From the course: Social Media Marketing Trends

Refining your social media mix as the referral model falters

From the course: Social Media Marketing Trends

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Refining your social media mix as the referral model falters

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- [Instructor] Most digital leaders are expecting a significant decline in referral traffic from social media according to a survey by Reuters Institute. That's a result of numerous factors, one of which is that most social media channels are continuing to prioritize content and interactions that keep people on their platforms. The algorithms across these networks limit the visibility of content that includes links to third party sites as they're trying to retain people's attention so they stay and view more ads. This is a trend that's gained momentum for years. Organic referral traffic often gets reduced for businesses after a social platform reaches a certain maturity point, requiring that companies use the social network's paid ad offerings in order to continue the flow of traffic and sales to their website. We've seen this with Facebook, Instagram, and to various degrees with almost every other platform as the constant flow of traffic driven through organic social is often short-lived. While there's still many ways to drive referral traffic organically across social media, it can't be the sole model you're relying on to support your company's ongoing marketing efforts. It's important that your organization diversifies its marketing mix overall to be less reliant on social media and ensure it's one of a few investments across different channels. As you diversify, be sure to build out marketing programs and activities on owned platforms where you have more control of the experience and ownership of your audience. Email, podcasting, SMS, and your website are examples of own channels where your messaging has greater longevity and less reliance on the input of third parties. In addition to diversifying your marketing mix overall, it's essential that you're focusing your social media efforts on only a few select channels where you can have the most impact. Brands have long felt obligated to be active everywhere on every social network that pops up, but in reality, that's the best way to spread yourself too thin and show up haphazardly. Instead, reassess your social media mix to ensure your activities are focused on key channels where you're most likely to reap the full benefits and where your audience is most active. By rebalancing your activities, you're likely to deliver greater results from your programs on each channel as you'll have more time and resources to commit to fewer destinations. As you're refining your social activities and greater marketing mix, recognize that the dynamics across social media will continue to shift. At the moment, it's more about driving awareness and engagement from your organic efforts that may indirectly generate traffic and conversions for your business over time. Think of social media as an opportunity to develop a community for your business and foster dialogue centered on your customers, and of course, your firm's unique perspective, expertise, and offerings. That's how social media can provide value for your company as referral traffic continues to decrease.

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