Social Media Marketing, Reality and Lies

Social Media Marketing seems to be the most recent buzz word for anybody planning to increase their online presence and sales, however is Social Media Marketing (SMM) all it is cracked up to be?

S.M.M companies are now emerging all over the place nowadays and they are telling anyone that will listen about how extremely important social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your service however, for the typical small to medium sized company, does marketing to social media networks actually live up to all the buzz? Is spending a little fortune on hiring a SMM company really worth it? And has anybody actually done their research on this before they worked with somebody to set up there Facebook organisation page? Some SMM business are setting up things like Facebook company pages (which are complimentary) for $600 to $1,000 or more and informing their clients that they don't require a site because Facebook is the biggest social media on the planet and everybody has a Facebook account. Now while it might hold true that Facebook is the largest social media on the planet and yes, Facebook's members are prospective consumers, the genuine concern is are they actually buying? Social media marketing business are all too pleased to explain the positives of social media like how many people utilize Facebook or the number of tweets were sent out last year and how many people enjoy YouTube videos etc. but are you getting the full picture? I as soon as sat beside a SMM "expert" at an organisation workshop who was spruiking to anyone who came within earshot about the incredible benefits of establishing a Facebook business page for small company (with him obviously) and selling on Facebook. Captivated by the previously mentioned "experts" recommendations I looked him up on Facebook only to find he had just 11 Facebook buddies (not an excellent start). So being the research nut that I am, I chose to take a great check out 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 company rely so greatly on socials media for sales?

As a web designer I was constantly (and now increasingly) faced with several social networking difficulties when potential customers would say that having a website sounds excellent but they had a Facebook organisation page and had actually been told by numerous sources (the ever present yet confidential "they") that social networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their needs it became quite clear that those prospective customers didn't really understand why they needed social networks or SMM to create online sales, They simply wanted it. For small and medium sized business I always recommended constructing a quality website over any type of social network, why? Well it's simple 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). I understand that sounds simple however it's 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 regardless 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 an online search engine like Google (which has around half the search engine market), Yahoo and Bing to search for service or products. They utilize it to keep in touch with friends and family or for news and entertainment. In a current research study done by the IBM Institute for Service 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% in fact purposefully utilize social media to interact with brand names. Now out of all the people who do utilize social media and who do engage with brands whether actively or not, the majority (66%) state they need to feel a company is interacting truthfully prior to they will engage.

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

Well firstly I would say that having a well optimized site is still going to bring you much more business that social media for the most parts particularly if you are a small to medium sized local company due to the fact that 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 do not have a site you're missing out on all that potential business. In spite of all the (not so good) stats I still believe it is still a great idea for service to utilize social media just not in the same method that a lot of SMM specialists are today, Why? Because it's clearly not operating in the method they claim it does. Essentially SMM Business and Company as a whole looked at socials media like Facebook as a fresh market ripe for the picking 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 because them a couple of venture capital companies have made investments into Facebook and in October 2007, Microsoft revealed that it had bought a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million. Considering that Facebook's simple starts up till now (2012) both SMM Companies and Organisation have stopped working to really capitalise on the substantial number of Facebook users online. The truth is numbers does not equivalent buyers. Is it in a Social Media Marketing business's best interest to talk socials media up? Absolutely. Is it in a Social Media Network like Facebook's benefits for people to believe that business can offer 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 earnings which is primarily from marketing had jumped nearly 90% to $3.71 billion so clearly the idea of SMM is working out for them but it is exercising for you? Well ... statistically no, but that does not necessarily imply that it never will.

One of the most significant issues business face with social networks and SMM is understanding. The main reason the majority of people offer for communicating with brand names or business on social media is to receive discount rates, yet the brands and service themselves think the main factor people interact with them on social media is to learn about new products. Many services believe social media will increase advocacy, but only 38 % of consumers agree.

There were some good initiatives revealed in the IBM research study of companies that had gotten some sort of a handle on how to use social media to their benefit, keeping in mind that when asked exactly what they do when they engage with services or brands via social media, consumers note "getting discount rates or discount coupons" and "buying items and services" as the top two activities, respectively an USA ice cream company called Cold Stone Creamery provided discount rates on their products on their Facebook page. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the benefit is plainly in the favour of the terrific trick & the prospective consumer to social media marketing is to offer without attempting to sell (or looking like your selling) sadly most social media marketing is focused the wrong way.

Building a tangible purchaser to consumer relationship through social media is not easy and most likely the most benefit to business' utilizing social media to boost their websites Google rankings. Service' require to understand that you can't simply setup a Facebook company page and hope for the finest. SMM requires effort and possible customers need to Website see worth in exactly what you have to provide by means of your social media efforts provide something worth their social interaction and time and then you may 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 claims are flying


As a web designer I was constantly (and now progressively) challenged with several social networking difficulties when prospective customers would state that having a website sounds good however they had a Facebook service page and had actually been told by different sources (the ever present yet confidential "they") that social networks were the thing to do, however after discussing their requirements it became quite clear that those potential clients didn't actually know why they needed social networks or SMM to produce online sales, They just desired it. Well it's basic really since 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 Organisation 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% really purposefully use social media to engage with brands. Well first of all I would state that having actually a well enhanced site is still going to bring you far more service that social media in the majority of cases especially if you are a small to medium sized regional organisation because 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 service. The main factor most people provide for engaging with brand names or organisation on social media is to get discounts, yet the brands and business themselves think the main reason individuals connect with them on social media is to find out about brand-new items.

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