Online aspects of starting a business

[jfez]

Most new businesses have a website these days but is it worth getting more into the social media world (Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and all that) as well?

I read this article which neatly outlines the various steps to take if you want to go this route but does anyone really get any benefit out of it?

 

[determinedtosucceed]

Hi

I'm not an expert, just basing this off of a social media business seminar i went to a few weeks ago and from my own test market experience.

From a business perspective these social media sites are fantastic. The whole word has been made smaller, everyone knows everyone (even though its just via the net) and it is a perfect way to have a business account, have people follow you, like your page, share it on their wall and interact more.It helps to continue the advertising without you having to do as much once you reach a certain number of friends/fans and followers much within the UK and internationally.

I was told the best place to start off was twitter...place funny interesting statements to grab peoples attention, then start adding in link and images directing traffic to your facebook business page. I tried it as a tester and it worked to my surprise.so i would definately recommend.

It is still advisable to have a website as it does come across more professional should any of your followers want to buy via an official store.
It's nothing much, but hope my experience helps.

 

[Digimarketeer]

It depends to a great extent on the nature of each business, but my strong feeling is that there is a way of harnessing social media for the benefit of ALL businesses.

What is your business?

 

[RedNorthMedia]

While you could say that I'm biased, because social media is largely what I 'do', I agree with Digimarketeer. It depends on the nature of the business as to what you'll use it for and what you can get out of it, but I'd struggle to think of ANY business that couldn't benefit from using social media in some form or other.

As with all types of marketing though, you can't just expect to set it up and watch the customers come pouring in. It takes time and effort to make it work, but there's so many examples of businesses out there who have really used social media to their benefit. Whether it's increasing awareness of your business, improving your customer service, establishing you as an expert within your field, there's a whole host of benefits that you can get from it.

 

[JandJC]

Twitter is good, but you tend to get a lot of emotion...is it a good business tool, yet to be decided in my opinion.

LinkedIn is a good place to start, it enables you to deliver your career background also join groups that have a synergy with your business.

Physical Networking is in my opinion the best way forward, your natural characteristics are on show to everyone; presentation is key...but you do have the in-built characteristics that pinpoint who you will get on with.

Everyone puts a different persona on-line, in person we are different as our strengths and weaknesses are on display.

 

[bposhoppe]

If you want to grab more business and clients then having a website is not just enough. What is the use of having a website unless or until people do not know about it.
And to let people know about your website you should promote your business and website on social media and other platforms present online.
It would definitely bring great business to you.

 

[businessfunding]

I believe that the key here is to remember that social media is jusyt one facet of your marketing - or more precisely promotions - budget.

To use it well requires time and commitment so you need to make a decision as to where (if anywhere) it fits into your strategy. You can set up facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter et al but nothing will happen, conversely you you can gather lots of random followers and scream inconcequential cr@p and no one will listen.

With full respect to all the socialm media experts on here, before committing to this route you really need to take a holistic view of marketing.

 

[webgeek]

If you're like most of the people who are dedicating time and money into social media, you'll find that the obvious ROI is much smaller than hoped. It does a great job of building exposure and adding trust (name recognition and thought leadership), but does little to drive direct sales, particularly when compared to the traditional top line drivers:
- Organic Search -- SEO will deliver more top line than anything
- Paid Search -- Done right it will generate 'instant' cash flow
- Email -- Can be okay for prospecting, but truly grand for lead nurturing and building loyalty

 

[ecenica]

A common question and one that has cropped up a few times on UKBF.

Simple answer. Yes. social media can have benefits to your business but only if you work at it.

Publishing your own blog is also an easy, inexpensive and very effective way of promoting your business to online users. We like blogs as you own your content. Meaning it adds value to your own business - and not someones else's business. (Facebook would be worthless if it wasn't full of peoples photos, comments etc).

There's also a lot to be said for posting on forums

At a very basic level we always recommend Ecenica users to register their Twitter and Facebook user names at the same time as registering their domain names.

This way you have the option of using the social networks at a later-date.

Have a great weekend!

Rich.

 

[DotNetWebs]

... does little to drive direct sales...

In your experience you mean, I have seen plenty of examples of Facebook driving direct sales.

Regards

Dotty

 

[webgeek]

I manage a number of paid Facebook ads campaigns which do decent for ROI, and yes, I have some clients who get some sales from Facebook.

BUT, I have never seen a company worth their salt who gets more sales from social media than they get from organic. In fact, I've never seen one get more than 10% or 15% from social.

Do you have some examples of companies with a good organic SEO program who derive more from social than organic search? I'd love to see who and how they do it....

 

[internetspaceships]

Out of interest, how much benefit is gained from social media in the B2B arena as opposed to the B2C arena?