Social Media Marketing, Reality and Lies

Social Media Marketing seems to be the latest buzz word for anybody aiming to increase their online presence and sales, but 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 exceptionally essential social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your company but, for the typical small to medium sized business, does marketing to socials media truly live up to all the buzz? Is investing a small fortune on hiring a SMM business truly worth it? And has anyone really done their research on this prior to they employed 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 telling their customers that they do not need a site due to the fact that Facebook is the most significant social network worldwide and everybody has a Facebook account. Now while it may be true that Facebook is the biggest social network in the world and yes, Facebook's members are possible customers, the real question is are they actually purchasing? Social media marketing companies are all too delighted to explain the positives of social media like the number of people utilize Facebook or the number of tweets were sent out in 2015 and how many people see YouTube videos and so on 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 benefits of establishing a Facebook company page for small company (with him obviously) and selling on Facebook. Fascinated by the abovementioned "professionals" advice I looked him up on Facebook just to find he had just 11 Facebook buddies (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 really 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 networks for sales?

As a web developer I was constantly (and now increasingly) challenged with numerous social networking obstacles when prospective clients would state that having a site sounds great but they had a Facebook business page and had been told by numerous sources (the ever present yet confidential "they") that social media networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their requirements it ended up being rather clear that those prospective customers didn't really know why they required social networks or SMM to produce online sales, They simply wanted it. For medium and little sized business I constantly recommended constructing a quality website over any type of social 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 company networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). I know that sounds easy but it's true and the statistics back it up. The fact is that social media marketing cannot tell you that Facebook is a social media network not an online search engine and regardless of the number of Facebook users and Google users being around the same, individuals do not utilize Facebook in the same way that they utilize an online search engine like Google (which has around half the online search engine market), Yahoo and Bing to search for business or items. They utilize it to communicate 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 just around 23% really purposefully utilize social media to connect with brands. Now from all the people who do utilize social media and who do engage with brand names whether purposefully or not, the majority (66%) state they have to feel a company is communicating truthfully prior to they will interact.

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

Well first of all I would say that having actually a well enhanced site is still going to bring you far more organisation that social media in the majority of cases especially if you are a small to medium sized local company since far more individuals are going to type in "hair stylist Port Macquarie" into a search engine like Google, Yahoo and Bing than they ever will on any Social Media Website and if you do not have a site you're missing out on out on all of that possible organisation. Despite all the (not so good) data I still believe it is still an excellent concept for organisation to utilize social media simply not in the very same method that a lot of SMM professionals are today, Why? Is it in a Social Media Marketing company's best interest to talk social networks up?

I believe the major difference between social networks and online search engine is intent. People who utilize Google are deliberately searching for something so if they do a look for hair stylists that's what they are trying to find at that particular time. With something like Facebook the main intent is usually to get in touch with friends and family. In October 2008, Mark Zuckerberg himself said "I don't think social media networks can be monetized in the same way that search (Online search engine) did ... In 3 years from now we need to determine exactly what the optimal model is. That is not our main focus today". Among the biggest problems business face with social networks and SMM is perception. Inning accordance with the IBM Institute for Service 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 business." In today's society individuals are not simply going to hand you over there suggestions, Facebook likes, comments or details without getting something back for it, so the old saying "what's in it for me?" comes into play. So the primary reason the majority of people give for interacting with brands or business on social media is to receive discounts, yet the brands and business themselves believe the primary factor individuals communicate with them on social media is to find out about new products. For brands and business getting discount rates just ranks 12th on their list of reasons people interact with them. Most organisations think social media will increase advocacy, however just 38 % of consumers agree.

There were some good initiatives revealed in the IBM research study of companies that had 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 engage with businesses or brands via social Social Media Agency media, customers list "getting discount rates or vouchers" and "acquiring items and services" as the top 2 activities, respectively a UNITED STATE ice cream business called Cold Stone Creamery provided discounts on their items on their Facebook page. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the advantage is plainly in the favour of the excellent trick & the prospective customer to social media marketing is to offer without trying to offer (or looking like your selling) unfortunately most social media marketing is focused the incorrect method.

Building a concrete purchaser to consumer relationship by means of social media is difficult and most likely the most benefit to business' utilizing social media to enhance their sites Google rankings. Company' require to understand that you can't simply setup a Facebook business page and hope for the best. SMM needs effort and potential clients need to see worth in exactly what you need to offer via your social media efforts provide something worth their social interaction and time and after that you may improve results.

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


As a web developer I was constantly (and now progressively) challenged with a number of social networking difficulties when prospective clients would say that having a site sounds excellent but they had a Facebook company page and had 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 quite clear that those prospective customers didn't actually know why they needed social networks or SMM to create online sales, They just wanted it. Well it's basic actually since social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not organisation media and organisation networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). In a recent 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 engage with brands. Well initially of all I would state that having a well optimized website is still going to bring you far more company that social media in the majority of cases especially if you are a little to medium sized local company since far more individuals are going to type in "hair stylist Port Macquarie" into a search engine like Google, Yahoo and Bing than they ever will on any Social Media Website and if you do not have a site you're missing out on all of that potential service. The main reason the majority of individuals provide for communicating with brands or service on social media is to get discount rates, yet the brand names and business themselves believe the primary factor people engage with them on social media is to learn about brand-new items.

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