S.M.M business are now springing up all over the place these days and they are telling anybody that will listen about how incredibly essential social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your service however, for the average small to medium sized service, does marketing to social networks actually live up to all the hype? Is investing a small fortune on employing a SMM company really worth it? And has anyone actually done their research on this before they hired someone to set up there Facebook organisation page? Some SMM business are setting up things like Facebook business pages (which are totally free) for $600 to $1,000 or more and informing their customers that they don't require a site due to the fact that Facebook is the biggest social media in the world and everybody has a Facebook account. Now while it may hold true that Facebook is the largest social media in the world and yes, Facebook's members are potential consumers, the real question is are they really purchasing? Social media marketing business are all too happy to point out the positives of social media like how many people use Facebook or how many tweets were sent out last year and the number of people watch YouTube videos and so on but are you getting the full photo? I once sat beside a SMM "expert" at a business workshop who was spruiking to anyone who came within earshot about the fantastic advantages of establishing a Facebook service page for small business (with him naturally) and selling on Facebook. Interested by the previously mentioned "specialists" recommendations I looked him up on Facebook just to discover he had just 11 Facebook good friends (not an excellent start). Being the research study nut that I am, I decided to take an excellent appearance into SMM in regard to offering to see if it in fact 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 socials media for sales?
As a web designer I was continuously (and now progressively) confronted with numerous social networking difficulties when potential customers would state that having a site sounds good however they had a Facebook service page and had actually been informed by different sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that socials media were the thing to do, however after discussing their needs it became quite clear that those potential clients didn't actually understand why they needed social networks or SMM to create online sales, They simply wanted it. For little and medium sized organisation I constantly suggested constructing a quality site over any kind of social media, why? Well it's basic actually due to the fact that social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not business media and organisation networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). I understand that sounds simple however it's true and the data back it up. The truth is that social media marketing cannot tell you that Facebook is a social media not an online search engine and despite the variety of Facebook users and Google users being around the exact same, people do not use Facebook in the same way that they utilize a search engine like Google (which has around half the online search engine market), Yahoo and Bing to search for organisation or items. They utilize it to stay connected with family and friends or for news and home entertainment. In a recent research study done by the IBM Institute for Business 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% actually actively use social media to communicate with brand names. Now from all the people who do utilize social media and who do communicate with brand names whether purposefully or not, the majority (66%) say they need to feel a business is communicating truthfully before they will engage.
So how do you utilize social media marketing? And is it even worth doing?
Well first of all I would state that having a well enhanced website is still going to bring you far more business that social media in many cases specifically if you are a small to medium sized regional service due to the fact that far more people are going to type in "hairdresser 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 site you're missing out on out on all of that prospective organisation. Despite all the (not so great) stats I still believe it is still a good idea for company to use social media simply not in the exact same method that a lot of SMM specialists are today, Why? Is it in a Social Media Marketing company's best interest to talk social networks up?
One of the most significant problems business face with social networks and SMM is perception. The primary reason most individuals offer for connecting with brand names or organisation on social media is to get discount rates, yet the brand names and service themselves think the main reason people communicate with them on social media is to learn about new products. Most organisations think social media will increase advocacy, however only 38 % of consumers agree.
There were some excellent efforts shown in the IBM study of business that had gotten some sort of a handle on how to utilize social media to their benefit, keeping in mind that when asked what they do when they interact with businesses or brand names through social media, consumers note "getting discount rates or discount coupons" and "purchasing items and services" as the top two activities, respectively an USA ice cream company called Cold Stone Creamery offered discount rates on their items on their Facebook page. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the benefit is clearly in the favour of the excellent technique & the prospective customer to social media marketing is to offer without attempting to offer (or looking like your selling) unfortunately most social media marketing is focused the wrong method.
Constructing a tangible purchaser to customer relationship through social media is not easy and most likely the most benefit to service' using social media to enhance their websites Google rankings. But company' need to understand that you cannot simply setup a Facebook service page and hope for the very best. SMM needs effort and prospective customers have to see worth in what you have Logan Williams SEO to provide via 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 actually dropped to under $20 per share, that's half their original rate ... and the suits are flying
As a web developer I was continuously (and now progressively) confronted with numerous social networking difficulties when possible clients would say that having a site sounds great but they had a Facebook service page and had been informed by different sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social networks were the thing to do, however after discussing their needs it became rather clear that those potential customers didn't actually understand why they needed social networks or SMM to create online sales, They just desired 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 company media and business networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). In a current study done by the IBM Institute for Organisation 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 interact with brand names. Well first of all I would say that having actually a well optimized site is still going to bring you far more company that social media in the majority of cases particularly if you are a little to medium sized local organisation since far more individuals 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 all of that potential service. 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 find out about new items.
