SOCIAL MEDIA IS COST EFFECTIVE
So it costs somewhere around $3 Million dollars for a thirty-second commercial during the Super Bowl. Viewers are usually waiting for the "cool" commercials, but many are talking, eating, etc. so they miss one now and then. That means you have to run several commercials. Now we are talking about $10s of Millions of dollars, just on the commercial spot. How much does it cost to create the commercials? (NOTE: I said commercials, because we get bored with the same one during Super Bowl) Many have to use a celebrity, but even those that don't spend a lot of money on talent, graphics, sets, and so on. The cost can range from $50,000 to $1 Million, and even more some instances. This means a lot of money invested in these commercials.
Let's look at social media. What are the costs related? Let's say Ford has a social media department. They have 3 updaters, or people who just do the updates, 2 copywriters, 2 videographers, 2 photographers, and a social media manager. Roughly speaking, the annual salaries total around $500,000. This staff can create a great amount of content that will rival the commercials in effectiveness, and that is a year's worth of content. There are obviously some other costs involved, but the initial comparison is outrageous!
TRACKING RESULTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
How many people watch a given commercial? How many people call a phone number based on that commercial? What about the number of visits to a website from that commercial? Only the last question can be correctly answered, because it is online. The others are always going to be guesses and estimates, so that leads us to the next point: tracking. In social media, you can immediately track what people are doing, what things they like, and what generates sales.
There is tracking available for almost everything online, especially social media and websites, therefore we can truly pinpoint effectiveness in real time. The results from a Super Bowl commercial will be measured over several months, if not an entire year, therefore it is hard to change course, and the commercials have already been aired. With social media, we can change direction next week, and focus on something that is working better.
With a cheaper staff, more exact tools, and better relationships, why wouldn't Ford drop their Super Bowl ads? Don't you expect to see more people doing the same? Ask Pepsi where their ads are.
