Social Media Marketing, Fact and Lies

Social Media Marketing appears to be the most recent buzz word for anyone looking to increase their online existence and sales, however is Social Media Marketing (SMM) all it is cracked up to be?

S.M.M companies are now springing up all over the place nowadays and they are telling anyone that will listen about how exceptionally crucial social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your company but, for the typical little to medium sized company, does marketing to social networks really measure up to all the buzz? Is spending a little fortune on working with a SMM business truly worth it? And has anyone actually done their research study on this before they hired somebody to set up there Facebook company page? Some SMM business are establishing things like Facebook service pages (which are totally free) for $600 to $1,000 or more and informing their customers that they do not need a website due to the fact that Facebook is the most significant social network worldwide and everyone has a Facebook account. Now while it may hold true that Facebook is the biggest social network worldwide and yes, Facebook's members are prospective consumers, the genuine concern is are they really buying? Social media marketing business are all too pleased to point out the positives of social media like the number of people use Facebook or the number of tweets were sent out in 2015 and the number of people see YouTube videos etc. but are you getting the complete photo? I once sat beside a SMM "professional" at a business workshop who was spruiking to anybody who came within earshot about the incredible advantages of establishing a Facebook business page for small business (with him obviously) and selling on Facebook. Interested by the aforementioned "specialists" recommendations I looked him up on Facebook only to discover he had only 11 Facebook friends (not an excellent start). Being the research nut that I am, I chose to take a great look into SMM in regard to offering 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 business rely so greatly on social media networks for sales?

As a web developer I was constantly (and now progressively) confronted with numerous social networking difficulties when possible customers would say that having a site sounds good however they had a Facebook business page and had actually been told by various sources (the ever present yet confidential "they") that social networks were the important things to do, however after discussing their needs it ended up being quite clear that those potential clients didn't in fact understand why they needed socials media or SMM to generate online sales, They simply wanted it. For medium and small sized business I always recommended constructing a quality website over any kind of social media network, why? 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). I understand that sounds basic but it holds true and the stats back it up. The fact is that social media marketing cannot inform you that Facebook is a social media network not a search engine and in spite of the variety of Facebook users and Google users being around the very same, people do not use Facebook in the same way that they use an online search engine like Google (which has around half the search engine market), Yahoo and Bing to look for business 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 mentioned that they do not engage with brands over social media at all and just around 23% really actively use social media to connect with brand names. Now out of all individuals who do use social media and who do engage with brands whether purposefully or not, the bulk (66%) say they have to feel a company is interacting honestly prior to they will interact.

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

Well initially of all I would say that having a well optimized site is still going to bring you far more organisation that social media in many cases particularly if you are a little to medium sized regional business 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 don't have a website you're missing out on all of that prospective company. Despite all the (not so good) stats I still believe it is still an excellent concept for company to use social media simply not in the very same method that a lot of SMM specialists are today, Why? Is it in a Social Media Logan Williams SEO Marketing business's finest interest to talk social networks up?

One of the greatest problems business face with social networks and SMM is perception. The main reason most individuals offer for engaging with brand names or service on social media is to get discounts, yet the brands and business themselves believe the primary factor individuals engage with them on social media is to discover about brand-new products. Most businesses believe social media will increase advocacy, however just 38 % of consumers agree.

There were some good efforts revealed in the IBM study of business that had actually gotten some sort of a deal with on how to use social media to their benefit, keeping in mind that when asked what they do when they interact with services or brand names via social media, customers note "getting discounts or coupons" and "acquiring products and services" as the top 2 activities, respectively a UNITED STATE ice cream company called Cold Stone Creamery used discount rates on their products on their Facebook page. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the advantage is plainly in the favour of the excellent trick & the potential consumer to social media marketing is to offer without trying to offer (or looking like your selling) sadly most social media marketing is focused the wrong way.

Constructing a concrete buyer to customer relationship through social media is not easy and most likely the most benefit to company' using social media to enhance their sites Google rankings. But business' have to understand that you cannot simply setup a Facebook business page and wish for the best. SMM needs effort and possible consumers need to see value in exactly what you need to offer via your social media efforts give them something worth their social interaction and time then you might improve outcomes.

Now just as a footnote Facebook shares have dropped to under $20 per share, that's half their original price ... and the lawsuits are flying


As a web developer I was constantly (and now increasingly) confronted with several social networking challenges when potential customers would state that having a site sounds excellent but they had a Facebook company page and had actually been informed by various 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 generate online sales, They just desired it. Well it's simple truly because social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not business 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 specified that they do not engage with brands over social media at all and just around 23% actually actively utilize social media to communicate with brands. Well initially of all I would say that having actually a well optimized site is still going to bring you far more business that social media in a lot of cases particularly if you are a little to medium sized local 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 don't have a site you're missing out on all of that prospective business. The main reason the majority of individuals give for connecting with brands or organisation on social media is to receive discounts, yet the brand names and business themselves believe the main factor people connect with them on social media is to discover about brand-new products.

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