S.M.M companies are now emerging all over the place nowadays and they are telling anyone that will listen about how incredibly important social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your organisation however, for the typical small to medium sized business, does marketing to social networks really measure up to all the buzz? Is investing a small fortune on hiring a SMM business actually worth it? And has anyone really done their research study on this prior to they employed someone to set up there Facebook organisation page? Some SMM business are setting up things like Facebook organisation pages (which are complimentary) for $600 to $1,000 or more and informing their clients that they don't require a site due to the fact that Facebook is the greatest social media on the planet and everyone has a Facebook account. Now while it may be true that Facebook is the biggest social media on the planet and yes, Facebook's members are potential customers, the genuine question is are they really buying? Social media marketing business are all too happy to explain the positives of social media like how many individuals use Facebook or how many tweets were sent out last year and the number of people enjoy YouTube videos and so on however are you getting the full image? I once sat beside a SMM "specialist" at a company seminar who was spruiking to anyone who came within earshot about the fantastic benefits of establishing a Facebook company page for small company (with him of course) and selling on Facebook. So, captivated by the aforementioned "professionals" suggestions I looked him up on Facebook only to find he had only 11 Facebook good friends (not a good start). So being the research study nut that I am, I decided to take a good check out 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 designer I was continuously (and now increasingly) challenged with numerous social networking difficulties when potential customers would state that having a website sounds excellent however they had a Facebook company page and had actually been told by different sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their needs it ended up being rather clear that those potential customers didn't in fact understand why they needed social networks or SMM to create online sales, They simply wanted it. Well it's basic truly 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). In a recent research study done by the IBM Institute for Business Value around 55% of all social media users stated that they do not engage with brands over social media at all and only around 23% in fact actively use social media to engage with brand names.
So how do you utilize social media marketing? And is it even worth doing?
Well initially of all I would say that having a well enhanced site is still going to bring you far more organisation that social media in a lot of cases particularly if you are a small to medium sized local company 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 don't have a site you're missing out on out on all of that potential business. Despite all the (not so excellent) data I still think it is still a good idea for company to use social media simply not in the very same method 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?
I believe the major distinction in between social media networks and online search engine is intent. People who use Google are deliberately searching for something so if they do a look for hair stylists that's exactly what they are looking for at that particular time. With something like Facebook the main intent is usually to connect with friends and family. In October 2008, Mark Zuckerberg himself said "I don't believe social media networks can be generated income from in the same way that search (Search Engines) did ... In three years from now we have to figure out what the optimal design is. However that is not our main focus today". Among the most significant issues service confront with socials media and SMM is understanding. Inning accordance with the IBM Institute for Organisation Worth research study there were "significant gaps between exactly what businesses believe customers care about and exactly what consumers state they want from their social media interactions with business." For example in today's society people are not simply going to hand you over there suggestions, Facebook likes, comments or information without getting something back for it, so the old expression "exactly what remains in it for me?" enters into play. The primary reason many people provide for engaging with brand names or company on social media is to receive discounts, yet the brands and business themselves think the primary reason individuals connect with them on social media is to learn about new products. For brand names and organisation getting discount rates just ranks 12th on their list of reasons that individuals engage with them. Many companies believe social media will increase advocacy, but only 38 % of customers agree.
Business need to find more innovative ways to connect with social media if they want to see some sort of result from it. There were some great initiatives shown in the IBM research study of business that had actually gotten some sort of a manage 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 "purchasing product or services" as the leading 2 activities, respectively a UNITED STATE ice cream company called Cold Stone Creamery offered discount rates on their items on their Facebook page. There is a great program released by Finest 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 clearly in the favour of the excellent technique & the prospective consumer to social media marketing is to sell without trying to sell (or appearing like your selling) unfortunately most social media marketing is focused the wrong way.
Developing a concrete purchaser to consumer relationship via social media is hard and most likely the most benefit to business' using social media to improve their sites Google rankings. Service' need to comprehend that you cannot just setup a Facebook company page and hope for the best. SMM needs effort and prospective customers need to see value in what you need to use through your social media efforts provide something worth their social interaction and time and after that you might improve outcomes.
Now just as a footnote Facebook shares have actually dropped to under $20 per share, that's half their original cost ... and the claims are flying
As a web designer I was constantly (and now significantly) confronted with a number of social networking challenges when prospective customers would say that having a website sounds excellent however they had a Facebook business page and had been told by different sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social networks were the thing to do, however after discussing their needs it ended up being rather clear that those potential customers didn't actually understand why they needed social networks or SMM to produce online sales, They simply desired it. Well it's simple truly because social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not service media and business networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). In a recent study done by the IBM Institute for Organisation Value around 55% of all social media users specified that they do not engage with brands over social media at all and just around 23% in fact purposefully Social Media Agency utilize social media to connect with brands. Well initially of all I would say that having a well enhanced site is still going to bring you far more business that social media in a lot of cases especially if you are a small to medium sized regional service 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 don't have a website you're missing out on out on all of that possible business. The main reason a lot of individuals give for engaging with brand names or business on social media is to receive discount rates, yet the brand names and company themselves believe the primary reason individuals connect with them on social media is to learn about new items.
