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Thread: Points to Consider With Social Media Marketing

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    New Member DianaHeuser's Avatar
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    Points to Consider With Social Media Marketing

    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

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    Dave A (14-May-13), Wiz (12-May-13)

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    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

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    Dave A (14-May-13)

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    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    @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.
    It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin

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    Platinum Member sterne.law@gmail.com's Avatar
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    I think the type of business is a critical factor.
    Different industries require differnet mediums.
    Anthony Sterne

    www.acumenholdings.co.za
    DISCLAIMER The above is merely a comment in discussion form and an open public arena. It does not constitute a legal opinion or professional advice in any manner or form.

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    @pmbguy - what is it exactly that you do?

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    Platinum Member pmbguy's Avatar
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    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.
    It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin

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    Cool.

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