SOCIAL MEDIA AUTOMATION HAS DEVELOPED IN 2015
A few months ago in a post titled “Social Media Automation: How to Save Time and Develop Real Relationships”, I wrote about the importance of brands automating their social media accounts to focus on saving time and developing real relationships.
The theory was simple: automate your posts promoting content to focus on interacting with users who are engaged with your content.
While that general idea remains the same, the tools and process of automation has developed further in 2015.
QUALIFY LEADS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA AUTOMATION
John Rampton presents a clear, pragmatic example of how social media automation can lead to customers and business. But before that, let’s step back and discuss the process and goals of automation.
Social media automation is a byproduct of collecting data about potential customers for your brand. Once the data is collected, there are a series of steps that take an individual from being interested in your digital company to a purchasing customer.
This was usually done with a human touch, and for certain markets, is the most appropriate business route. But with the right marketplace, this whole sequence can be done automatically through a series of emails.
I’ll interject here to make this point clear: building trust with your brand is still the main goal of an online relationship. Customer engagement and brand building are still benchmarks. A personal touch still does wonders.
THE SECRET OF AUTOMATING IS IN THE DATA
Social automation is not a one size fits all problem solver, however. There’s still a right time and place, and how much you depend on automation should be a sliding scale.
The numbers back up the effectiveness of automation, as businesses that use this technique report a 14% increase in sales and 12% reduction in marketing overhead (whether this is another sign of computers taking over human jobs is a different conversation).
The impressive numbers continue, with automation generating a 53% higher conversion rate when aimed at qualified leads. This is without considering the ability for companies to set and track measurable objectives for each social campaign.
Tracking and gaining data may be the most significant aspect of social automation. Oktopost is a social media platform that manages and tracks B2B marketing campaigns. Marketo tracks customer engagement in real time.
Not only can you track your automated campaign in real time – you can also tweak automated campaigns on the fly.
THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AUTOMATION
In a couple years, social media automation has grown from a way to develop online relationships to a lead generator, to nurturing leads and establishing trust with a customer base. And it shows no signs of slowing down, with automation expected to increase 50% in 2015.
With numbers like these, it’s easy for any digital brand to outsource their marketing to algorithms, and there is something to be said for being an early adopter of business trends.
Lastly, automation is not a code word for lazy or lacking personality. In fact, with the right data in hand, automating can reveal details about a customer base that goes beyond observation.
