Social Media Marketing, Fact and Lies

Social Media Marketing seems to be the current 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 these days 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 little to medium sized company, does marketing to social networks actually measure up to all the hype? Is spending a little fortune on employing a SMM company really worth it? And has anybody truly done their research on this prior to they employed someone to establish there Facebook company page? Some SMM business are establishing things like Facebook company pages (which are free) for $600 to $1,000 or more and informing their customers that they don't require a site since Facebook is the biggest social network worldwide and everybody has a Facebook account. Now while it may hold true that Facebook is the largest social network worldwide and yes, Facebook's members are potential customers, the genuine question is are they in fact buying? Social media marketing companies are all too delighted to explain the positives of social media like the number of individuals use Facebook or the number of tweets were sent out last year and how many individuals view YouTube videos etc. however are you getting the full picture? I when sat next to a SMM "specialist" at a service seminar who was spruiking to anybody who came within earshot about the fantastic benefits of establishing a Facebook service page for small business (with him naturally) and selling on Facebook. So, interested by the aforementioned "specialists" recommendations I looked him up on Facebook only to discover he had only 11 Facebook friends (not an excellent start). Being the research nut that I am, I chose to take an excellent appearance into SMM in regard to selling to see if it in fact worked, who did it work for and if it did why did Social Media Marketing work for them? And should service rely so heavily on social media networks for sales?

As a web designer I was constantly (and now significantly) faced with several social networking obstacles when potential customers would state that having a website sounds great but they had a Facebook service page and had been informed by various 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 customers didn't really understand why they required social networks or SMM to produce online sales, They simply wanted it. For small and medium sized organisation I always recommended developing a quality site over any type of social media, why? Well it's easy actually since 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). 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 network not an online search engine and regardless of the number of Facebook users and Google users being around the same, individuals do not use 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 search for organisation or products. They utilize it to communicate with friends and family or for news and entertainment. In a current 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 Elite Digital Marketing agency around 23% actually purposefully utilize social media to engage with brands. Now from all individuals who do use social media and who do engage with brands whether actively or not, the majority (66%) state they need to feel a business is communicating truthfully before they will interact.

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

Well first of all I would state that having actually a well optimized website is still going to bring you far more service that social media in a lot of cases specifically 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 Site and if you don't have a site you're missing out on out on all of that possible business. In spite of all the (not so great) data I still believe it is still an excellent idea for business to use social media simply not in the very same way 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?

One of the greatest issues service face with social networks and SMM is perception. The primary reason many people give for interacting with brands or business on social media is to get discount rates, yet the brand names and service themselves believe the main reason people communicate with them on social media is to learn about new products. The majority of organisations think social media will increase advocacy, however only 38 % of consumers agree.

There were some good efforts revealed in the IBM research study of companies that had gotten some sort of a manage on how to utilize social media to their advantage, keeping in mind that when asked what they do when they engage with services or brands via social media, customers note "getting discounts or coupons" and "acquiring items and services" as the top two activities, respectively an USA ice cream business called Cold Stone Creamery offered discount rates on their items on their Facebook page. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the benefit is clearly in the favour of the possible client & the fantastic technique to social media marketing is to offer without trying to sell (or looking like your selling) regrettably most social media marketing is focused the wrong way.

Constructing a tangible buyer 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 comprehend that you can't simply setup a Facebook service page and hope for the best. SMM needs effort and prospective customers have to see worth in what you need to provide 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 actually dropped to under $20 per share, that's half their initial price ... and the claims are flying


As a web developer I was constantly (and now significantly) faced with several social networking obstacles when prospective clients would state that having a website sounds excellent however they had a Facebook business 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 ended up being quite clear that those possible clients didn't actually understand why they needed social networks or SMM to create online sales, They just desired it. Well it's easy 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). 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 brands over social media at all and just around 23% actually actively use social media to connect with brands. Well first of all I would state that having a well enhanced website is still going to bring you far more organisation that social media in many cases specifically if you are a little to medium sized local service 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 Website and if you don't have a site you're missing out on all of that possible company. The main reason a lot of people offer for interacting with brand names or business on social media is to get discounts, yet the brand names and business themselves believe the main factor people engage with them on social media is to learn about brand-new products.

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