What's with every site being on twitter & FaceBook?
- Thread starter JDX_John
- Start date
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webstore
We have several Twitter accounts and we find them brilliant in helping get free traffic to our respective websites by surfers clicking on our links in Twitter.
When we have a bit of news we simply Tweet it.
Not into Facebook properly yet, as that seeming takes up a lot more time.
It used to be a few years ago one would just rely on Search Engines for free traffic to one's website but these days Social Networking sites play an equally important part in also helping get that free traffic.
When we have a bit of news we simply Tweet it.
Not into Facebook properly yet, as that seeming takes up a lot more time.
It used to be a few years ago one would just rely on Search Engines for free traffic to one's website but these days Social Networking sites play an equally important part in also helping get that free traffic.
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Parrot Hosting
I remember once saying the internet was a fad and would never take off and be of any use.... I even said that about computers when they bought out the sinclair ZX80 even though I bought one myself.
Who can say if Dave's Plumbing business is worth following.. he might have 15 other businesses, 20 websites, a £3million turnover and 500 staff. I don't tell my clients they have to have a facebook/twitter account. I DO suggest they consider these things as part of their overall marketing campaign and then help them to identify their market and provide them with support and advice.
A combined platform can be extremely effective in gaining new customers - even in Luton.
Who can say if Dave's Plumbing business is worth following.. he might have 15 other businesses, 20 websites, a £3million turnover and 500 staff. I don't tell my clients they have to have a facebook/twitter account. I DO suggest they consider these things as part of their overall marketing campaign and then help them to identify their market and provide them with support and advice.
A combined platform can be extremely effective in gaining new customers - even in Luton.
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wecandobiz
Where to start on this...
First off, I think business folk are, for the large part, making their own mind up and setting up a Facebook Page or Twitter account. There is no obvious need to even speak to a web designer or SEO person about it unless you want to start building complex Facebook minisites using iframes and the like.
Secondly, seeing such exercises as just a way of driving traffic to your website is missing the point. Social networks enable a level of customer engagement which very few websites do. It enables you to effectively communicate with customers pro-actively, but also enables them to easily communicate back, without prompt even. Use a Facebook page or Twitter account to listen as well as broadcast; find out what your customers think and need, so you can mould your offerings around their interests and demands.
Finally, there are leads in these places. I search our Twitter Sales Leads tool every week for examples of leads to put ino our weekly sales leads newsletter and, since you mention plumbing, find folk asking for recommendations of plumbers or that they need a plumber through Twitter regularly. I published a load last week.
It's never easier to sell to someone then when they already have a need for what you do.
The Social Web isn't going away. Whether we're talking about Facebook or Twitter in 5 years time is neither here nor there, because the underlying interest in being able to communicate with real people is here to stay.
Wise businesses are working out how they can best use it now.
First off, I think business folk are, for the large part, making their own mind up and setting up a Facebook Page or Twitter account. There is no obvious need to even speak to a web designer or SEO person about it unless you want to start building complex Facebook minisites using iframes and the like.
Secondly, seeing such exercises as just a way of driving traffic to your website is missing the point. Social networks enable a level of customer engagement which very few websites do. It enables you to effectively communicate with customers pro-actively, but also enables them to easily communicate back, without prompt even. Use a Facebook page or Twitter account to listen as well as broadcast; find out what your customers think and need, so you can mould your offerings around their interests and demands.
Finally, there are leads in these places. I search our Twitter Sales Leads tool every week for examples of leads to put ino our weekly sales leads newsletter and, since you mention plumbing, find folk asking for recommendations of plumbers or that they need a plumber through Twitter regularly. I published a load last week.
It's never easier to sell to someone then when they already have a need for what you do.
The Social Web isn't going away. Whether we're talking about Facebook or Twitter in 5 years time is neither here nor there, because the underlying interest in being able to communicate with real people is here to stay.
Wise businesses are working out how they can best use it now.
