Social media marketing doesn't work

[estwig]

It is free when you put it up against other forms of advertising or marketing. TV, Radio, Print, Billboards, Email, etc., are all platforms that you pay for. And someone's time goes into creating the media.

The point is, the SM platforms are free to use.

No it isn't free not at all, you are either using your time, or paying for someone else's time, either way time costs money.

The idea that SM marketing is free, is moronic!

 

[Mark T Jones]

I've been following this thread with interest, I don't want to pitch in too much as it may seem like the 'old skhool' on here are picking on you, you've made some good points, thank you.

I can't let this go...............It's only free if you don't value your time!

This X 100.

The free illusion is a dangerous one - people spending endless hours fannying around on Twitter fooling themselves they are doing free marketing.

At least where there is cost, the inclination is to test and measure it.

 

[Shopclicks]

No it isn't free not at all, you are either using your time, or paying for someone else's time, either way time costs money.

If you're not prepared to spend some time promoting your business on a free platform, that's a choice for the individual.

 

[Shopclicks]

The free illusion is a dangerous one - people spending endless hours fannying around on Twitter fooling themselves they are doing free marketing.

If someone was spending endless hours fannying around on Twitter, that would be stupid.

The reality is that taking a video and posting it to Facebook & Instagram takes 5 minutes.

 

[Ozzy]

What more people will want to see is a review of the kit when it is built, and I simply don't have the capacity for that. There are lots of other sources for that, including from the manufacturer themselves.

Going back to your original issue, sorry to derail the direction, but do you have any "whale" clients who are regular buyers of almost if not all your products?

You could partner with them in an influencer capacity where they get your products perhaps at a (significantly) discounted rate and then they do the social media show and tell - perhaps with a referral code where they earn some commission on sales too? That way this is what I could call social media influencer marketing.

 

[japancool]

Going back to your original issue, sorry to derail the direction, but do you have any "whale" clients who are regular buyers of almost if not all your products?

I think I know what you mean by whale clients. We do have a few of those yes.

You could partner with them in an influencer capacity where they get your products perhaps at a (significantly) discounted rate and then they do the social media show and tell - perhaps with a referral code where they earn some commission on sales too? That way this is what I could call social media influencer marketing.

I like this. We used to have a few friendly influencers who would review stuff they bought from us, but they've either retired, had some serious health issues or went to work with our competitors while I was in hospital a few years back. It could be time to recruit a few more. We have one customer who writes reviews of products on UK Anime and always links to us.

 

[Paul Carmen]

Marketing is about being visible with great products and services in the places that your customers search or spend time. It varies massively for B2C and B2B, plus what type of service or product you sell has a large bearing too.

There's nothing wrong with having a social media presence and posting occasionally, in fact it builds trust and visibility, but for some businesses its a waste of time for generating leads or sales. Social media isn't an entity, Facebook will work for some B2C, TikTok for others and LinkedIn often for B2B.

The whole process needs to be done the other way around, with market, product/service and customer research first, plus it's hugely budget dependant. Just because a competitor that's venture capital backed, or has a huge marketing budget does Facebook ads is not a reason for you to start doing them. They may have a far better conversion rate and ROI from every other channel, with Google PPC, SEO or TV their primary marketing channels.

This all needs testing, tracking and scientific analysis, to work out whether any time or budget is worth it in each area. This is eminently possible, even for small businesses, but most people never do it because they don't know how or wont spend money on research, tracking etc, meaning they conclude it doesn't work.

If your industry is about being first to market or creating a buzz around new product launches, but you cant get access to the products, it will be very hard to create an audience and sales from that angle.

I'd be looking at can you leverage that interest and potentially get access to some products early to create that buzz; e.g. a trip to Japan at launch season or an expo (if there's such things), can you be first to market sometimes, can you get exclusives if you take a large volumes initially, can you take pre orders off the back of knowing something is coming?

 

[japancool]

The reality is that taking a video and posting it to Facebook & Instagram takes 5 minutes.

A video of what? A random 5 minute video won't do anything. It might garner a few likes but it won't result in sales. A proper video review of just one my products would take literally hours.

 

[japancool]

in fact it builds trust and visibility

These are good reasons to use social media, with the understanding that they don't lead to direct sales.

 

[japancool]

I'd be looking at can you leverage that interest and potentially get access to some products early to create that buzz; e.g. a trip to Japan at launch season or an expo (if there's such things),

There is indeed. I actually did this once, when I attended one of the major industry shows in Japan (I did that instead of going to London Comic Con). I wasn't properly equipped for it though - what I should have done was livestream bits of it.

can you be first to market sometimes, can you get exclusives

Unfortunately not. There's a shortage of product in the market at the moment, and only very limited amounts are available for shipment directly from Japan - not enough to really make a big fuss about it. I was first to market with a new product recently, but I only managed to get 3 in, which lasted all of 15 minutes.

can you take pre orders off the back of knowing something is coming?

I've stopped taking pre-orders. Unfortunately, I only get quantities confirmed a few days before they arrive. Our orders are often short, or we might miss out on a product entirely if our suppliers didn't get enough in. At the moment, anyone taking pre-orders is playing a dangerous game.

You've given me some things to think about though, thank you for that.

 

[japancool]

Just because a competitor that's venture capital backed, or has a huge marketing budget does Facebook ads is not a reason for you to start doing them. They may have a far better conversion rate and ROI from every other channel, with Google PPC, SEO or TV their primary marketing channels.

Just on this point - FB ads is what works for me. One thing that some of my competitors do, and I don't, is paid Google Shopping. I use the free version, and it gets us some exposure, although not much. I mainly use it so that, if anyone does see it, they know we're an option.

It's something I thought I might try, on a limited budget, but it needs planning.

I have a couple of very large competitors. One of them is Forbidden Planet - it would be crazy for me to try and compete with them by doing the same things they do, so I don't. I let them do their thing, and I do mine. If I try to beat them in the same channels, I'll lose, so I find other avenues.

 

[Shopclicks]

A video of what? A random 5 minute video won't do anything. It might garner a few likes but it won't result in sales. A proper video review of just one my products would take literally hours.

Get creative. Share some product knowledge. Show the latest delivery. Packing deliveries going out. Show off out the back. A 360 view of a finished product. A walk around the shop. The list for retailers is endless. Give people a reason to buy from you and not the competition. You're obviously an expert ... show it off.

 

[japancool]

Share some product knowledge.

There are plenty of other sites that do that, and that get access to the products earlier than I do. As I mentioned, by the time I get the products, knowledge about them will already be all over the internet.

Show the latest delivery.

This is what I already do. I don't show the delivery, just highlight the products that are in it and direct people to the latest restock page on my site. This works extremely well. It's the main thing I use the FB page for.

Show off out the back.

I don't see the point. I'm not a shop. Shwoing pictures of my garden is hardly going to encourage anyone. I posted a few pictures of our warehouse on the page - more likes than anything else I've ever posted. Sales from it - 0. I post a picture of some new products - sales +1000% over the same period last month (and that's not an exaggeration).

The key, for me, is to let customers know that I have what they want. That, in and of itself, will get the word out there and the news will spread throughout the UK community, amongst the discussion groups etc. People will direct others who are looking for it towards me. Everything else is just fluff that consumes time without an adequate ROI.

Here's the problem - I don't doubt that the things you are suggesting work very well for some people., but they won't work as well for everyone. Any form of marketing requires that you understand how the target customer reacts. You can't make blanket recommendations without that.

 

[Shopclicks]

The key, for me, is to let customers know that I have what they want. That, in and of itself, will get the word out there and the news will spread throughout the UK community, amongst the discussion groups etc. People will direct others who are looking for it towards me. Everything else is just fluff that consumes time without an adequate ROI.

When you run Facebook Ads, are you getting shares? Are you running Ads or boosting posts? Are you serving Ads UK wide or local? Do you get online sales or footfall, or both? Have you ever tried a 15 second video Ad rather than an image?

No need to answer if you don't want to. Just things to consider.

 

[Shopclicks]

I'm not a shop. Shwoing pictures of my garden is hardly going to encourage anyone.

I saw that warehouse pic and figured there was a shopfront. My mistake.

 

[japancool]

When you run Facebook Ads, are you getting shares?

Some, yes.

Are you running Ads or boosting posts?

Ads. I sometimes boost posts, but only rarely.

Are you serving Ads UK wide or local? Do you get online sales or footfall, or both?

Online sales. As I mentioned, I'm not a physical shop, so footfall isn't applicable. I do get customers ringing up wanting to visit, but I have to tell them I don't have a premises they can visit.

Have you ever tried a 15 second video Ad rather than an image?

No. I can't see that would be any better than an image. An image captures instant attention, as long as it's an image that tells the customer that it's something they want. An image of a giant robot (which is what I sell) is *going* to capture someone's attention if that's what they're into.

 

[japancool]

I saw that warehouse pic and figured there was a shopfront. My mistake.

If you've seen my FB page, you'll see that the picture got about 4 times as many likes as the other posts. But it didn't result in any noticeable increase in sales. My mistake was probably that I didn't include a link to the website on it.

The other post that got a comparable number of likes was a post where I highlighted consumer rights, as some of my competitors had terms that contravene the Consumer Contract Regulations, and not everyone is aware of their statutory rights. I'll admit I only did that to throw a spanner into the works of said competitors.

