both entrepreneurs and other for-profit businesses.

We all know that Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are free platforms that marketers can use. But what’s not free is the investment in strategy and the staff time using the tools. Also, social media is often an additional cost, and not meant as a replacement channel within the overall marketing mix. For example, I would never recommend that a nonprofit should replace their direct mail marketing with social media. So the net costs of social media generally increase the overall marketing spend.

However, there are at least five cost-saving benefits that social media can create:

1. Permanent Sales Pitch
Emails written to customers answering the most common questions could be repurposed into blog posts, or demonstrations of your product on YouTube (bonus points if you can make it fun and entertaining). This could lower customer service costs spent and demonstrate your expertise to potential clients.

2. Improve search
Using a blog to answer the most pressing questions about your service or industry helps to improve SEO. Especially if no one has answered that question. The cost savings is found when you can dial down paid online ads when your appearance in search engine result pages (SERPs) hits a certain point.

3. Word Of Mouth
Getting people to talk about your company to their friends has to do with your offering (which better kick ass, by the way). Facebook is now the sharing beast. The cost savings is found in warmer leads that cost less to convert.

4. Volunteer Sales People
Social media allows you to connect with your biggest fans on their terms. Whether it’s on Facebook or in a private online community, companies that treat their cultists like gold eventually see a percent of them blogging or tweeting about their products. The cost savings is found in zero payroll costs, and a higher conversion rate in trusted third-party endorsements.

5. Market Research
Listening to how your current customers are talking about you in forums, on blogs, on Twitter, can be valuable research. This can be used to improve the product and how you talk with your customers. The cost savings is found in dialing down traditional methods of market research, which can be expensive.

What do you think? What ways have you realized a cost savings with social media marketing?

John Haydon writes about social media marketing for nonprofits.