Facebook and Twitter

[uk_biz]

Hi

Would recommend setting up a Twitter and Facebook page for you business if you don't already have one.

It's free and will eventually drive in business.

For those who Facebook or Twitter setup, does it help your business?

 

[watsonnicole1]

I love social media in my business. I make a concious effort to post something on our Facebook every single day.

We are in the wedding industry and it's a excellent way to upsell/cross sell and generally offer help/advice to our clients. We have over 4000 Likers on our facebook. Most are our clients both past and present. As we receive booking sometimes 3 years in advance it's a great opportunity to keep them engaged within our network.

We get at least 1 booking a week from a post on facebook. If we have dressed a wedding at a certain venue we post the picture and tag them in it. All their fans see it and then come and see what we are about. It's viral heaven.

 

[SBOnline]

I think it depends on the type of business you run and how you manage the Social Media campaigns.

They require regular useful information, offers and relevant original content and a selection of quality likers that are actually interested in the products and services offered. Purchasing likes has no benefit here as these people are never going to buy from you.

I have never really seen BIG returns from social media campaigns, but there are sales opportunities (more so in the B2C community) for some businesses.

Hope this helps.

 

[uk_biz]

Agree with you regards purchasing likes

But its worth ago (depending on business type). Nothing to lose

 

[MortifiedCow]

Twitter and Facebook are just channels through which you can add value to people's lives by educating and/or entertaining them, and potentially convert them into customers as a happy side-effect. Email's a channel too. So's Youtube. So are forums. So's holding local events.

Social networks may or may not be appropriate channels for any given business. They may be free in terms of cost, but they're not in terms of time.

One disagreement though: I think bought "likes"/followers are totally worthwhile, purely for social proof. Would you rather be follower #1 or follower #501? I don't have any evidence that it works, but can't see how it wouldn't.

 

[liydjw3]

It is a long game certainly. Unless you have a big budget for Facebook advertisements/ competitions it will take a while to get a following.

It also largely depends on what your business does. For example, if you are selling video games you are going to find it easier to get a following compared to if you were to sell toilet accessories (people want to follow something 'cool' and interesting.

However, there are exceptions if you can target your audience efficiently. For example, I am involved in a business in the funeral industry and we have a Twitter following of 20,000+ and a Facebook following of 1000. It is much harder to build a Facebook audience but we are getting there.

 

[Holopainen]

Facebook and Twitter are the best ways to get new clients. It is free and you can see the result immediately. But you need to take care about your SMM strategy and the way you will behave. Moreover once you started you better not to stop and post something at least once a day. Otherwise it may be not that useful.

 

[Richard Glynn]

There's a lot of hysteria about needing to be on Facebook and Twitter.

Here's my four penneth.

1. You don't NEED to be on Facebook on Twitter. But you should WANT to be part of the conversations your customers are having about issues that are important to them - online and offline. If these conversations are happening on Facebook and Twitter then that's where you should be. If they are on this forum, then be here. Google plus? Pinterest? YouTube? Reddit? Instagram? Blog comments? Listen (ask them!), watch, discover and go where the customers are.

2. When you have chosen your preferred social media channels, (and you can always change focus later on if it's not working out) simply posting information is not the best way to win business. Listen, add value, be remarkable and enthral your customers in two-way conversations. Don't broadcast.

3. Back up your conversations with content - perhaps via a blog. And make it interesting and/or valuable.

4. Don't forget that it should be fun. Not just a broadcasting process. The best conversations are fun. And this is as true online as it is off line.

 

[Phil Richardson]

Facebook and Twitter are the best ways to get new clients.

The only advice i'd offer is never listen to anybody that says this. There is no best way to get new clients when talking generally.

You need to understand your target market and whether they use Twitter or Facebook. If your prospects don't use social media why would you want to spend a lot of time/money on it.

Personally I don't use Facebook but do use Twitter. We work in B2B lead generation and so many people said to me that Twitter is useless for B2B lead generation. Currently about 25% of our monthly invoiceing was generated through engaging prospects with Twitter.

 

[SW1 Limited]

I would absolutely recommend Facebook & Twitter for business, and also Google+ & Pinterest. It is so important these days to have a good web presence. Some business suit social media better than others, but in any event its important to show clients old and new that you are keeping up with the times. It is a great way to advertise your business for free, and special/offers work fantastically well via Facebook & Twitter. The higher profile you have on social media, the more likely it is that people will be driven to your website. Ensure your updates are regular and enjoy it. How else could you advertise to potentially hundreds/thousands of people for free? It will take time but it will be worth it.

 

[eventdomain]

. As we receive booking sometimes 3 years in advance

Yes, you will do, the venues especially get bookings upto 24 months in advance. We too use Twitter, but on checking our stats logs, Twitter hasn't sent a single visitor, to us nor many of our clients, so we've been informed and told.

What is clear is the amount of time necessary to make Twitter work, if it works at all.... we tested this over 12 months with a team of 3 posting on Facebook and Twitter, which are basically blogs, plus were giving our content to Twitter and making them more valuable, and not getting the value back.

