S.M.M companies are now springing up all over the location these days and they are informing anyone that will listen about how incredibly essential social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your business but, for the typical little to medium sized business, does marketing to social networks really live up to all the hype? Social media marketing business are all too happy to point out the positives of social media like how lots of people use Facebook or how many tweets were sent out last year and how many individuals watch YouTube videos and so on however are you getting the complete image? Being the research nut that I am, I chose 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?
As a web designer I was constantly (and now increasingly) faced with a number of social networking difficulties when potential clients would say that having a site sounds great however they had a Facebook company page and had been told by various sources (the ever present yet confidential "they") that social media networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their requirements it became rather clear that those potential customers didn't really know why they needed socials media or SMM to produce online sales, They just desired it. For medium and small sized business I constantly recommended building a quality site over any kind of social media network, why? Well it's easy really 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 fails to inform you that Facebook is a social network not a search engine and in spite of the number of Facebook users and Google users being around the same, individuals don't utilize Facebook in the same way that they use a search engine like Google (which has around half the search engine market), Yahoo and Bing to look for service or items. They use it to correspond with family and friends or for news and home entertainment. In a current study done by the IBM Institute for Service 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 purposefully utilize 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 actively or not, the majority (66%) say they have to feel a company is interacting honestly before they will interact.
So how do you utilize social media marketing? And is it even worth doing?
Well to start with I would state that having a well enhanced site is still going to bring you even more service that social media most of the times especially if you are a small to medium sized local organisation because much more individuals are going to type in "hairdresser Port Macquarie" into an online 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 prospective organisation. In spite of all the (not so good) data I still believe it is still a great idea for company to use social media just not in the very same way that a lot of SMM experts are today, Why? Since it's clearly not working in Website the way they declare it does. Basically SMM Business and Business as a whole looked at social networks like Facebook as a fresh market ripe for the picking and when Facebook started getting users measured by the millions PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel invested US$ 500,000 for 7% of the company (in June 2004) and considering that them a couple of venture capital companies have made financial investments into Facebook and in October 2007, Microsoft announced that it had acquired a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million. Given that Facebook's modest starts up till now (2012) both SMM Companies and Company have actually failed to genuinely capitalise on the substantial number of Facebook users online. The fact is numbers does not equal buyers. Is it in a Social Media Marketing business's benefit to talk social media networks up? Absolutely. Is it in a Social Media like Facebook's best interests for people to think that companies can sell en masse by advertising and marketing with them? Obviously it is. In early 2012, Facebook divulged that its revenues had leapt 65% to $1 billion in the previous year as its profits which is generally from marketing had leapt nearly 90% to $3.71 billion so plainly the idea of SMM is exercising for them however it is exercising for you? Well ... statistically no, however that does not always indicate that it never will.
One of the greatest problems service face with social networks and SMM is understanding. The main reason the majority of individuals offer for communicating with brand names or company on social media is to get discounts, yet the brand names and organisation themselves think the primary factor people communicate with them on social media is to learn about new products. Most companies believe social media will increase advocacy, however only 38 % of customers agree.
There were some good efforts revealed in the IBM research study of business that had actually gotten some sort of a manage on how to utilize social media to their benefit, keeping in mind that when asked exactly what they do when they connect with organisations or brand names through social media, customers list "getting discounts or coupons" and "purchasing items and services" as the leading 2 activities, respectively an U.S ice cream business called Cold Stone Creamery used discount rates on their items on their Facebook page. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the benefit is plainly in the favour of the prospective client & the fantastic trick to social media marketing is to sell without attempting to sell (or looking like your selling) unfortunately most social media marketing is focused the incorrect method.
Building a concrete buyer to consumer relationship through social media is difficult and probably the most benefit to company' using social media to boost their sites Google rankings. Organisation' require to understand that you cannot simply setup a Facebook service page and hope for the best. SMM requires effort and potential consumers need to see worth in exactly what you have to offer via your social media efforts provide something worth their social interaction and time then 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 claims are flying
As a web developer I was constantly (and now increasingly) challenged with a number of social networking difficulties when potential customers would state that having a website sounds excellent but they had a Facebook business page and had actually been informed by different sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social networks were the thing to do, however after discussing their requirements it became rather clear that those prospective customers didn't really understand why they required social networks or SMM to produce online sales, They just wanted it. Well it's basic truly because 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 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% really actively utilize social media to interact with brand names. Well first of all I would state that having actually a well optimized website is still going to bring you far more service that social media in the majority of cases particularly if you are a small to medium sized regional business 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 Website and if you don't have a site you're missing out on out on all of that potential organisation. The primary factor many individuals provide for interacting with brand names or company on social media is to get discount rates, yet the brands and service themselves think the primary reason individuals interact with them on social media is to discover about brand-new products.
