Commentary

Time To See Social Is A Paid Channel Like Any Other?

Anyone out there still in doubt as to whether social needs an element of paid placements? To be honest, it strikes me as slightly strange that we're still having the debate, but the issue crops up in an interesting Marketing Week feature this morning.

It's an old chestnut of an issue, and one where marketers are often quoted as supporting free content before changing their minds halfway through. There's always talk of an amazing audience you needn't have to pay to have an in-depth conversation with, which then soon leads on to a confession that paying is exactly what the brand does, occasionally at least. Effectively, brand after brand lines up to say that there's no need to pay, although we kind of do.

There seems to be a hesitancy in accepting that to grow in social and to do more, you will have to splash some cash. I think it comes from the earlier days of social being a great place where brands could hang out with consumers for free and the allure "gurus" built around this that it was a special channel only they and their team of "ninjas" could succeed in. There is still an element of truth in this. If we sidestep the issue of how you got a following on social -- those competition giveaways and paid posts weren't exactly free, were they? -- and just assume you have a few thousand people who "like" your brand, then we can agree that reaching a proportion of that following is free.

It's no secret, however, that Facebook has cut down on natural reach, and so that proportion could well be down to single-digit percentages. It also goes without saying that this smaller percentage of a following is likely to be the same people you always end up engaging with. To reach out and grow so you can take a message to new people is only truly possible if you pay to play. Even ensuring that the majority of your followers receive that message you're trying to get out there will require backing the post with budget. Of course, a straightforward carousel ad on Facebook is going to cost -- they never come free.

So the point is, of course, that social is a paid-for channel like any other -- only it comes with the added bonus of some organic reach. That's where people can become confused and think this is enough. If you're a plumber telling people you have availability next week for any odd jobs, organic reach will probably get the word out there. If you're a brand wanting to drive footfall in a store or get the fulfillment guys busy with new online orders, it's unlikely to suffice. 

The beauty of social is that the publishers -- particularly Facebook -- hold so much data on their users that campaigns can be highly targetted. The digital marketing world is deeply envious of the richness and depth of this data. Sure, other sites can offer decent targeting through their own first-party data -- but trust me, nothing comes close to what Facebook can offer. Perhaps most importantly, Facebook's data not only allows you to target your own audience better but also find "look-a-like" audiences. If you realise a lot of your followers like a certain hobby or a particular food, whatever it may be, you can simply task a social channel to promote ads or posts to similar people. It's a hugely popular service that hugely speeds up the process of your core audience sharing messages with like-minded friends organically. 

So, yes, social can creep along organically. But to grow, to get out there and find new people to engage with and to give an important message the legs to spread beyond core users, you have to accept that social is a paid-for channel like any other.

When I chat to the big brands, they generally have a rule that some messages will be allowed to spread organically but if something proves popular -- and they normally give it a two-hour window -- then it will immediately have budget put behind it. The proportion of their users they can reach organically is effectively used as a testing ground for what the brand should and should not back with budget. Far from being the be and end all, these users are used to inform where spend goes, rather than prop up an old argument over whether budget is needed or not.

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