S.M.M business are now emerging all over the place these days and they are telling anybody that will listen about how extremely important social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your business however, for the typical little to medium sized company, does marketing to social networks really measure up to all the hype? Is spending a little fortune on employing a SMM company actually worth it? And has anybody truly done their research on this prior to they worked with someone to establish there Facebook service page? Some SMM companies 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 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 be true that Facebook is the largest social media on the planet and yes, Facebook's members are potential customers, the real question is are they in fact purchasing? Social media marketing companies are all too happy to mention the positives of social media like how many people use Facebook or the number of tweets were sent out last year and the number of people watch YouTube videos and so on but are you getting the complete photo? I once sat beside a SMM "professional" at a company seminar who was spruiking to anybody who came within earshot about the remarkable benefits of setting up a Facebook organisation page for small company (with him obviously) and selling on Facebook. So, intrigued by the abovementioned "specialists" recommendations I looked him up on Facebook only to discover he had only 11 Facebook good friends (not a great start). So being the research nut that I am, I chose to take a good check out 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 business rely so greatly on social media networks for sales?
As a web designer I was constantly (and now progressively) confronted with numerous social networking difficulties when possible clients would state that having a website sounds excellent however they had a Facebook business page and had actually been told by numerous sources (the ever present yet confidential "they") that social networks were the important things to do, but after discussing their requirements it became rather clear that those prospective clients didn't in fact know why they required social media networks or SMM to create online sales, They simply wanted it. For medium and small sized organisation I always recommended constructing a quality site over any type of social media, why? Well it's easy really since 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 easy however it's true and the data back it up. The truth is that social media marketing cannot tell you that Facebook is a social media not a search engine and regardless of the variety of Facebook users and Google users being around the same, individuals don't utilize 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 look for organisation or products. They utilize it to keep in touch with friends and family or for news and entertainment. In a current study done by the IBM Institute for Organisation 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% actually actively use social media to communicate with brand names. Now out of all individuals who do use social media and who do engage with brands whether actively or not, the majority (66%) say they have to feel a company is interacting honestly prior to they will communicate.
How do you use social media marketing? And is it even worth doing?
Well to start with I would state that having a well optimized site is still going to bring you far more company that social media for the most parts especially if you are a small to medium sized regional business since even more people are going to type in "hair stylist Port Macquarie" into an online 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 losing out on all of that prospective service. Nevertheless despite all the (not so great) stats I still believe it is still a good idea for company to utilize social media simply not in the same way that a lot of SMM professionals are today, Why? Because it's clearly not operating in the method they claim it does. Basically SMM Companies and Service as a whole took a look at social networks like Facebook as a fresh market ripe for the selecting 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 venture capital companies have actually made investments into Facebook and in October 2007, Microsoft announced that it had bought a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million. Since Facebook's simple starts up till now (2012) both SMM Business and Organisation have failed to really capitalise on the substantial number of Facebook users online. The truth is numbers does not equal buyers. Is it in a Social Media Marketing company's benefit to talk socials media up? Definitely. Is it in a Social Network like Facebook's best interests for people to believe that companies can offer en masse by marketing and advertising 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 income which is primarily from marketing had leapt nearly 90% to $3.71 billion so clearly the idea of SMM is exercising for them however it is working out for you? Well ... statistically no, but that does not necessarily imply that it never ever will.
I believe the significant distinction in between social media networks and online search engine is intent. Individuals 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 main intent is generally to connect with friends and family. In October 2008, Mark Zuckerberg himself said "I don't think social media networks can be generated income from in the same way that search (Online search engine) did ... In 3 years from now we need to find out exactly what the maximum model is. That is not our primary focus today". One of the most significant issues service confront with socials media and SMM is understanding. Inning accordance with the IBM Institute for Business Value study there were "significant gaps between what companies think consumers care about and what consumers say they want from their social media interactions with companies." For example in today's society people are not just going to hand you over there suggestions, Facebook likes, remarks or information without getting something back for it, so the old expression "exactly what remains in it for me?" enters play. So the main factor many people provide for engaging with brand names or service on social media is to get discount rates, yet the brand names and service themselves believe the primary factor individuals engage with them on social media is to discover brand-new items. For brands and business getting discount rates just ranks 12th on their list of reasons that individuals communicate with them. Many businesses believe social media will increase advocacy, but just 38 % of customers concur.
If they want to see some sort of outcome from it, business need to find more innovative methods to link with social media. There were some great initiatives shown in the IBM research study of business that had gotten some sort of a handle on the best ways to utilize social media to their advantage, bearing in mind that when asked what they do when they interact with businesses or brands by means of social media, customers note "getting discounts or coupons" and "purchasing products and services" as the leading 2 activities, respectively an U.S ice cream company called Cold Stone Creamery offered discount rates on their items on their Facebook page. Alternatively there is a great program released by Finest Buys in the U.S called Twelpforce where employees can react to consumer's questions via Twitter. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the advantage is clearly in the favour of the fantastic trick & the possible client to social media marketing is to sell without aiming to offer (or looking like your selling) unfortunately most social media marketing is focused the wrong way.
Constructing a tangible purchaser 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. Business' require to understand that you can't simply setup a Facebook company page and hope for the best. SMM needs effort and potential consumers have to see value in exactly what you need to offer by means of your social media efforts provide something worth their social interaction and time and then you might get better outcomes.
Now just as a footnote Facebook shares have actually dropped to under $20 per share, that's half their original rate ... and the suits are flying
As a web developer I was continuously (and now progressively) challenged with a number of social networking challenges when prospective clients would state that having a website sounds excellent but they had a Facebook company page and had actually been told by various sources (the ever present yet confidential "they") that social networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their requirements it became rather clear that those prospective customers didn't actually understand why they needed social networks or SMM to create online sales, They just wanted it. Well it's easy really 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). In a recent research Social Media Agency 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% actually actively use social media to connect 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 especially if you are a little to medium sized local organisation 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 Website and if you don't have a site you're missing out on out on all of that potential service. The primary factor most individuals give for engaging with brands or service on social media is to receive discount rates, yet the brands and service themselves believe the main factor people engage with them on social media is to learn about brand-new products.
