With so many different schools of thought out there on social media and marketing, it comes as no surprise that many people are finding success in some places and failure in others. It takes a customized approach in order to succeed with social media marketing, but there are certain fundamentals that will apply for every campaign. These are often technical considerations more than anything else, but what user-preferred components can be coupled with this form of marketing to increase your return on investment? Gallup recently released a survey that covers this topic, and we’ve outlined the main points below that should be considered for your future social media marketing campaigns.

Always Be Engaging

Many people wish to broaden their brand’s customer base and reach – and who doesn’t want to see revenue increase? What we now know about social media marketing, thanks to the Gallup survey, is that engagement among existing customers can be just as effective. While pinging search engines with paid advertisements is a great idea usually, you also have the option to target existing fans on social media through advertising platforms offered by Facebook and others. The study found that the net difference in profit between engaged and disengaged customers can account for up to 30 cents per dollar of investment. Would you like to boost your revenue by one-third? If so, engage your existing customer base just as you would new markets.

Build Trust

Brand recognition is the fundamental cornerstone of all forms of marketing, so it only makes sense that the level of trust associated with your endeavors by customers fits into this category. A sense of trust and loyalty produces a much better return on investment than engaging potential customers who have never heard of you. The study from Gallup effectively shows that if you take two customers – one who has found products of interest but is not familiar with your brand, and one who has found products of interest but is familiar with your brand – the one who is familiar with you will on average spend twice as much as the one who isn’t. Those are huge differences and cannot be ignored when considering any marketing campaign.

Understand the Limitations

Social media marketing offers an entirely new world to many brands who previously relied upon local, traditional marketing methods. While you can literally reach every corner of the globe with social media marketing, the effects it will generate are limited. People use social media to connect with friends and family, find information and to review products – they don’t use it to see your ads or to be harassed while pinging search engines for information. Incorporating one or more of those three themes may prove to be beneficial to your ad campaigns, but know that there is a certain limit when it comes to your return on investment and the ability to saturate the market with brand recognition. After a certain point, people in a given market will begin to tune out your campaigns, requiring a new approach to regain their attention.