S.M.M companies are now springing up all over the place these days and they are telling anybody that will listen about how exceptionally essential social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your service but, for the average little to medium sized organisation, does marketing to socials media actually measure up to all the buzz? Is investing a little fortune on working with a SMM business truly worth it? And has anyone truly done their research on this before they worked with somebody to establish there Facebook company page? Some SMM companies are setting up things like Facebook company pages (which are free) for $600 to $1,000 or more and telling their clients that they do not require a website because Facebook is the biggest social media worldwide and everybody has a Facebook account. Now while it may be true that Facebook is the largest social network on the planet and yes, Facebook's members are prospective consumers, the real question is are they actually buying? Social media marketing business are all too delighted to mention the positives of social media like the number of individuals use Facebook or how many tweets were sent out last year and how many people see YouTube videos and so on but are you getting the full picture? I as soon as sat beside a SMM "specialist" at a service seminar who was spruiking to anyone who came within earshot about the incredible benefits of establishing a Facebook company page for small business (with him of course) and selling on Facebook. So, intrigued by the abovementioned "specialists" recommendations I looked him up on Facebook only to find he had only 11 Facebook good friends (not an excellent start). Being the research study nut that I am, I chose to take a good appearance into SMM in regard to selling to see if it actually worked, who did it work for and if it did why did Social Media Marketing work for them? And should organisation rely so greatly on social media networks for sales?
As a web developer I was continuously (and now progressively) challenged with numerous social networking difficulties when potential customers would state that having a website sounds excellent but they had a Facebook service page and had actually been told by various sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social media networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their needs it became quite clear that those possible customers didn't actually know why they required social networks or SMM to create online sales, They just desired it. For little and medium sized business I always suggested building a quality site over any type of social network, why? Well it's easy really since social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not company media and organisation networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). I understand that sounds simple however it holds true and the statistics back it up. The truth is that social media marketing fails to tell you that Facebook is a social media not a search engine and regardless of the number of Facebook users and Google users being around the same, people do not utilize Facebook in the same way that they utilize an online search engine like Google (which has around half the search engine market), Yahoo and Bing to look for organisation or products. They use it to correspond with family and friends or for news and entertainment. In a recent research study done by the IBM Institute for Business Worth around 55% of all social media users mentioned that they do not engage with brand names over social media at all and only around 23% actually purposefully utilize social media to communicate with brands. Now out of all the people who do utilize social media and who do connect with brands whether purposefully or not, the majority (66%) state they need to feel a business is communicating truthfully before they will communicate.
How do you use social media marketing? And is it even worth doing?
Well first of all I would say that having actually a well optimized website is still going to bring you far more organisation that social media in many cases specifically if you are a little to medium sized regional organisation due to the fact that far more people are going to type in "hair stylist Port Macquarie" into a search engine like Google, Yahoo and Bing than they ever will on any Social Media Website and if you do not have a website you're missing out on out on all of that potential company. In spite of all the (not so excellent) statistics I still believe it is still an excellent concept for business to use social media just not in the same way that a lot of SMM professionals are today, Why? Is it in a Social Media Marketing company's best interest to talk social networks up?
One of the biggest issues service face with social networks and SMM is perception. The primary reason many people provide for interacting with brand names or company on social Social Media Agency media is to get discount rates, yet the brand names and service themselves think the main factor individuals interact with them on social media is to learn about brand-new products. A lot of companies think social media will increase advocacy, but just 38 % of customers agree.
Business need to find more innovative methods to connect with social media if they want to see some sort of arise from it. There were some good initiatives shown in the IBM research study of business that had actually gotten some sort of a handle on the best ways to utilize social media to their benefit, remembering that when asked exactly what they do when they engage with services or brand names through social media, consumers list "getting discounts or vouchers" and "buying services and products" as the leading two activities, respectively an U.S ice cream company called Cold Stone Creamery used discount rates on their products on their Facebook page. There is an excellent program released by Best Buys in the U.S called Twelpforce where staff members can react to client's questions by means of Twitter. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the advantage is plainly in the favour of the potential customer & the excellent technique to social media marketing is to offer without attempting to sell (or appearing like your selling) regrettably most social media marketing is focused the wrong way.
Developing a concrete purchaser to consumer relationship by means of social media is challenging and probably the most benefit to business' utilizing social media to improve their websites Google rankings. However service' need to comprehend that you cannot just setup a Facebook business page and wish for the best. SMM needs effort and prospective customers have to see value in what you need to provide by means of your social media efforts provide something worth their social interaction and time and after that you may improve results.
Now just as a footnote Facebook shares have dropped to under $20 per share, that's half their initial price ... and the claims are flying
As a web developer I was constantly (and now significantly) faced with several social networking obstacles when prospective clients would state that having a website sounds good however they had a Facebook company page and had actually been informed by various sources (the ever present yet confidential "they") that social networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their requirements it ended up being quite clear that those possible clients didn't actually understand why they needed social networks or SMM to create online sales, They just wanted it. Well it's easy really due to the fact that social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not business media and service networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). In a recent research study done by the IBM Institute for Service Value around 55% of all social media users mentioned that they do not engage with brands over social media at all and just around 23% really purposefully utilize social media to communicate with brand names. Well first of all I would state that having a well optimized site is still going to bring you far more business that social media in a lot of cases especially if you are a little to medium sized local business since far more people are going to type in "hair stylist Port Macquarie" into a search engine like Google, Yahoo and Bing than they ever will on any Social Media Site and if you do not have a website you're missing out on out on all of that potential organisation. The primary factor many individuals provide for interacting with brand names or business on social media is to get discounts, yet the brand names and company themselves believe the main factor people engage with them on social media is to learn about brand-new products.
