S.M.M companies are now springing up all over the place these days and they are telling anyone that will listen about how incredibly important social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your business but, for the average small to medium sized business, does marketing to socials media really live up to all the buzz? Is investing a small fortune on employing a SMM business truly worth it? And has anyone really done their research study on this before they hired someone to set up there Facebook business page? Some SMM companies are establishing things like Facebook company pages (which are complimentary) for $600 to $1,000 or more and telling their customers that they do not need a site since Facebook is the greatest social media on the planet and everyone has a Facebook account. Now while it may hold true that Facebook is the largest social media in the world and yes, Facebook's members are prospective customers, the real concern is are they in fact buying? Social media marketing business are all too happy to explain the positives of social media like the number of people use Facebook or the number of tweets were sent in 2015 and how many people enjoy YouTube videos etc. however are you getting the complete picture? I when sat beside a SMM "expert" at a service workshop who was spruiking to anyone who came within earshot about the remarkable benefits of setting up a Facebook service page for small company (with him of course) and selling on Facebook. So, interested by the aforementioned "professionals" suggestions I looked him up on Facebook just to find he had only 11 Facebook good friends (not a good start). Being the research study nut that I am, I decided to take a good appearance into SMM in regard to offering to see if it really worked, who did it work for and if it did why did Social Media Marketing work for them? And should service rely so greatly on socials media for sales?
As a web designer I was constantly (and now progressively) confronted with a number of social networking difficulties when prospective customers would state that having a website sounds excellent however they had a Facebook company page and had been told by numerous sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social media networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their needs it became quite clear that those potential clients didn't actually know why they required socials media or SMM to create online sales, They simply desired it. For small and medium sized business I always advised developing a quality site over any kind of social network, why? Well it's simple actually 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 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 media network not a search engine and despite 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 company or products. They use it to keep in touch with friends and family or for news and home entertainment. In a recent study done by the IBM Institute for Service 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% in fact purposefully use social media to interact with brands. Now out of all individuals who do use social media and who do connect with brand names whether purposefully or not, the bulk (66%) say they have to feel a company is interacting truthfully before they will engage.
So how do you use social media marketing? And is it even worth doing?
Well first of all I would state that having a well optimized website is still going to bring you far more company that social media in most cases specifically if you are a small to medium sized regional business since 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 Site and if you do not have a site you're missing out on out on all of that possible service. In spite of all the (not so excellent) statistics I still think it is still a good concept for service to utilize social media just not in the same way that a lot of SMM experts are today, Why? Is it in a Social Media Marketing company's best interest to talk social networks up?
One of the most significant issues service face with social networks SEO Agency and SMM is perception. The main factor the majority of individuals offer for connecting with brand names or organisation on social media is to get discount rates, yet the brand names and business themselves think the main reason people interact with them on social media is to learn about new products. Most companies believe social media will increase advocacy, but only 38 % of consumers agree.
There were some excellent efforts shown in the IBM study of business that had actually gotten some sort of a deal with on how to use social media to their advantage, keeping in mind that when asked exactly what they do when they engage with companies or brands by means of social media, customers list "getting discount rates or vouchers" and "buying products and services" as the leading 2 activities, respectively an U.S 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 great technique & the prospective customer 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 way.
Building a concrete buyer to consumer relationship by means of social media is difficult and most likely the most benefit to company' utilizing social media to increase their sites Google rankings. Business' need to comprehend that you cannot simply setup a Facebook business page and hope for the best. SMM needs effort and potential clients need to see value in what you need to offer through 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 cost ... and the claims are flying
As a web designer I was constantly (and now increasingly) challenged with several social networking obstacles when potential customers would say that having a website sounds great however they had a Facebook business page and had actually been told by numerous 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 clients didn't really understand why they needed social networks or SMM to create online sales, They simply desired it. Well it's basic actually due to the fact that social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not company media and company networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). In a current research study done by the IBM Institute for Organisation Value around 55% of all social media users stated that they do not engage with brands over social media at all and just around 23% in fact purposefully use social media to communicate with brand names. Well initially of all I would say that having actually a well enhanced site is still going to bring you far more business that social media in a lot of cases especially if you are a small to medium sized local service 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 website you're missing out on all of that prospective service. The main factor the majority of individuals offer for interacting with brands or company on social media is to receive discounts, yet the brands and company themselves think the primary factor people communicate with them on social media is to find out about brand-new products.