Naturally we have our own dedicated blog which drives more traffic than we ever got from Twitter. We estimate at least 10'000 visitors a year hit our blog, who then go straight to our websites, so feel our own blog/site is the place for our content.

I think Twitter IS a good idea, but its been taken advantage of by too many spammers and how will they deal with that exactly? Also what they need is to give more post space for Tweets, and include images and video to put value in, as I'm betting as its so self-promotional anyway, they might as well turn it into an advertising platform, then make cash off the back of the free service.

Its basically a free lead-gen tool, or at least this is what its being used for.

 

[Anastasiya]

We do have Twitter and Facebook corporate pages and I find them very useful. They help to interact with our clients, keep them in touch with our latest news and updates, gather real-time feedbacks & suggestions and advertise the company worldwide. Have you considered creating a Pinterest business page? Does it really work?

___________________________________________________
MobiDev provides exclusive mobile solutions for Your Business

 

A lot of people now connect social media presence to trust. If you are looking into a company to use and they are NOT on Facebook or Twitter, some users feel this is because they are not legit or are afraid of past client feedback.

Vocus & Duct Tape Marketing carried out some research and discovered:

87 percent of SMBs believe that social media has helped or somewhat helped their organization.

77 percent say social media accounts for 25 percent or more of their total marketing efforts.

73 percent of SMBs are now using Facebook in their marketing.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

How many reported SALES?

 

Social Media is not solely about sales - I would suggest SEO and PPC for conversion rates. Social Media enhances sentiment and influence and brand reputation first and foremost - which converts to sales. People need to stop joining Social Media with profit margins - it is a free service that is connected to Marketing and BRM - the younger generations feed of online reputation now more than ever. Think of it like PR and Marketing - you hire a company to shift a giant rubber duck down the thames - everyone is talking about it, you generate buzz online and raise your profile.

 

[Rachel.Lynn]

I want to build social media in my business, we are freelance site. Have our own facebook and twitter page. But it is really need long time to build them well. Cause it is also another way to promote your business.

 

[SepticTanks]

Social media has helped my site dramatically. I post on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn on a regular basis and I also make a point of writing a Squidoo Lens and eZine article every now and then. Ezine has particularly helped with my last article receiving 126 views.

 

[termsandconditions]

Twitter & Facebook are great for market engagement and you are 'ranked' by Twitter on your level of interactivity or so I've heard i.e. more likely to get included in their lists of 'whom to follow'.

Then once in a while you can slot in a mention or two to your content marketing activity e.g. a blog post or a news release or video. I've seen noticeable jumps in website traffic as a result and one or two additional sales. But you have to work it.

Do follow me on Twitter and I WILL follow back:

https://twitter.com/johnhackwood

And do Like me on Facebook and I'll reciprocate on your business page, if that doesn't sound too needy of-course:

http://www.facebook.com/TermsandConditions.co.uk

Best Regards

 

[LeafletsInLincs]

I've had enquiries via facebook and twitter but around 80% of them stop replying to messages or back out and in general act less professionally and mess around. I only post on both of them as google sees them as important factors in ranking websites. I also use google plus but really don't understand the point in it or what google are aiming for.

 

[360WebsiteReview]

Hello All,

I just thought I would add because it's relevant to this post that 360 Website Review are currently offering free Facebook page cover designs. No catches. Just see my signature to request yours.

Thanks Guys.

More specifically to the post - Our clients have seen some huge success as a result of having a Facebook fan page. TBH it can be tough to get things off the ground unless you are prepared to pay for FB adverts etc.

For those who are new, here are a few tips we have picked up....

* Include a link in your email footer.

* Sync your blog, Twitter account and other news feeds to automatically post to your Facebook page

* Facebook pages CAN be SEO'd so take the time to write great, unique content for your FB page using lots of juicy niched-up key words.

* Start small and ask your friends and family to help get you started with some ''sharing'' and ''likes.

* See my signature for a free custom designed Facebook page cover!

* If you have a database or email contact list you can invite contacts to ''like'' your page directly through Facebook! < Top tip!

Hope that helps a little!

Thanks Guys.

 

[MortifiedCow]

I think It's not a good idea to promote your business on Facebook or Twitter. As we all know that so many trollers there.

It could be more affective if you hired some affiliate marketers.

Irony overload.

 

[mrwadders]

With Twitter, it's worth trying to think outside the box too. Kellogg's recently ran a small campaign, whereby they set up a shop in London and everyone who tweeted a recommendation about Kellogg's was given a free box of cereal. A little crude, but it worked.
- Definitely an opportunity to do something similar and offer, say, 10% off next order if people recommend your business. If purely an online business, how to offer the code to these twitterers in private would need working out, but it's thinking outside the box with social media, and learning from what other businesses are doing...

 

[Exemplaryhost]

Now its all about social media, Ive been involved with Facebook marketing myself and it is so much easier to get noticed, its the way people use Facebook that makes it key for marketing, using the right techniques Facebook maybe all you need, you can customize pages and really build your brand. But if anyone is interested in a website or Facebook for marketing there business i could help out. Just send me a message.