Still, posting about it here makes me realise I should always try to take customers to a relevent part of the website if possible, so thank you for that.

 

[Shopclicks]

No. I can't see that would be any better than an image. An image captures instant attention, as long as it's an image that tells the customer that it's something they want. An image of a giant robot (which is what I sell) is *going* to capture someone's attention if that's what they're into.

Just from my own experience (I run a page with 6.4K followers), I know that the reach, engagement & shares on videos posted, are much higher than still images. You can tell more of a story with a video, even if it's 15 seconds (a 3 dimensional view and scale might be important to some people). Again, just considerations.

 

[AutoCoinCars]

I've found that it can work well if you find where your audience is.
We must have wasted so much time in previous years on LinkedIn and Facebook by trying to post and get engagement there, we even tried a few sponsored ads which didn't prove fruitful.
However, I set our marketing team the task to simply find where people were talking about relevant topics to us.
Now we have found that we can target our ****** audience on Reddit and Twitter, and our car audience on Instagram and TikTok.
It's about putting the effort into the right places.
Hope this helps!

 

[Binkly]

Social media is not going to drive sales on its own but it's a good way to support your FB ads or other channels. Proper strategy will increase your brand awareness to the point that your product will actually become concidered while people make a purchase.

For a book sales, having relevant influencers talking about the book or podcasters reviewing a book and recommend it to a wider audience might work better than any display ad.

 

[japancool]

For a book sales, having relevant influencers talking about the book or podcasters reviewing a book and recommend it to a wider audience might work better than any display ad.

That's great.

I don't sell books.

 

[Shopclicks]

Social media is not going to drive sales on its own

That's a bold statement. It might be your experience but it's unfounded.

 

[thetiger2015]

I think it's a case of finding the social platforms where your market exists and warming an audience there. Easy to say. Difficult to achieve!

FB may be maxed out for your particular audience/budget, that doesn't mean they don't exist on other platforms.

I think pursuing the influencer route could be great. They're you're target audience, they understand your product, they can speak to others without coming across like a retailer trying to sell people things. Social media is all about being social first and 'salesy' second. If you can crack the social bit, you'll be able to sell product to your audience. If you're not a social person (I'm not), working with an influencer or a chatty, video friendly person in your industry could be a key that unlocks another door.

 

[lalavee]

... Of course, a video review for a product might well increase its conversion rate. Sadly, I have neither the time nor the budget to do them.

You could ask an influencer if they would video assembling one of your kits that you send them? BEWARE: if you ask the right one, you had better make sure you have enough stock!

I take Ozzy's point about unboxing videos, which, for figures, statues and toys probably works quite well. I watch them myself for those products. But mine are unassembled model kits, and most of them look pretty much the same when unboxed. Here are some plastic runners, a manual and some stickers/decals. What more people will want to see is a review of the kit when it is built, and I simply don't have the capacity for that. There are lots of other sources for that, including from the manufacturer themselves.

I assume your customers are creative? Those video's not only allow them to have a clear vision of what they are buying but what is new, which always gets them excited! Even if the masses have seen it elsewhere they may have not been tempted enough until you rave about it and have it in stock.

What's more important to my customers is whether I have what they want, the fact that they can pick up the phone and talk to me for help and advice, and that they know they will get a response if they contact me. I grant that I'm operating a little on a retained reputation from when I used to do a lot of cons and whatnot.

Is this research based or are you guessing because that is how you would want to be treated or because of your previous rep? Why not start a poll asking the ones who follow you now? An engaging post about what their priorities are. and how can you assist them further.

I'm always open to ideas, but a blanket statement like "create unique content, otherwise it doesn't work", is both unhelpful and wrong.

They key is finding the most effective way to use social media for your industry and products.

The same with all advertising, it needs to be part of a campaign that drip feeds and just a FB post is not going to cut it. If you had a bricks and mortar, you would advertise on local radio, newspapers, flyers, posters, you wouldn't just rely on word and mouth of a local pub of an evening that only has the regulars in.

My social media is not the best because I too am learning but for personal reasons I struggle. I'm actually going to pay someone to do it for me but I haven't met the right one yet!

 

[japancool]

You could ask an influencer if they would video assembling one of your kits that you send them? BEWARE: if you ask the right one, you had better make sure you have enough stock!

Or they could watch one of the thousands that are already out there.

Is this research based or are you guessing because that is how you would want to be treated or because of your previous rep? Why not start a poll asking the ones who follow you now? An engaging post about what their priorities are. and how can you assist them further.

No, I'm not guessing. It's quite clear from their buying patterns.

How many priorities do you imagine someone who builds models of giant robots has? A post like that would just look incredibly silly.

just a FB post is not going to cut it.

If you'd read my OP properly, you'd know that a FB post cuts *extremely* well, if it contains info customers want to see.