Best use of Social media for business

[Peanut Butter Man]

OK, so I know about Facebook and Pinterest and am using them now. I have a Twitter acnt and will register for Instagram tomorrow. But I really have no idea as yet how Twitter and Instagram work.

My first thoughts would be to dive in and see how the big companies (and small) are using these to drive sales etc. I could then in some way replicate the better ones.

But do you guys use these, what are the benefits and downsides to them?

I am thinking also of using a platform such as Hootsuite to manage these accounts otherwise I am unlikely to ever have tome to make and sell my product.

Thanks

 

[fisicx]

There is increasing evidence that the ROI from social media is poor compared to other marketing methods. Facebook for example has filters to weed out posts so that people only see relevant content in their feeds. Everyone seems to have jumped on the SM bandwagon which means your submissions get lost in all the noise.

Use SM to support your existing business but don't use it as a source of new business.

 

[Peanut Butter Man]

Thanks Fisicx,

I agree that the use of social media should be used to supplement other activities rather than being a stand alone solution. Its a sum of parts.

 

[fisicx]

You did ask how big companies use SM to drive sales. They don't. They use SM to bombard people with marketing which people then gloss over. Do some digging and there is lots of stats on the use of SM for business. You will see very little ends up generating new or even improved sales. There will be those who tell you SM is not all about making money. I'd counter that by suggesting SM is costing you money. The time you spend uploading pictures, posts, tweet and so could be better spent generating leads.

 

[Peanut Butter Man]

I am not an expert in this in anyway. But I believe people are attracted to images on the web, perhaps more than text. For those that are attracted to images I think my sm activities could be based around the same perhaps to capture those who are browsing.

However, as with anything it will need to be measured and I guess only time will tell if this makes a difference to the business.

In terms of time taken, Im hoping this will be reduved with the use of a sm feed platform

 

[fisicx]

But I believe people are attracted to images on the web,

Yes they are. But not as a lead to purchase.

Think about ebay or amazon. Every purchase begins with a search. It's possible you could do the same with instagram or snapchat but the demographic for these platforms tends to be people browsing rather than looking for particular products.

On the other hand people do use google images to look for products to buy. Not sure this will work for peanut butter though...

SM feed aplications end up just filling the various platforms with more noise. If you really want to engage with people you need to do it yourself. Choose, edit and caption each image, craft your tweets to get people interested, use facebook to suggest uses of peanut butter (but not promote your brand). Any automated anything will fail - because that's what everybody else is doing.

 

[Socio South West]

The problem my clients seem to come across with social media is that people don't browse or look for information.... They will see it if it happens to be fed to them on a plate, but will whinge like hell when they miss a special offer they find out about subsequently.

Agree that SM should be used as a supplementary marketing tool, and not as a mainstream tool: Most on SM will be able to get your product cheaper, bigger, better etc elsewhere, and will make it known to their contacts.

 

[fisicx]

They will see it if it happens to be fed to them on a plate, but will whinge like hell when they miss a special offer they find out about subsequently.

And the problem is they are now getting so much information the good stuff gets lost. Imagine someone with 100 different 'likes' who all feed daily marketing info. Most of it won't ever get seen because it drops off the bottom of the feed before the user has even logged on to see what going on.

 

[MatthewRJones]

In my opinion these are the key benefits - Brand Awareness , Relationships, Positioning.

Brand awareness - By growing a targeted following you can get your message in front of your target customers.

Relationships - Getting involved in conversations is a great way to make new business contacts and even friends. You may find someone who may be able to refer work to you or vice versa.

Positioning - By writing quality blog posts about your industry and sharing these via Social Media you can position yourself as the expert you are in your industry.

Social Media is long term, you have to put in the groundwork and build up your audience by helping people and sharing your knowledge.

Matt

 

[QuoteSift]

I agree with Matthew its important to know your audience too and it's not a quick fix. Advertising and marketing is a skill. Message needs to be clear and the path to your door laid with roses!

 

[fisicx]

In my opinion these are the key benefits - Brand Awareness , Relationships, Positioning.

That's all conjecture. The point of a busienss is to make money in order to pay the bills. SM won't make money if you use the methods you describe. And the reason is simple: everyone is doing the same thing. THere is now so much noise in the SM sphere the messages get lost.

Do you really think uploading instagram images of garden sheds is going to bring in new business or having a conversation on twitter about petunias is going to sell more flowers?

SM is going the same way most forums went: they will just fill up with people promoting their products and services.

 

[tony84]

On my facebook, I ask all off my clients to write a review.
I have around 5 on there at the minute which is only a small percentage.

