Analyzing the Cost Benefits of Social Media Marketing for Different Industries

It’s estimated that, as of 2021, more than 4 billion people worldwide were regular users of social media. That’s over half the global population.

And, for marketers, that means that social media is the most expansive and powerful tool ever created for accessing a global customer base. However, before you unleash the immense power of social media in your marketing platforms, there are some cost/benefit considerations to bear in mind.

This article examines the costs and benefits of social media marketing for an array of industries.

Access and Affordability – The Good and the Bad

Anyone who’s been paying attention recognizes that social media has become a ubiquitous feature of daily life for the vast majority of people. Regular social media use transcends demographics.

Persons of every age, ethnicity, income level, gender, and nationality turn daily to social media to connect with friends and family, to get their news, and to shop for products and services. And what that means is that social media provides marketers with a highly efficient and affordable way to reach their target audience, no matter where they may be located. Social media marketing is also easy to quantify and create KPIs for, making it especially attractive to marketers.

For all the potential of social media marketing, however, there are some significant drawbacks. The simple reality is that the very attributes that make social media so attractive to marketers — namely, access and affordability — also threaten to dilute the platforms’ efficacy.

After all, you’re far from the only one to appreciate and seek to capitalize on the advantages of social media marketing. And what that means is that social media audiences are inundated with a flood of ads, many of which never even reach their intended audience. The result, over time, is a kind of blindness that leaves audiences to disregard, and even unconsciously fail to see, the overwhelming majority of the digital ads that appear on social media.

Making Social Media Marketing Work

For marketers, the threat of audience saturation may well outweigh the advantages of affordability and accessibility. After all, it doesn’t matter how inexpensive or ubiquitous an ad is if it’s not actually getting your target audience’s attention or incentivizing them to respond.

And these aren’t the only potential disadvantages of social media marketing to bear in mind. The reality is that, though social media marketing may not require a large financial investment, it can certainly demand a huge time investment. Social media marketers can easily develop a base case of FOMO, leading them to feel as if they must always be online in order to avoid missing something critical.

The good news, though, is that these prospective drawbacks don’t have to be a deal-breaker. It’s still possible to leverage the enormous reach and affordability of social media marketing. The key, though, is to be strategic, deliberate, and judicious.

It requires marketers to define exactly who the target audience is, what they need, expect, and require, and how your business, no matter the industry, can serve those needs.

Likewise, effective social media marketing requires you to resist the temptation to add to audience saturation by overwhelming your platforms with extraneous and ineffective content. It’s better to post your more substantive content on a pre-planned content schedule, aligning your subject matter and timing with the needs and behaviors of your target audience.

Significantly, though, the industry in which you operate will have a profound impact on your target audience’s needs, expectations, and behaviors on social media.

The Cost/Benefits of Social Media Marketing For Healthcare

The power of social media marketing for the healthcare industry is only beginning to be understood. The most significant advantages of social media marketing for healthcare providers and purveyors of medical products and services pertain largely to the capacity to build relationships.

Social media enables healthcare providers to engage with their target audience in unprecedented ways. This often results in higher levels of consumer trust and loyalty. In addition, though social media platforms may provide a forum for health consumers to broadcast complaints, it also gives clinicians and servicers the chance to respectfully rebut.

This means that social media marketing can provide businesses in the healthcare industry with an extraordinary opportunity to manage their reputation. And when consumers are looking for a care provider or business to trust with their health, reputation is everything. 

Driving Retention in the Retail Industry

Whether you’re an online retailer, a brick-and-mortar store, or a hybrid, it’s likely that you’re not just interested in converting prospective customers into buyers. The odds are you also want to retain those customers for the long term.

This, again, is where social media can offer distinct benefits for those operating in the retail industry. No matter how extraordinary your products may be, customer support and service are equally important, if not more so.

And social media provides retailers with unprecedented power to optimize and expand their service processes. Retailers may use social media to post product demos, educate and inform consumers on topics of interest, and even build community through the solicitation of consumer-generated content.

Social Media for Innovation

No matter your particular industry, whether you’re operating in the tech, financial, manufacturing, or some other sector, innovation is fundamental to growth. Social media marketing can be a powerful tool for innovation because it enables decision-makers to keep their finger on the pulse of the market.

This includes the ability to leverage social media marketing analytics to understand what the target audience wants and needs and how competitors succeed or fail in meeting those needs. Thus, these platforms provide the space for businesses to cultivate their brand as both industry innovators and thought leaders.

The Takeaway

Social media provides marketers with an unprecedented capacity to reach a truly global audience. However, the benefits of social media marketing will only be realized when the platforms are used strategically, judiciously, and in an evidence-based manner. This ensures marketers are truly capitalizing on the unique benefits of social media marketing for their industry while minimizing costs.