Social Media Marketing, Fact and Lies

Social Media Marketing appears to be the latest buzz word for anyone planning to increase their online presence and sales, but is Social Media Marketing (SMM) all it is cracked up to be?

S.M.M business are now springing up all over the place nowadays and they are telling anyone that will listen about how exceptionally essential social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your business however, for the average small to medium sized organisation, does marketing to social networks actually live up to all the buzz? Is spending a little fortune on hiring a SMM business really worth it? And has anybody really done their research study on this before they employed someone to set up there Facebook organisation page? Some SMM companies are establishing things like Facebook company pages (which are free) for $600 to $1,000 or more and informing their clients that they do not need a website due to the fact that Facebook is the most significant social network on the planet 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 potential consumers, the genuine question is are they in fact buying? Social media marketing companies are all too delighted to explain the positives of social media like how many individuals utilize Facebook or how many tweets were sent in 2015 and how many individuals view YouTube videos etc. but are you getting the full photo? I as soon as sat next to a SMM "specialist" at a business workshop who was spruiking to anybody who came within earshot about the amazing advantages of establishing a Facebook service page for small company (with him of course) and selling on Facebook. Intrigued by the previously mentioned "specialists" guidance I looked him up on Facebook just to find he had only 11 Facebook good friends (not a good start). Being the research nut that I am, I decided to take an excellent look into SMM in regard to selling 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 business rely so heavily on socials media for sales?

As a web designer I was constantly (and now increasingly) faced with several social networking obstacles when potential customers would say that having a site sounds good however they had a Facebook service page and had been informed by different sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that socials media were the important things to do, but after discussing their requirements it became quite clear that those possible clients didn't in fact know why they required social networks or SMM to create online sales, They simply wanted it. For little and medium sized service I always recommended constructing a quality website over any kind of social network, why? Well it's basic truly because social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not organisation media and service networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). I know that sounds basic but it holds true and the statistics back it up. The truth is that social media marketing cannot inform you that Facebook is a social media not an online search engine and regardless of the variety of Facebook users and Google users being around the 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 use it to correspond with family and friends or for news and home entertainment. In a recent study done by the IBM Institute for Company 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% actually actively use social media to engage with brands. Now out of all individuals who do use social media and who do interact with brands whether actively or not, the majority (66%) state they need to feel a business is communicating truthfully before they will connect.

So how do you use social media marketing? And is it even worth doing?

Well first of all I would state that having actually a well optimized website is still going to bring you far more company that social media in a lot of cases specifically if you are a little to medium sized regional 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 do not have a site you're missing out on out on all of that potential company. In spite of all the (not so great) stats I still believe it is still an excellent idea for business to use social media just not in the exact 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 biggest issues organisation face with social networks and SMM is understanding. The main factor many people give for interacting with brands or business on social media is to receive discounts, yet the brands and business themselves believe the primary factor individuals connect with them on social media is to find out about brand-new products. Many companies believe social media will increase advocacy, but only 38 % of consumers concur.

Business have to find more innovative ways to connect with social media if they want to see some sort of arise from it. There were some great efforts shown in the IBM study of business that had actually gotten some sort of a manage on ways to use social media to their advantage, remembering that when asked exactly what they do when they engage with services or brands via social media, consumers note "getting discount rates or discount coupons" and "buying services and products" as the top two activities, respectively an USA ice cream company called Cold Stone Creamery provided discounts on their items on their Facebook page. There is a terrific program introduced by Best Purchases in the USA called Twelpforce where workers can respond to customer's concerns through Twitter. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the benefit is plainly in the favour of the possible client & the fantastic 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.

Constructing a tangible purchaser to consumer relationship by means of social media is not easy and probably the most benefit to organisation' using social media to improve their sites Google rankings. However company' have to comprehend that you can't simply setup a Facebook organisation page and hope for the very best. SMM needs effort and possible customers have to see value in what you need to offer through your social media efforts provide something worth their social interaction and time and after that you might get better outcomes.

Now just as a footnote Facebook shares have actually dropped to under $20 per share, that's half their initial cost ... and the claims are flying


As a web designer I was constantly (and now progressively) challenged with several social networking difficulties when possible clients would state that having a website sounds great however they had a Facebook business page and had been informed by various 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 in fact know why they needed social networks or SMM to generate online sales, They just wanted it. Well it's simple 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). In a current research study done by the IBM Institute for Business Value Social Media Agency 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 utilize social media to engage with brand names. Well initially of all I would say that having actually a well optimized 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 regional company due to the fact that 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 all of that prospective organisation. The primary reason the majority of people offer for communicating with brand names or company on social media is to get discounts, yet the brand names and company themselves believe the main factor people connect with them on social media is to learn about brand-new products.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *