👉 Do you follow Campbell’s soup on Instagram?
👉 Do you know who is the CEO of Heinz Ketchup?
👉 Can you tell me the brand values of Captain Crunch?
As consumers, we hardly know anything about the brands we buy.
We know they’ve been around forever, raised awareness through paid advertising (mostly TV commercials in the 90s), and are successful.
That seems to be enough for most consumers to trust them.
So should small brands not invest in social media?
It depends on the company and the circumstance, but for most companies, paid media is the path to awareness and profitability.
Social media is expensive, it can take a long time to gain any meaningful traction (if ever), it’s extremely difficult, and I’m not sure I can justify the ROI for most small brands.
Much like branding, social media typically pays off in the long term, but many small companies don’t have the financial runway to ever make it to that point.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. But ask yourself, are you the exception, or are you the rule?