I have spoken to people who have said they are calling me because of the reviews. Obviously they were slightly interested anyway but the reviews tipped it in my favour.

The good thing about facebook reviews are it literally puts a face to the name. Any website can have a review write something and put Mr J Bloggs at the end of it. I have no idea if it would work for you, but your product is bought more as a "want" than a "need". People would prefer to buy what you offer than they would what I do (assuming they like peanuts).

During kids holidays, you can put recipes/photos have people send in photos of what they made etc etc so its possible to get more of a buzz (thats the big word at the minute isnt it?) going about your product I think.

Saying that, I dont get the point of twitter/pintrest etc etc. Twitter to me is like facebook updates but with a cap on how many letters you can use?

 

[Dan Izzard]

I'd also be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. Perhaps master one platform first before moving onto the next. Having a social icons all over your website that leads to a social feed that was last updated 3 weeks ago isn't going to do you any favours. Hootsuite (or tweetdeck etc) can be useful tools but do also need a substantial investment of time to ensure that you use them properly.

Also, search for some peanut butter related terms on Twitter and see what kind of thing competitors are doing, that should give you an indication of what kind of interactions you can work towards. As Fisicx says you have to find a way to pay your bills, and it's easy to spend hours on social without really looking into what's working. Make sure you run links that you share through bitly etc to ensure you can match up social with transactions and enquiries on site.

 

[Smokin Donut]

Use social as a way to support sales & marketing daily objectives. Set up streams to listen to competitors by using the #hashtag and monitor conversations aligned with your target segment by geocode tagging. Track all campaign URLs around each social post. Find key players on LinkedIn and follow their Twitter handle to ascertain the values of the target before attempting to start a conversation. And have a strategy with realistic goals. Otherwise it's just a hobby! We do this stuff daily so know our onions (prefer donuts). Don't forget to have fun! It is social - so smile in your content.

 

[ethical PR]

Hi PB

The key issue when it comes to any marketing and PR activity is understanding who your audience is, what communications channels they use, having clear calls to action and being able to differeniate your product from your competitors.

I know you mentioned before that you see your target audience as 'anyone who likes peanut butter' but to be honest this won't cut it.

Don't waste your time setting up lots of social media channels when you don't know who you want to be talking to, rather invest your time in developing a clear understanding of who will buy your product and who influences your purchasers. Where do the live, what socio-demographic groups do they belong to, what lifestyle do they have, what communications channels do they use, who influences them?

If you don't have this information you will struggle to market your business effectively and use your marketing budget effectively.

The British Library and others provide free training in various aspects of marketing why not take advantage of these to help you build your marketing plan, which will help you identify any social media channels and how you might use them.

 

[Peanut Butter Man]

Hi PB

The key issue when it comes to any marketing and PR activity is understanding who your audience is, what communications channels they use, having clear calls to action and being able to differeniate your product from your competitors.

I know you mentioned before that you see your target audience as 'anyone who likes peanut butter' but to be honest this won't cut it.

Don't waste your time setting up lots of social media channels when you don't know who you want to be talking to, rather invest your time in developing a clear understanding of who will buy your product and who influences your purchasers. Where do the live, what socio-demographic groups do they belong to, what lifestyle do they have, what communications channels do they use, who influences them?

If you don't have this information you will struggle to market your business effectively and use your marketing budget effectively.

The British Library and others provide free training in various aspects of marketing why not take advantage of these to help you build your marketing plan, which will help you identify any social media channels and how you might use them.

Lol when I said 'anyone that likes peanut butter' that was tounge in cheek

 

[ethical PR]

Lol when I said 'anyone that likes peanut butter' that was tounge in cheek

Sorry....not a mind reader....in that case - as you know your target market and their communications channels...I'll leave you to it.

 

[marklew]

RE facebook/twitter, a friend saying 'just had the nicest ever peanut butter from @xxx' will have a lot more substance than a 'suggested post'. Its about the people having the awareness of your @/fb page (e.g. if promotional items insure that the info is there and on your branding material) and you getting them to taste it, so that they talk about it. It is basically modern day word of mouth. I wouldn't go too far into it at this stage. People have good experiences or try something new and want to tell others about it, and this is where the real value and interest will come from.

It also depends what you are targeting, no one has mentioned LinkedIn yet. If you looking at selling B2B set up your own profile and a company profile use it as a tool to make contacts (target independent quality food retailers etc) and potential sales.

 

[japancool]

Social media can be an extremely effective way of marketing a product or service that is an essential social product. By that, I mean it's something people talk to their friends about. For example, Facebook is my main source of new customers. When compared to the effectiveness of Google advertising, the click-through rate an engagement rate was significantly higher, and it also keeps my customers engaged.

