Social Media Marketing, Fact and Lies

Social Media Marketing appears to be the current buzz word for anybody seeking 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 informing anybody that will listen about how exceptionally essential social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your service but, for the typical little to medium sized service, does marketing to socials media actually measure up to all the buzz? Is investing a little fortune on employing a SMM business truly worth it? And has anyone really done their research on this prior to they worked with somebody to set up there Facebook business page? Some SMM business are setting up things like Facebook business pages (which are free) for $600 to $1,000 or more and telling their clients that they don't require a site since Facebook is the most significant social network in the world and everybody has a Facebook account. Now while it might be true that Facebook is the biggest social network in the world and yes, Facebook's members are possible consumers, the genuine concern is are they actually buying? Social media marketing business are all too delighted to explain the positives of social media like the number of people utilize Facebook or how many tweets were sent out last year and how many individuals see YouTube videos and so on however are you getting the full picture? I as soon as sat beside a SMM "expert" at a business workshop who was spruiking to anyone who came within earshot about the amazing benefits of establishing a Facebook service page for small business (with him of course) and selling on Facebook. Fascinated by the aforementioned "specialists" guidance I looked him up on Facebook only to discover he had only 11 Facebook friends (not a good start). Being the research nut that I am, I chose 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 organisation rely so greatly on social media networks for sales?

As a web designer I was continuously (and now increasingly) confronted with numerous social networking difficulties when potential customers would say that having a website sounds excellent but they had a Facebook business page and had actually been told by various sources (the ever present yet confidential "they") that social media networks were the thing to do, however after discussing their needs it ended up being quite clear that those possible clients didn't in fact understand why they needed socials media or SMM to produce online sales, They simply wanted it. For medium and little sized company I constantly suggested building a quality site over any type of social media, why? Well it's easy actually due to the fact that 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). I know that sounds simple however it holds true and the stats back it up. The fact is that social media marketing cannot tell you that Facebook is a social network not an online search engine and in spite of the variety of Facebook users and Google users being around the same, individuals don't utilize 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 company or products. They utilize it to stay connected with family and friends or for news and home entertainment. In a recent research study done by the IBM Institute for Company Worth around 55% of all social media users specified that they do not engage with brand names over social media at all and only around 23% actually actively use social media to connect with brands. 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 business is communicating truthfully before they will engage.

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

Well to start with I would state that having a well enhanced website is still going to bring you even more company that social media most of the times particularly if you are a little to medium sized local business due to the fact that much more individuals are going to key 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 company. Regardless of all the (not so good) stats I still believe it is still an excellent idea for business to utilize social media just not in the same way that a lot of SMM experts are today, Why? Due to the fact that it's clearly not operating in the way they declare it does. Basically SMM Business and Organisation as a whole looked at social media 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 business (in June 2004) and considering that them a few equity capital companies have actually made investments into Facebook and in October 2007, Microsoft announced that it had actually bought a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million. Nevertheless considering that Facebook's modest beginnings up previously (2012) both SMM Companies and Organisation have cannot really capitalise on the huge variety of Facebook users online. The truth is numbers does not equal buyers. Is it in a Social Media Marketing business's best interest to talk social media networks up? Absolutely. Is it in a Social Network like Facebook's best interests for people to think that business can sell en masse by advertising and marketing with them? Naturally it is. In early 2012, Facebook divulged that its earnings had jumped 65% to $1 billion in the previous year as its revenue which is generally from advertising had leapt practically 90% to $3.71 billion so clearly the principle of SMM is exercising for them but it is working out for you? Well ... statistically no, but that does not always suggest that it never will.

One of the biggest issues business face with social networks and SMM is understanding. The main factor the majority of individuals offer for connecting with brand names or service on social media is to receive discounts, yet the brands and business themselves think the primary factor individuals engage with them on social media is to discover about brand-new products. Many companies believe social media will increase advocacy, but just 38 % of customers concur.

Business need to find more innovative ways to get in touch with social media if they wish to see some sort of arise from it. There were some great initiatives shown in the IBM study of companies 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 communicate with companies or brands via social media, customers note "getting discount rates or discount coupons" and "purchasing products and services" as the leading 2 activities, respectively a UNITED STATE ice cream company called Cold Stone Creamery offered discounts on their items on their Facebook page. There is a terrific program introduced by Best Buys in the U.S called Twelpforce where employees can react to client's questions through Twitter. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the benefit is plainly in the favour of the great trick & the possible consumer to social media marketing is to sell without trying to offer (or appearing like your selling) regrettably most social media marketing is focused the wrong way.

Developing a tangible purchaser to consumer relationship via social media is hard and probably the most benefit to company' utilizing social media to boost their websites Google rankings. However business' have to comprehend that you can't just setup a Facebook service page and wish for the best. SMM needs effort and possible customers need to see value in what you need to use via your social media efforts give them something worth their social interaction and time and then you may improve results.

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


As a web developer I was continuously (and now significantly) confronted with a number of social networking obstacles when possible customers would say that having a website sounds good but they had a Facebook service page and had actually been told by various 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 clients didn't really understand why they needed social networks or SMM to generate 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 organisation media and company networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). In a current study done by the IBM Institute for Business Worth around 55% of all social media users specified that they do not engage with brand names over social media at all and only around 23% actually actively use 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 organisation that social media in a lot of cases specifically if you are a little to medium sized regional business 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 Site and if you don't have a site you're missing out on out on all of that prospective service. The primary reason a lot of individuals offer for connecting with brand names or organisation on social media is to get discount SEO Agency rates, yet the brands and company themselves think the primary factor individuals interact with them on social media is to find out about brand-new products.

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