Last post I proposed benchmarks for what percentage of a B2C marcom budget should be spent on social media. The next logical question is how to allocate that spend. Clearly every product, business goal, world market and end user target will impact that answer. Despite the recent gains in more seniors adopting digital habits, I still wouldn't use the Old Spice video strategy to reach 65 and over Americans. Context matters.
Two ways to spend
Looking at just traditional marcom efforts (leaving out functions like customer care), there are two ways to spend on social media marcom. The first is campaign spending. This is what we awere all trained to do. It is also the only thing any of the awards programs out there pay attention to. The second is the sustained, persistent support of always-on platforms Like facebook and Twitter. We call it everyday engagement. Call it whatever you want but it has a lot to do with successfully building a direct relationship with customers and followers.
They are not exclusive. They work well together. It's tempting to put all the money in the campaign spend - the big YouTube play, the cgm/ugc contest, the unique Facebook tab. This is what will get you noticed inside and outside the company. But without the foundation of the everyday engagement, you may never keep that hard-won fanbase.
Like any new venture, building a foundation in social media requires investment in the early years. To get the "center for excellence," and its primary programs, off the ground, you need to hire some staff, spend on some first-time expenses, and learn from experience. Most of the everyday engagement effort - creating and publishing content, monitoring cgm, responding to people and customer care triage - do not require a big one-time cost. They require a recurring cost in human time and some expense.
The First Three Years
Year one - in the first year of true commitment to social media marcom, you can expect splitting a budget with most going to campaigns
campaign 80% everyday engagement 20%
Year two - now you can invest in some infrastructure. You have gained campaign success, earned points for social customer care Twitter handles, and generally proven to leadership that this is worth doing. Now is the time to get a Buddy Media or Vitrue license, trade-up on your Listening post, and float some more sophisticated campaigns
campaign 50% everyday engagement 50%
Year three: - truth is you will never dial back on your everyday engagement. What you will likely do is ramp up your paid media integrations with your truly "earned" social media efforts. It may not be fair to lump those in the equation here but I have. That's what explains the flop back in favor of campaign spend.
campaign* 80% everyday engagement 20%
How do you split your spending?
*includes some media spend. Take that out and your back to 50/50 or even 40/60