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- Original Poster
- #5
What's wrong with signing up to the "please let me know about special offers" email list? How is anyone supposed to follow all their friends, favourite celebs AND companies they buy from? Information overload!
Social networking might not be going away, but the clue is in the name... SOCIAL.
Social networking might not be going away, but the clue is in the name... SOCIAL.
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You've just hit the nail on the head there.
So if you ask a friend via facebook or twitter if they can recommend a plumber in your area they can go "yeah sure, used these guys before have a look at their facebook page).
Social (your friends recommendation) turned into business
Good example, I needed some data recovery doing on a hard drive that fried. I didn't know anyone and would of preferred to deal with someone locally, turned out that one of my old school friends husband (who I had friended at some point on facebook) did exactly that.
So via social networking I was able to find a good data recovery specialist.
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Also you have to look at it from the plumbers point of view.
If he does a good job for someone he can say to the customer can you like me on facebook, that way it will show on the customers wall and can also be seen by the customers friends.
Now if like most people some of your friends will be school friends, work colleagues and local to the area that you are in.
So great for the plumber as he has just got instant marketing to people in his area for hardly any work and at no cost.
You aren't going to get that from your average website
If he does a good job for someone he can say to the customer can you like me on facebook, that way it will show on the customers wall and can also be seen by the customers friends.
Now if like most people some of your friends will be school friends, work colleagues and local to the area that you are in.
So great for the plumber as he has just got instant marketing to people in his area for hardly any work and at no cost.
You aren't going to get that from your average website
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wecandobiz
John, they could also tell you a phone number or where the shop is. That's not important. The point is that one of the most effective ways of getting new busines, word of mouth, has moved online.
In just a few clicks you can ask the view of a network of followers/friends and get an explicit recommendation back. And people are doing this rather than trawl through pages and pages of Google results.
Think word of mouth versus sifting through Yellow Pages/newspaper classfieds in the days before the web.
I don't understand your closing point. Yes, emails are annoying but the Social Web is entirely opt in. If I don't want messages from Justin Bieber, Dave's Luton Plumbing or BMW I can just unlike/unfollow them and I won't hear from them again, but it doesn't stop me visitng their page to see what they're up to.
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Carpet Bags
Been a huge antagonist of all this kind of media, I really have only two ways:
1. Write on my website etc by large print "WE ARE NOT ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER" just to make a statement and stand out from the crowd.
2. Pay to somebody to deal with all this sites for me.
I want you to understand - I am a computer user since 1992 and it is entirely not about an ability of using it.
After dealing with all those freaks and fraudsters you become surrounded by, the only wish I have is to wash my hands.
1. Write on my website etc by large print "WE ARE NOT ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER" just to make a statement and stand out from the crowd.
2. Pay to somebody to deal with all this sites for me.
I want you to understand - I am a computer user since 1992 and it is entirely not about an ability of using it.
After dealing with all those freaks and fraudsters you become surrounded by, the only wish I have is to wash my hands.
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webstore
Not being on Twitter or Facebook is short sighted. It's a bit like saying we are only open for business 3-days of the week !
Having said that we are not on Facebook yet due to time constraints but hope to be v.soon.
A couple of months ago we launched dog-walkers.com and for the month of May 2011 (to-date) 38% of our traffic came from Twitter with hardly anything from the major search engines. In fact we did strangely get 5% from google.se (Sweden)
Google.co.uk is overcrowded for dog walking sites and while Google have indexed 190 pages on dog-walkers.com, none are yet appearing in SERPs for google.co.uk - albeit we would hopefully expect to see some results in say another month or two - but in a crowded market sector you never know.
So what social networking sites provide in particular for a new site, is a fast start-up for new traffic and for established sites they can act as a turbo charger.
(Incidentally we use WebCEO.com for all our traffic monitoring and while it's not free, unlike Google Analytics, it does provide alot more really useful information and all in real-time).
