S.M.M companies are now emerging all over the place these days and they are telling anybody that will listen about how extremely crucial social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your service however, for the typical small to medium sized organisation, does marketing to social media networks really live up to all the buzz? Is spending a little fortune on working with a SMM company really worth it? And has anybody really done their research study on this prior to they employed somebody to establish there Facebook business page? Some SMM business are establishing things like Facebook service pages (which are free) for $600 to $1,000 or more and informing their clients that they do not require a site since Facebook is the biggest social media network worldwide and everybody has a Facebook account. Now while it might be true that Facebook is the biggest social network on the planet and yes, Facebook's members are possible consumers, the real question is are they in fact buying? Social media marketing business are all too delighted to explain the positives of social media like the number of people utilize Facebook or the number of tweets were sent out in 2015 and the number of people watch YouTube videos and so on however are you getting the complete image? I once sat next to a SMM "expert" at a company workshop who was spruiking to anybody who came within earshot about the fantastic advantages of setting up a Facebook business page for small company (with him naturally) and selling on Facebook. So, captivated by the aforementioned "experts" guidance I looked him up on Facebook only to find he had only 11 Facebook pals (not a great start). So being the research nut that I am, I chose to take a good look into SMM in regard to selling to see if it really worked, who did it work for and if it did why did Social Media Marketing work for them? And should service rely so greatly on socials media for sales?
As a web developer I was constantly (and now significantly) challenged with numerous social networking obstacles when possible customers would say that having a website sounds excellent however they had a Facebook organisation page and had actually been informed by different sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social networks were the important things to do, however after discussing their requirements it became quite clear that those prospective clients didn't in fact understand why they required social media networks or SMM to generate online sales, They simply wanted it. For medium and small sized business I constantly advised constructing a quality site over any type of social media network, why? Well it's simple really because 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 easy but it's true and the data back it up. The reality is that social media marketing cannot tell you that Facebook is a social network not a search engine and despite the variety of Facebook users and Google users being around the very same, individuals don't use Facebook in the same way that they use an online search engine like Google (which has around half the online search engine market), Yahoo and Bing to look for service or products. They use it to correspond with friends and family or for news and entertainment. In a recent study done by the IBM Institute for Organisation Worth around 55% of all social media users specified that they do not engage with brands over social media at all and just around 23% really purposefully utilize social media to connect with brands. Now out of all individuals who do utilize social media and who do communicate with brands whether actively or not, the bulk (66%) say they need to feel a business is interacting honestly before they will connect.
How do you use social media marketing? And is it even worth doing?
Well first of all I would say that having a well optimized site is still going to bring you far more service that social media in a lot of cases specifically if you are a little to medium sized local company since far more individuals 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 all of that prospective business. Despite all the (not so great) stats I still believe it is still a good idea for company to utilize social media just not in the same method that a lot of SMM specialists are today, Why? Is it in a Social Media Marketing business's finest interest to talk social networks up?
One of the most significant problems service face with social networks and SMM is understanding. The main factor a lot of individuals provide for communicating with brands or business on social media is to get discount rates, yet the brand names and service themselves think the main reason people connect with them on social media is to find out about brand-new products. Many companies believe social media will increase advocacy, but just 38 % of customers agree.
If they desire to see some sort of outcome from it, companies need to discover more ingenious ways to connect with social media. There were some good initiatives displayed in the IBM research study of companies that had gotten some sort of a handle on the best ways to utilize social media to their benefit, bearing in mind that when asked what they do when they interact with businesses or brand names by means of social media, customers list "getting discounts or coupons" and "acquiring product or services" 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. Alternatively there is a great program released by Finest Buys in the U.S called Twelpforce where staff members can react to client's questions via Twitter. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the benefit is clearly in the favour of the terrific trick & the potential consumer to social media marketing is to offer without trying to offer (or appearing like your selling) unfortunately most social media marketing is focused the wrong way.
Building a concrete buyer to customer relationship through social media is difficult and most likely the most benefit to service' using social media to enhance their websites Google rankings. However company' need to comprehend that you cannot just setup a Facebook service page and hope for the very best. SMM requires effort and possible clients have to see worth in what you need to offer by means of your social media efforts give them something worth their social interaction and time then you may get better outcomes.
Now just as a footnote Facebook shares have dropped to under $20 per share, that's half their initial cost ... and the lawsuits are flying
As a web designer I was constantly (and now progressively) confronted with a number of social networking challenges when possible clients would say that having a site sounds Social Media Agency good however they had a Facebook company page and had actually been told by various sources (the ever present yet confidential "they") that social networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their requirements it became rather clear that those prospective clients didn't really know why they required social networks or SMM to generate online sales, They simply wanted it. Well it's basic truly due to the fact that 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). In a recent research study done by the IBM Institute for Company Worth around 55% of all social media users stated that they do not engage with brand names over social media at all and only around 23% in fact purposefully utilize social media to interact with brand names. Well first of all I would state that having a well enhanced website is still going to bring you far more service that social media in most cases particularly if you are a little to medium sized local organisation because far more individuals 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 Website and if you do not have a website you're missing out on out on all of that potential service. The primary reason the majority of people offer for communicating with brand names or business on social media is to get discounts, yet the brands and organisation themselves think the primary reason individuals interact with them on social media is to discover about brand-new products.