However, and this is the major caveat, I sell model kits. People like to talk to fellow builders and enthusiasts about their kits, share their creations, talk about the TV series that they're based on and so forth.

Now, one of my packaging suppliers has a Facebook page. I'm sorry, but I do not sit around with my friends talking about cardboard boxes. I don't find polystyrene chips interesting, and bubble wrap is not fascinating. I'm not going to like them on my personal page, and I'm sure as heck not going to like them on my business page, because my customers are likely to feel the same way I go about cellophane rolls.

I have no statistics to back it up, but I imagine many companies are finding the ROI on SM advertising poor because they're trying to sell something that is just unsuited to social media.

 

[johno123]

We sell promotional products and we have used socila media as a way to attempt to gain new business. We have found that Twitter is the most effective. We have directly gained orders and interest unlike FB etc.

 

[philbaxter]

If you market locally then the networking hours on twitter (eg #hampshirehour) are a pretty good way to build connections.

 

[fisicx]

If you market locally then the networking hours on twitter (eg #hampshirehour) are a pretty good way to build connections.

How much new business has this generated for you?
How does it compare to your other marketing methods?

 

[philbaxter]

It is pretty minimal for us in terms of directly generated new business given our service line is not really a locally focused one. However, we do have clients who say it is the best way they get business on twitter.

 

[Jennie@FreeAgent]

I think Twitter and Instagram would be great for you. Just make sure you do a lot of research and monitor who else is talking about peanut butter. I used Tweetdeck (it's free) to keep and eye on certain phrases that are mentioned on Twitter - this could work well for you. As for Instagram, I love this platform and I love peanut butter so I'm sure your account would appeal to a lot of people. Great for brand awareness and shouldn't take up much of your time at all.

 

[fisicx]

As for Instagram, I love this platform and I love peanut butter so I'm sure your account would appeal to a lot of people.

So when was the last time you brought something as a result of something you saw on instagram?

 

[Jennie@FreeAgent]

So when was the last time you brought something as a result of something you saw on instagram?

I frequently buy stuff I see on Instagram, mainly nail polish and clothes. Granted I do often see the same things on Twitter but I look at Instagram every day too.

 

[fisicx]

Which indicates you are looking at specific categories/groups. It's unlikely you would ever see a picture of peanut butter.

Not saying Instagram won't work but the chances of a visitor coming across the picture of PBJ and then going off to buy the PB are very very slim

 

[Peanut Butter Man]

Which indicates you are looking at specific categories/groups. It's unlikely you would ever see a picture of peanut butter.

Not saying Instagram won't work but the chances of a visitor coming across the picture of PBJ and then going off to buy the PB are very very slim

But if Jennie is looking at her categories, why would you assume people will not look at my category. It seems that while people do cross promote and use these varying platforms there has to be some kind of measurement in place. What do you achieve from taking part. On top of that, and as long as it doesn't take too long to do, keeping a presence on SM, however small can't be a bad thing.

 

[Jennie@FreeAgent]

Which indicates you are looking at specific categories/groups. It's unlikely you would ever see a picture of peanut butter.

Not saying Instagram won't work but the chances of a visitor coming across the picture of PBJ and then going off to buy the PB are very very slim

I'm not looking at specific categories or groups. I generally find Instagram accounts to follow when companies post links to them on Twitter, or from their website.

 

[junipaire2009]

On my facebook, I ask all off my clients to write a review.
I have around 5 on there at the minute which is only a small percentage.

I have spoken to people who have said they are calling me because of the reviews. Obviously they were slightly interested anyway but the reviews tipped it in my favour.

The good thing about facebook reviews are it literally puts a face to the name. Any website can have a review write something and put Mr J Bloggs at the end of it. I have no idea if it would work for you, but your product is bought more as a "want" than a "need". People would prefer to buy what you offer than they would what I do (assuming they like peanuts).

During kids holidays, you can put recipes/photos have people send in photos of what they made etc etc so its possible to get more of a buzz (thats the big word at the minute isnt it?) going about your product I think.

Saying that, I dont get the point of twitter/pintrest etc etc. Twitter to me is like facebook updates but with a cap on how many letters you can use?

I agree Tony, I'm going to look into having Facebook reviews for my site, much better than a name people don't know if they are genuine or wrote by the store owner.

I did find another couple of interesting ones I'm going to maybe use yotpo.comand getkudos.me

 

[NickGrogan]

You can buy FB reviews, likes, etc, the same as almost anything else on the net,

 

[fisicx]

But if Jennie is looking at her categories, why would you assume people will not look at my category..