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Carpet Bags
May be you right. Actually I make no questions of it - you are right. But see, I do not need TRAFFIC (it so coincidentally happened that I share bed and marriage certificate with experienced computer engineer ), I need SALES. I.e. MONEY. And it seems it comes from somewhere else but not a Facebook.
), I need SALES. I.e. MONEY. And it seems it comes from somewhere else but not a Facebook.
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webstore
More Traffic >> More Visits >> More Sales >> More Gross Profit >> More Nett Profit
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Carpet Bags
Well, in my experience it not always works this way. What the point get traffic of strawberry pickers on Cartier webside? Or Alabama residents to London's spa?
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webstore
I have just gone into Twitter and searched on "handbags" and I have found several of ladies Tweeting about "handbags". Now I know you sell carpet bags but that brings up little in Twitter.
So all you would need to do is follow those ladies Tweeting about "handbags" and some will follow you back, then some will visit your website and then some might convert into sales. It will cost you nothing but a bit of time albeit there's software out there to help.
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zaidi
May be you right. Actually I make no questions of it - you are right. But see, I do not need TRAFFIC (it so coincidentally happened that I share bed and marriage certificate with experienced computer engineer
Hi there just wanted to share my views, i think that social media is still in its early stages, let the things settle down and we will see social media as the most effective place for businesses,like search engines these days, to survive business will have to adapt with the new trends & changes.
Google have always played down any accusation that Facebook is a serious competitor, however, it is rumoured that Googles new CEO, Larry Page, has heavily linked this years staff bonus with how well Google delivers its new social strategy.
social media has become a huge part of a strong communication tool for businesses & its getting stronger
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Carpet Bags
No doubts - you are right. But I am afraid not in my circumstances - I do not have time to twit (well, it is not the best excuse but it is rely so) and English is my fifth language.
Anyway, thank you
. I have got the idea, but I am afraid left with my old opinion - it is free screaming to an air. I will better pay for something more convincible.
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Carpet Bags
And more:
Facebook full of sick freaks and extremely dangerous criminals. I have couple of breathtaking stories from friends and even family.
I have been told never put your real photo there, never say any information that can be used...
Well, to have 1% more sales but stop sleeping at night? Do I need it?
Facebook full of sick freaks and extremely dangerous criminals. I have couple of breathtaking stories from friends and even family.
I have been told never put your real photo there, never say any information that can be used...
Well, to have 1% more sales but stop sleeping at night? Do I need it?
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webstore
With Facebook reported to be valued at over $50 billion with 500+ million users and Twitter reported to be valued at over $10 billion, your words "social media is still in its early stages" are possibly not valid at this time.
Even Linkedin following its recent IPO was reported as being worth $8 billion last Friday.
Yes P/E s for the above companies are stupid high when compared with say Apple, Microsoft, Google but all the same it says that there's a current huge appetite by investors and users for social media.
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webstore
Yep that's why we prefer Twitter ! Life is so much simpler there with no need of any personal stuff.
Anyway why not list your carpetbags site on our free online shop directory (link below) and get yourself a non reciprocal backlink from our PR4 site !
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All the points made here give some fantastic replies to John's initial question, but I just want to add a comment, particularly when John gave the impression that businesses shouldn't be using websites such as Twitter or Facebook because they're "social" websites.
As a society, we've developed tremendously over the last decade in particular. Take a look around and it's easy to see that in various respects, we've all become slightly more social (from 'chatty' celebrity magazines to informal reality TV programmes) and more and more people prefer this side of things - even in business - than the traditional formal side.
Couple this with the fact that resources such as Twitter and Facebook are naturally a business's dream and it was inevitable that they were going to be used by organization's extensively.
As a society, we've developed tremendously over the last decade in particular. Take a look around and it's easy to see that in various respects, we've all become slightly more social (from 'chatty' celebrity magazines to informal reality TV programmes) and more and more people prefer this side of things - even in business - than the traditional formal side.
