For the past decade companies have hoped social media would give them a new way to connect with their customers. Today, 93% of marketers use Facebook and 79% use Twitter -- nearly all of them chasing elusive social engagement. But despite a decade of collective experience using social media, fewer than half of brands think their Facebook marketing works.
Why are brands still failing on Facebook, Twitter, and other big social networks? Well, for one thing, The big social networks don’t make it easy for brands to succeed. Many suffer from increasing clutter, and most have introduced algorithms that limit companies’ reach.
But there's another factor keeping brands from marketing effectively and building stronger customer relationships on social networks: immature technology partners. Social technology providers are supposed to offer brands functionality they can't find on social networks -- saving them time, limiting their risk, and ultimately helping them succeed. But many brands aren't satisfied with the current options. In fact, most big brands don't use social relationship tools to manage their Facebook and Twitter accounts -- even many who are paying for these tools.
I recently worked with Lithium to publish a free white paper on why social marketers aren't able to achieve their objectives and how they can find a technology partner that'll help them succeed. Download the research here.