S.M.M business are now springing up all over the place nowadays and they are informing anyone that will listen about how incredibly essential social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your organisation however, for the average small to medium sized company, does marketing to socials media actually measure up to all the hype? Is spending a small fortune on employing a SMM business actually worth it? And has anyone really done their research study on this prior to they worked with somebody to establish there Facebook service page? Some SMM business are setting up things like Facebook organisation pages (which are totally free) for $600 to $1,000 or more and informing their clients that they don't need a website because Facebook is the biggest social network in the world and everybody has a Facebook account. Now while it may hold true that Facebook is the biggest social media worldwide and yes, Facebook's members are potential consumers, the genuine question is are they really purchasing? Social media marketing business are all too delighted to mention the positives of social media like the number of individuals utilize Facebook or the number of tweets were sent in 2015 and how many people view YouTube videos and so on however are you getting the complete image? I as soon as sat beside a SMM "specialist" at an organisation seminar who was spruiking to anyone who came within earshot about the incredible benefits of setting up a Facebook company page for small company (with him obviously) and selling on Facebook. Captivated by the aforementioned "experts" guidance I looked him up on Facebook only to find he had just 11 Facebook good friends (not a good start). So being the research nut that I am, I decided to take a good look 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 company rely so heavily on social media networks for sales?
As a web designer I was continuously (and now significantly) confronted with numerous social networking difficulties when potential customers would state that having a site sounds excellent but they had a Facebook company page and had actually been informed by different sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their requirements it ended up being quite clear that those prospective customers didn't in fact know why they required social networks or SMM to produce online sales, They just wanted it. Well it's basic really since social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not company media and company networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). In a current study done by the IBM Institute for Company Value around 55% of all social media users mentioned that they do not engage with brand names over social media at all and just around 23% in fact purposefully 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 state that having actually a well enhanced site is still going to bring you far more service that social media in many cases particularly if you are a little to medium sized regional 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 site you're missing out on out on all of that potential company. In spite of all the (not so excellent) stats I still think it is still a good concept for organisation to utilize social media simply not in the very same method that a lot of SMM experts are today, Why? Is it in a Social Media Marketing company's best interest to talk social networks up?
I think the major difference between social media networks and online search engine is intent. People who utilize Google are intentionally looking for something so if they do a look for hair stylists that's exactly what they are trying to find at that specific time. With something like Facebook the primary intent is usually to get in touch with loved ones. In October 2008, Mark Zuckerberg himself stated "I do not believe socials media 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 optimum model is. That is not our primary focus today". Among the biggest problems business face with social media networks and SMM is perception. According to the IBM Institute for Company Worth study there were "significant spaces in between exactly what services believe consumers care about and what consumers state they desire from their social media interactions with business." For instance in today's society people are not simply going to hand you over there recommendations, Facebook likes, comments or details without getting something back for it, so the old adage "exactly what's in it for me?" enters play. The primary reason the majority of individuals give for engaging with brands or company on social media is to receive discount rates, yet the brands and organisation themselves think the main factor people engage with them on social media is to learn about brand-new products. For brands and organisation receiving discount rates just ranks 12th on their list of reasons people interact with them. Many services believe social media will increase advocacy, however only 38 % of consumers agree.
If they desire to see some sort of outcome from it, business require to discover more innovative methods to connect with social media. There were some excellent initiatives displayed in the IBM study of companies that had gotten some sort of a handle on the best ways to utilize social media to their benefit, keeping in mind that when asked exactly what they do when they engage with services or brands through social media, customers list "getting discount rates or coupons" and "acquiring product or services" as the leading two activities, respectively a UNITED STATE ice cream company called Cold Stone Creamery used discounts on their products on their Facebook page. There is an excellent program released by Finest Buys in the USA called Twelpforce where workers can react to client's questions through Twitter. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the benefit is clearly in the favour of the potential customer & the terrific technique to social media marketing is to offer without attempting to sell (or appearing like your selling) unfortunately most social media marketing is focused the wrong way.
Building a tangible purchaser to consumer relationship via social media is difficult and probably the most benefit to company' utilizing social media to enhance their websites Google rankings. But service' have to comprehend that you can't simply setup a Facebook business page and wish for the best. SMM needs effort and potential consumers need to see value in what you have to offer through your social media efforts give them something worth their social interaction and time and after that you might improve outcomes.
Now just as a footnote Facebook shares have dropped to under $20 per share, that's half their original cost ... and the suits are flying
As a web designer I was constantly (and now significantly) faced with a number of social networking difficulties when prospective customers would say that having a website sounds great but they had a Facebook service 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 became quite clear that those prospective customers didn't in fact know why they required social networks or SMM to generate online sales, They just wanted it. Well it's easy truly due to the fact that social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not company media and service networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). In a current research study done by the IBM Institute for Company Value around 55% of all social media users stated that they do not engage with brands over social media at all and just around 23% actually purposefully utilize social media to connect with brands. Well first of all I would state that having a well optimized website is still going to bring you far more company that social media in a lot of cases especially if you are a small to medium sized Website local business because 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 Website and if you don't have a site you're missing out on all of that prospective service. The main factor many individuals offer for connecting with brand names or service on social media is to receive discounts, yet the brand names and organisation themselves believe the primary factor individuals connect with them on social media is to find out about brand-new items.
