Social media giveaway model 'is not sustainable'

14:00 18th May 2010

Digital marketing professionals have been warned that giving products away on social media websites is not a sustainable marketing strategy.

According to Patricio Robles of Econsultancy, more and more marketers are turning to social media as a way to bring in new customers to a business.

One way they are engaging with users of social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter is to give away limited numbers of their product or services.

However, Mr Robles said there are numerous problems with this marketing model, as it is not a sustainable method of attracting internet users.

He said while giveaway promotions do have a place in a digital marketing professional's strategy, they must be careful of how they use the tactic.

"Because giveaway-discount promotions are one of the most effective ways to reward your best existing customers, using them haphazardly with non-customers can be problematic," he explained.

Mr Robles added that social media marketing has the potential to bring in far more success than some consumers who were only attracted to a product because it was offered to them for free.

This comes after search engine marketer Ann Donnelly told Search Engine Journal that a company's own site needs to be the centrepiece of a social media marketing strategy, as the site needs to feed information to the likes of Facebook and Twitter effectively.