Points to Consider With Social Media Marketing

[DianaHeuser]

Hi Folks,

I wanted to share a few thoughts about Social Media Marketing. Would love to hear your input. Do you agree or disagree?

Small businesses are often overlooked by the bigger marketing companies because we don't have the budget for their services. So we as entrepreneurs get enterprising and in most cases do it ourselves.

The one challenge with that is that unless you have some experience with social media and web based marketing, you could be spending a lot of time and effort focusing on the wrong social platforms.

If you ask your friends where they think you should focus your attention on, they immediately reply with 'Facebook'. That makes sense to a certain degree because there are over 800 million users on Facebook. It sounds like a perfect market place until you do some research.

Do you know what percentage of Facebook users are under the age of eighteen? What percentage are women? How many people actually even look at Business Pages on Facebook?

People use Facebook for social interaction with their friends and family. Sure, they are going to follow their likes and passions on Facebook, but how often does that convert into actual business for you as a business owner?

If you are a legal firm or financial planners, chances are your target market is too busy running their lives and businesses to spend time flitting around on Facebook. However if your target market is raving teenagers desperate for the latest Justin Bieber album, then you would have the perfect market.

I am generalising a bit here, but it is important to evaluate whether Facebook is in fact the correct platform for you to launch your promotion campaign on.

There are several other well-known social media platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit and LinkedIn (which is the more grownup market). Each platform has a specific culture and if you go in like a bull in a china shop, chances are you will be ignored. That's a real waste of your time.

Once you have decided on a platform, you have to plan how you will build brand awareness. Is it going to be the slow but cheap (free) route of posting on a daily basis, interacting with other pages and providing decent content that will get people's attention? Or do you go the paid advertising route? It's a lot faster but can end up costing you an arm and a leg if you don't know what you are doing.

The other challenge we face as entrepreneurs and small business owners is that we are SO busy running our business that we do not have the time to keep up a social media and internet strategy on a consistent basis. And that is the secret: You have to do it consistently.

Di

[Wiz]

I really agree on your thoughts and would love to share my opinion.
There are few things which every business owner should think about before starting any social media campaign when it comes to marketing and investing high sums.

Target Audience - Very important
Define A goal - To achieve something we need to have a target defined.
Age Group - Target Correct Audience
Platform - Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Related Sites.
Consistency - We need to make sure we are consistent.
Tracking - You need to track your campaign.
Conversions - Move on if you are converting from your traffic.

There are lots of thing which we can look into it. A proper strategy should be planned up and it worked upon. Lots of things can be done to get visitors for your site.

Just my 2 cents.
TheWIz

[adrianh]

What sort of small business in South Africa will attract business using: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn & Reddit?

There is a lot of hype around all these platforms but show me any small business that has had results. Many small businesses are location based and serve a local market, how do they benefit from marketing via social media?

My daughters are both teenagers and they are active on BBM, Facebook & Youtube and the have never asked me to buy anything locally or abroad from advertising on those platforms.

I am active on every single platform you can think of and the first thing I do is to turn all the advertising off where possible.

Social Media marketing might be wonderful for Samsung and BMW but I am yet to see it make any sort of mark for small business.

[HR Solutions]

Don't really agree with u on this one Adrian, purely because I have a friend that s hired only for social media. All the big companies utilize it. Eg Telkom , watch how quick a complaint is sorted if reported on twitter , he works for some very large companies as a social media operative. More and more companies re going this route.
I agree Facebook is crap. We have no success from fb , but Linked in is fantastic , a lot of high end corporates follow us on linked in and are attracted by top jobs.

[adrianh]

I agree that big companies keep an eye on social media and that it is important to them but my question is this; what value does advertising on these services have for the little guy?

The problem with Facebook is that companies simply bombard you with rubbish advertising that is mixed in amongst all the rubbish that is posted on behalf of people. Youtube advertising serves no other purpose than to annoy that absolute crap out of anybody trying to watch a clip. I can't say that I've seen advertising on Reddit. Come to think of it, I can't see how anybody could use Reddit as s serious advertising platform...unless they are advertising a porn site of course.