Couple this with the fact that resources such as Twitter and Facebook are naturally a business's dream and it was inevitable that they were going to be used by organization's extensively.
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Although to some it may appear small fry but I've got over 250 people that I don't know "following" me on twitter who know about my business, hv given me business and increased traffic to my w/s. Not just that, but I have also done a lot of networking, found many like minded people, been provided with paperwork that has saved me about £500 for a yrs membership of a certain professional body that I would only have joined for the paperwork at this stage. I've also been offered the opportunity to go and shadow someone who runs a similar business in a different part of the country with a view to expand in to the same areas that they have. In addition I've linked up with several charities in my field that I wasn't aware existed and am organising a local fundraising event later this year
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MASSEY
These people are after recommendations, not a plumber rushing to tweet them saying "ill do it".
In terms of investment of time and effort, and getting a decent reward for that time and effort, social media is poor as of 2011. Not to say it won't get better in a few years.
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I would not bother looking at a company FB page, its not got a professional ring to it, its a social chat site. On the other hand if friend said "yeah sure, used these guys before have a look at their website", or even better, "yeah sure, used these guys before, give them a ring, here's their number", then i might think twice about it.
Facebook is a place for having a laugh, taking the piss, friendly banter and so on. Its not safe either and regularly gets accounts hacked.
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wecandobiz
I think the point is perhaps that they are likely to ask their contacts for the recommendation on Facebook or Twitter and either you could have your customers recommending you OR listen out for people asking the question and step forward to offer a product/service (works better on Twitter because it is more open that FB).
Those doing the recommending are probably more likely to just give a name, a website URL or phone number as they are a link to a FB or Twitter page, agreed. But what does that matter -- a lead is a lead and one that comes with a word of mouth recommendation attached has a greater chance of closing.
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May be you right. Actually I make no questions of it - you are right. But see, I do not need TRAFFIC (it so coincidentally happened that I share bed and marriage certificate with experienced computer engineer
'a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still' / 'each to their own'
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SimonYoung
Well I picked up on this discussion thread becasue of Twitter, so I suppose that proves it works! I personally like Twitter but have clients who use FaceBook - it is a good (and cheap) way to tell their customers about events that are happening etc. Their customers have joined or "Liked" their page so a new event appears on 100s of FB pages. It can then be read by 1,000s more. Ok maybe the plumber doesn't want to be on FB but clearly many businesses should and are!
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Arsenal_Addict
Every business should have some interaction with their customers instantly and online.
I have our local pub on Twitter as a semi favor but also to see what's going on out of intrigue. If they tweet the specials then I am tempted and it has registered on my mind.
In my opinion there is only upside if social media is used correctly for a business of any size.
I have our local pub on Twitter as a semi favor but also to see what's going on out of intrigue. If they tweet the specials then I am tempted and it has registered on my mind.
In my opinion there is only upside if social media is used correctly for a business of any size.
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- Original Poster
- #38
Yeah, LastMinute.com and 100 other online companies had valuations in the $millions with similar lack of profit a few years ago. These valuations are hyped and even social networking sites like MySpace have collapsed in value.
There may be massive interest in social media but that's people wanting to hop on the gravy train without really knowing WHY they are... everyone else is so they jump on for fear of being left behind.
Reemmber, STILL the only company making serious, consistent wonga out of "the internet" is Google. Even MS can't with $billions to invest and hiring some of the smartest people around.
I'm sure the same has been said for quite a long time, ever since the internet got started really. It didn't happen so far. I hope it doesn't because that's just creepy. And Google don't think it's happening, they certainly don't look scared that online advertising will die out.
I'm running a business. I don't want to be friends with my customers. Customers can email me and get a lucid, personal service by reply. Not a txt-speak 140-char message.
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DotNetWebs
Of course they're not!
And of course it's just a coincidence that rumour has it they are launching their +1 button tomorrow:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/31/google-plus-one-button/
Regards
Dotty
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