Social Media Marketing, Truth and Lies

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

S.M.M business 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 average little to medium sized organisation, does marketing to social networks really live up to all the buzz? Is spending a small fortune on hiring a SMM company actually worth it? And has anybody truly done their research on this before they worked with somebody to set up there Facebook business page? Some SMM business are establishing things like Facebook company pages (which are complimentary) for $600 to $1,000 or more and informing their customers that they don't require a site because Facebook is the greatest social media network in the world and everyone has a Facebook account. Now while it might be true that Facebook is the biggest social media network worldwide and yes, Facebook's members are possible customers, the real concern is are they really buying? Social media marketing companies are all too pleased to explain the positives of social media like the number of individuals utilize Facebook or how many tweets were sent in 2015 and how many individuals see YouTube videos and so on but are you getting the complete image? I when sat beside a SMM "specialist" at an organisation workshop who was spruiking to anybody who came within earshot about the remarkable advantages of establishing a Facebook organisation page for small business (with him of course) and selling on Facebook. So, captivated by the previously mentioned "professionals" recommendations I looked him up on Facebook just to discover he had only 11 Facebook pals (not an excellent start). Being the research study nut that I am, I decided to take a good look into SMM in regard to offering to see if it actually worked, who did it work for and if it did why did Social Media Marketing work for them? And should organisation rely so heavily on social networks for sales?

As a web designer I was constantly (and now significantly) faced with several social networking difficulties when potential customers would say that having a site 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, however after discussing their requirements it ended up being quite clear that those possible clients didn't in fact know why they required social media networks or SMM to create online sales, They just desired it. For small and medium sized company I always suggested building a quality website over any kind of social media, why? Well it's basic truly since 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 basic however it holds 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 despite the variety of Facebook users and Google users being around the same, people do not 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 look for business or items. They utilize it to communicate with friends and family or for news and home entertainment. In a recent study done by the IBM Institute for Organisation Worth around 55% of all social media users stated 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 brand names. Now out of all the people who do utilize social media and who do interact with brand names whether purposefully or not, the majority (66%) state they have to feel a company is communicating truthfully before they will interact.

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

Well first of all I would state that having actually a well enhanced site is still going to bring you far more business that social media in most cases particularly if you are a small to medium sized regional service due to the fact that 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 website you're missing out on all of that prospective service. Regardless of all the (not so excellent) statistics I still think it is still a good idea for business to utilize social media simply not in the very same method that a lot of SMM specialists are today, Why? Is it in a Social Media Marketing company's best interest to talk social networks up?

One of the biggest issues organisation face with social networks and SMM is understanding. The primary factor the majority of people provide for interacting with brand names or service on social media is to get discount rates, yet the brands and organisation themselves think the primary reason individuals connect with them on social media is to discover about new items. The majority of businesses believe social media will increase advocacy, however just 38 % of consumers concur.

There were some great initiatives revealed in the IBM research study of companies that had gotten some sort of a manage on how to use social media to their benefit, keeping in mind that when asked exactly what they do when they communicate with businesses or brand names through social media, consumers list "getting discount rates or discount coupons" and "purchasing items and services" as the top two activities, respectively an USA ice cream company called Cold Stone Creamery used discounts on their items on their Facebook page. With both Cold Stone Creamery and Twelpforce the benefit is plainly in the favour of the potential consumer & the fantastic technique 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 way.

Constructing a tangible purchaser to consumer relationship through social media is difficult and most likely the most benefit to organisation' using social media to enhance their websites Google rankings. Organisation' need to comprehend that you can't just setup a Facebook business page and hope for the finest. SMM requires effort and possible customers have to see worth in what you need to offer through your social media efforts give them 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 initial price ... and the suits are flying


As a web designer I was constantly (and now significantly) confronted with a number of social networking obstacles when potential customers would say that having a website sounds great however they had a Facebook business page and had been informed by numerous sources (the ever present yet anonymous "they") that social networks were the thing to do, but after discussing their needs it became quite clear that those potential customers didn't in fact understand why they needed social networks or SMM to generate online sales, They simply desired it. Well it's basic really because social media is Social Media, and social Networks are Social Networks they are not service media and business 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 mentioned that they do not engage with brands over social Website media at all and only around 23% really actively use social media to engage with brands. Well first of all I would say that having actually a well optimized website is still going to bring you far more organisation that social media in many cases particularly if you are a small to medium sized regional business due to the fact that 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 Website and if you do not have a site you're missing out on out on all of that potential business. The primary factor many individuals provide for communicating with brand names or business on social media is to receive discount rates, yet the brands and service themselves believe the main factor people communicate with them on social media is to find out about new items.

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