Jennie said:

I'm not looking at specific categories or groups. I generally find Instagram accounts to follow when companies post links to them on Twitter, or from their website.

The journey begins elsewhere. It's not instagram, it's following people from other sources. Posting picture on instagram isn't the answer, it's getting people interested enough in your products to follow you in the first place. I can understand nail polish because there are new products, shades, techniques and so on. But I doubt this will work with peanut butter. Suppoose you get a celeb to tweet about your product, you will get a flurry of visitors to the website, a fraction will buy and even less will follow. You need to connect with consumers, not followers.

Are you posting weekly PB recipies on your website? Are you giving people something worth following?

 

[Jennie@FreeAgent]

Jennie said:

The journey begins elsewhere. It's not instagram, it's following people from other sources. Posting picture on instagram isn't the answer, it's getting people interested enough in your products to follow you in the first place. I can understand nail polish because there are new products, shades, techniques and so on. But I doubt this will work with peanut butter. Suppoose you get a celeb to tweet about your product, you will get a flurry of visitors to the website, a fraction will buy and even less will follow. You need to connect with consumers, not followers.

Are you posting weekly PB recipies on your website? Are you giving people something worth following?

I like your point of 'You need to connect with consumers' - this is very true. I only meant Instagram to be a tiny part of an overall strategy. So if you were to post weekly peanut butter recipes (love this idea) on your site then a part of this could be to share a photo of the food on Instagram and direct them back to the recipe on your site. But as I said, this is only a tiny add on to an overall, much bigger plan.

 

[fisicx]

^^^Exactly

Scatter gun posting doesn't work - you need to take a holistic approach

 

[NickGrogan]

Ask people to send you recipes, best one each week/month wins months/years/lifetime supply of PB. You promote this on twitter/FB, as part of entry, people have to post picture of their recipe on Instagram and share the link on Twitter. Anyone entering is a potential customer, as you know they like PB, and they create the content, pictures and tweets for you and share it with their friends.

Instant SM strategy. And if you pay/beg a "celeb" to enter their recipe/s even better.

Kate Beckinsdale for one

http://nationalpeanutboard.org/sightings/spotted-peanut-butter-on-a-fork/

 

[Peanut Butter Man]

Some interesting and valid points made above. I have plans to do things such as the 'your recipes' for a peanut butter reward along with others that would be used on Youtube.

Fisicx makes the point that while people may follow latest trends in nail varnish it may not happen with peanut butter.. I disagree, those who like peanut butter (many) and who include the health and fitness market who are prepared to send on good food may well follow a new product with new flavours developing. Mt peanut butter is not a smooth and crunchy and that's the end of it. Today I was working on a new butterscotch as well as a white chocolate flavour (both delish)

Of course only time will tell if I am right and in 12 months time I may have to live on peanut butter because I have sold none.

I agree though of course that a holistic approach needs to be taken. If anyone relied on SM as a cure all then thats not really going to happen. But with a quality product, good service etc then it has a chance.

 

[fisicx]

I disagree, those who like peanut butter (many) and who include the health and fitness market who are prepared to send on good food may well follow a new product with new flavours developing.

And there again is the same thing - you have to get to these people first and they then have to do something about it.

And it all comes back to marketing. Advertising and promotion is the way forwards - get the products in front of people, attend the heath and fitness conferences, set up stalls in exhibition, shows and festivals, pay for adverts in magazines. Generate interest in the products and then use SM as a booster.

 

[NickGrogan]

those who like peanut butter (many) and who include the health and fitness market who are prepared to send on good food may well follow a new product with new flavours developing.

May is perhaps the most important word here. The people I know or have read about who are serious about health/fitness and choose their diet because of it are very concerned about calories, protein, vitamins and so on and couldn't care less about flavour. I've worked with people who will sit and eat a tin of plain tuna every 3 hours to maximise protein intake - it wasn't for the taste/smell.

 

[Peanut Butter Man]

May is perhaps the most important word here. The people I know or have read about who are serious about health/fitness and choose their diet because of it are very concerned about calories, protein, vitamins and so on and couldn't care less about flavour. I've worked with people who will sit and eat a tin of plain tuna every 3 hours to maximise protein intake - it wasn't for the taste/smell.

And I have read time and time again in the health and fitness forums that the same people want something new... man can not live by tuna alone ... This is why the likes of protein shakes come in flavours. Of course this won't apply to everyone but given the choice on a like for like product except one has a natural flavour maybe some will buy mine

 

[NickGrogan]

I hope so. Why do you existing customers buy?