Infinite Path

Given the manner in which social media has burst onto the public domain over the last few years, making headlines almost every day and becoming an integral part of popular culture, it didn’t come as any great surprise when Forrester Research released the results of its new Interactive Marketing Forecast, which projects the growth of social media marketing over the next five years. According to the forecast, social media marketing is set to grow to $3.1 billion by 2014.

Furthermore, the projected rate of growth is significantly faster than that of other forms of digital marketing and the estimated figure for 2014 will make social media a larger marketing channel than email and mobile.

So, what does this mean for other forms of marketing? Well, for social media marketing efforts to work and justify such a high level of investment, they really need to be part of a wider strategy. Social media marketing and online brand building work best as part of an integrated strategy which aims to raise the profile of a company or brand. However, without strong foundations, there will be no profile to market.

There’s no point reaching out to consumers by representing the human face behind the brand if, after interacting and gaining trust, the consumers are let down by a frustrating user experience on a company website, for example. It’s all well and good becoming an active voice in the communities which matter to your target market but if there’s nothing solid behind this interaction, all social media attempts will be for nothing.

That’s why, at Infinite Path, we see brand building as an integral part of an overall web strategy. We work on building strong foundations, through web design, development, and search marketing, before engaging in any meaningful interaction. It is through this process that we believe consumers receive the most satisfaction.

One thing that we can take from Forrester Research’s figures is the fact that companies are now realising the immense financial potential of interacting and engaging with consumers and narrowing the perceived gap between target market and brand.