[pmbguy]

@adrianh –Why don’t you use your new staff member to do the whole social media thing? I am not sure to which extent it will work, but I believe it is better to leave no stone unturned.
I am a small business so I market in whichever way I can. I find direct marketing the best way to grow quickly.
On a similar note. I have found that I get much more business from stupid free Gumtree, olx, locanto +++++++ than I ever do from the yellow pages and news papers.

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

I think the type of business is a critical factor.
Different industries require differnet mediums.

[adrianh]

@pmbguy - what is it exactly that you do?

[pmbguy]

Office Automation. Printers, Copiers, Facsimiles, multifunction’s, ++++. Service, Repairs, Sales, Consulting. Cartridges.
9 years in the Industry. Worked as a Technician, Salesman and general random go to guy for my boss and managers. 4 Years my own bones, moved to PMB mostly not to compete with my Joda, and PMB is an easy city to market and service effectively. I also study Psychology post grad. I have lots of interests.

[adrianh]

Cool.

[Dave A]

I've been chewing over the first two posts in particular, but probably should kick off with my top points to consider when it comes to social media marketing.

1. Make sure you understand the significance of the word social in "social media marketing".

Social media has a few forms, but the most popular formats where communities assemble are essentially the online equivalent of real world social gatherings.
What works and what doesn't online pretty much follows the same rules of social engagement offline.


2. Make sure you understand the difference between social interaction and advertising.

Placing adverts on social media platforms is a very different activity to engaging in conversations on social media platforms.
Placing adverts can be done by the Advertising Department. Identify where they belong, draw up the advert, arrange for its placement and done.
Engaging members of an assembled crowd on a topic that isn't directly the primary purpose of the gathering is a different task, probably a job better suited to the Public Relations Department.


3. Make sure you don't confuse engaging conversation opportunities with free advertising space.

If the discussion is about saving whales and you are selling a soap that does not contain any whale products, there may be a timeous opportunity to slip your soap into the conversation as a by-line, but that's about it if you're looking for a positive result.
Repeatedly raising your soap when the main discussion is plainly about saving whales, or blatantly pitching your soap advert as a substitute for meaningful conversation is probably not going to go down so well.
There is a time and a place for most things. Bad timing and bad placement = bad results.


4. Make sure you understand the community you're engaging with.

If you want to have any influence over an individual or community, you first need to be accepted and earn some level of trust and respect.
Barge in and make assumptions at your peril.


And finally...

5. Someone is paying for the drinks.

(I'll leave the reader to ponder possible sub-points on that one )

[Neville Bailey]

I'm not sure if TFSA fits into the social media bracket but, if it does, then it has been a very effective marketing medium for me!

Even though it has not cost me a cent in advertising costs, it has only worked for me because of the time and effort that I have put into it, combined with the Google-friendliness of TFSA. In fact, most of my business has come about from strangers (non TFSA members) that have Googled for my services and have come across my posts on the forum.

Thank you, Dave, for providing such an amazing medium!

[ians]

I have found that if you are looking for business as a small guy on forums, you need to become active on the right forums and you need to make sure you are a nice guy who shares information regarding your field or product, without sounding like you are pushing yourself or product onto people.

This forum is a good example, if I was looking for business on this forum I wouldn't respond to posts in the manner I do,

my signature would have my web site address

A photo of myself would be my avatar,

I would respond to posts in a more professional manner but add a little humour and a personal touch,

I would add a little more info with regards to myself, including my hobbies etc,

Neville is a good example of how to get business from a forum and as we all know word of mouth is the best advertising out there,

Conclusion, no matter what platform, forum, website or internet media you want to promote your self or product stick to a few important guides lines and they will all work for you even face book, twitter etc.

The key is to get people to trust you, that takes time.

[Dave A]

Thank you, Dave, for providing such an amazing medium!

Thank you Neville for being such a great example of how it should be done

The formula works and everyone's a winner.

[Justloadit]

I feel that social media advertising, really only works for a product that can be serviced under a national basis, and this usually falls under the very large corporations, such as Coke, BMW, Samsung, to name a few. Having a little hardware store selling paint, and using social media to get sales is just not going to work, as the diversity of the members in the social media network may be nationally or even internationally based, and the chances that they going to buy some paint in your shop just is not going to happen.