Social Media Marketing, Truth and Lies

Social Media Marketing seems to be the latest buzz word for anyone seeking 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 springing up all over the place these days and they are telling anyone that will listen about how extremely crucial social media like Facebook twitter and YouTube are to your business however, for the typical little to medium sized business, does marketing to social media networks actually measure up to all the hype? Is investing a small fortune on employing a SMM company really worth it? And has anyone truly done their research study on this before they employed somebody to establish there Facebook business page? Some SMM companies are setting up things like Facebook organisation pages (which are free) for $600 to $1,000 or more and telling their customers that they do not need a site since Facebook is the most significant social network in the world and everybody has a Facebook account. Now while it might hold true that Facebook is the biggest social media in the world and yes, Facebook's members are potential customers, the genuine concern is are they actually buying? Social media marketing companies are all too delighted to mention the positives of social media like the number of individuals utilize Facebook or how many tweets were sent out last year and how many people enjoy YouTube videos and so on however are you getting the full image? I once sat next to a SMM "professional" at an organisation seminar 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 obviously) and selling on Facebook. Intrigued by the aforementioned "experts" guidance I looked him up on Facebook only to discover he had only 11 Facebook buddies (not a great start). So being the research study nut that I am, I chose to take an excellent 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 organisation 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 clients would say that having a website sounds good however they had a Facebook organisation page and had actually been told by different sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social media networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their requirements it ended up being rather clear that those prospective clients didn't actually understand why they needed social networks or SMM to generate online sales, They simply wanted it. For little and medium sized service I always advised constructing a quality website over any type of social network, why? Well it's basic really since 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). I understand that sounds easy but it holds true and the stats back it up. The fact is that social media marketing cannot tell you that Facebook is a social media not an online search engine and despite the variety of Facebook users and Google users being around the very same, individuals don't utilize Facebook in the same way that they use an online search engine like Google (which has around half the online search engine market), Yahoo and Bing to search for service or products. They utilize it to communicate with family and friends 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 mentioned that they do not engage with brands over social media at all and only around 23% really actively use social media to connect with brand names. Now from all individuals who do utilize social media and who do interact with brand names whether purposefully or not, Elite Digital Marketing agency the bulk (66%) say they need to feel a company is communicating truthfully before they will connect.

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

Well initially of all I would say that having actually a well optimized site is still going to bring you far more organisation that social media in a lot of cases especially if you are a small to medium sized regional organisation 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 Website and if you do not have a website you're missing out on all of that possible company. In spite of all the (not so good) stats I still believe it is still an excellent idea for service to utilize social media just not in the exact same method that a lot of SMM professionals are today, Why? Is it in a Social Media Marketing company's finest interest to talk social networks up?

One of the greatest issues company face with social networks and SMM is perception. The primary factor the majority of individuals offer for engaging with brand names or company on social media is to receive discounts, yet the brand names and organisation themselves believe the primary reason people interact with them on social media is to learn about new items. Many services believe social media will increase advocacy, but just 38 % of customers agree.

There were some great initiatives shown in the IBM study of business that had actually gotten some sort of a handle on how to utilize social media to their advantage, keeping in mind that when asked exactly what they do when they interact with businesses or brand names through social media, consumers list "getting discount rates or discount coupons" and "buying products and services" as the leading 2 activities, respectively an U.S 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 clearly in the favour of the possible consumer & the fantastic technique to social media marketing is to sell without trying to offer (or looking like your selling) unfortunately most social media marketing is focused the incorrect method.

Building a concrete buyer to consumer relationship by means of social media is challenging and probably the most benefit to service' using social media to boost their sites Google rankings. Business' require to understand that you cannot just setup a Facebook organisation page and hope for the finest. SMM requires effort and possible clients need to see worth in exactly what you have to provide through your social media efforts provide something worth their social interaction and time and after that you might improve results.

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 continuously (and now significantly) confronted with numerous social networking obstacles when possible customers would state that having a website sounds good but they had a Facebook business page and had actually been informed by various sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social networks were the thing to do, however after discussing their requirements it ended up being quite clear that those potential clients didn't actually understand why they required social networks or SMM to produce online sales, They just wanted it. Well it's simple really due to the fact that social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not organisation media and service networks (that would be more like LinkedIn). In a recent study done by the IBM Institute for Business Worth around 55% of all social media users mentioned that they do not engage with brands over social media at all and only around 23% actually actively utilize social media to interact with brand names. Well initially of all I would state that having a well optimized site is still going to bring you far more business that social media in many cases especially if you are a small to medium sized regional company because far more people 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 Site and if you don't have a site you're missing out on out on all of that prospective organisation. The main reason most individuals give for connecting with brand names or company on social media is to get discounts, yet the brand names and company themselves think the primary reason individuals engage with them on social media is to learn about brand-new items.

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