Social Media Marketing

[BizGuruUK]

Hi guys, I am studying for my PHD and researching social media marketing and how it helps new businesses grow. If anyone can help me with their views of how they use social media marketing, how successful they are with marketing etc. I have my own small business and have run many businesses in the past so I know the challenges you guys have. I know quite a bit about social marketing so feel free to ask me questions as well, glad to help.

So if you have any experiences that you want to pass on, problems you have found or successes you have enjoyed feel free to let me know.

I assure you that I am not spamming, collecting emails cos I will not ask for any identifying information and this is real serious.

If you want to contribute to a totally anonymous survey then drop me a message and I will give you the link.

I am trying to get together a great strategy and plan to help small businesses be successful with their social media marketing. So any experiences you want to share will be gratefully received and will help loads of others. Thanks guys.

 

[Deleted member 175327]

I think some businesses benefit from it greatly, while others it's more difficult. For retail items it is great, for instance. For corporate services which offer a niche service, it can be quite difficult to gain interest..

 

[BizGuruUK]

A very valid point. Niche marketing is easier with social media but ONLY if you can find and interest that niche. Guess it is the chicken and egg situation. Is it the product or the interest that comes first. Corporate services are really tricky to sell but I think that social media links in search engines greatly helps a search finding the niche product. This is where social media marketing is great for SEO.

 

[Martinly Tran]

To b2b, social media is not very efficient but it's essiential to use for improving brand awareness, I think

 

[BizGuruUK]

Yes very true. It is easy to make a noise B2C but businesses are by their very nature more restrained. Certainly social media marketing builds brand awareness, you do however need a good product that can be talked about. Or at least a solution that businesses are searching for. Many potential business customers are probably chatting on line about their products. I think the social media world needs to mature for a few more years. After all it is only in the last few years that it has become the norm to use a search engine to find a business solution. However should social media still be one of the weapons that marketers use for b2b or should they still rely on the sales staff for the vast majority of leads?

 

[fisicx]

Certainly social media marketing builds brand awareness

Everyone keeps telling me this but there seems to be little evidence that this is the case. I'm sure some companies get a good ROI but for most small businesses get more traction through referral and other forms of marketing.

As an example, I had a post in my facebook feed where someone had liked a particular brand. The product wasn't anything I'd ever use so it had no value to me. Within a day or two it was off the bottom of the page and forgotten all about. On the other hand I asked a question on a car forum and had some great reccomendation with supporting evidence. 30 minutes later I had called them on the phone and placed an order. No need for any SM.

 

[Marcus_B]

Marketing does not always mean gaining a sale from a post/tweet. It is all about getting out 'YOUR' message across in a consistent way, whether that be online with social media or advertising or offline.

At the end of the day it is all about getting quality leads into your sales funnel. Whatever you are doing should be geared towards continuing that dialogue with your customers so when they decide to contact you, you know they have been qualified. It is so much easier when you don't have to sell yourselves as well as your product/service.

 

[fisicx]

At the end of the day it is all about getting quality leads into your sales funnel.

Exactly. This is why so many SM campaigns fail. People seem to think that constant posting, tweeting and commenting will miraculously convert into leads/sales. Marketing doesn't work like that. But people keep on doing the facebook thing because it's cheap and easy. The ROI however is almost non-existant.

Brand awareness great but unless you actually sell something having a great brand is pointless.

 

[Gold-Star-Rob]

Spot on fisicx.

The worst word in all of marketing is "engagement". No one knows what it means, or how to measure it. But social media experts insist it's more important than selling.

There's very few social campaigns that bring a ROI that other advertising mediums can't.

 

[zaen__]

Thanks guys, this has been an interesting read

 

[Dalycom]

Social media definately helps create brand awareness and helps give the company a personality. I agree it is very difficult in B2B situations but it has helped us build up some more awareness in our local area. It may not lead to sales straight away but if you engage with other businesses on there there is definately lots of scope out there.

 

[JPMiddleton]

On the other hand I asked a question on a car forum and had some great reccomendation with supporting evidence. 30 minutes later I had called them on the phone and placed an order. No need for any SM.

You see, I still view forums as the earliest form of social media. I don't like that most people when they hear social media think 'Facebook, Twitter, etc'. When you define what makes social media what it is, I think (IMO) that forums are definitely a part of that, but they were around before the days of the buzzwords surround 'social'.

 

[HostLoveUK]

I think having a social media presence is important for companies in today's digital environment, however, if you wish to attract new customers there are better ways of doing so, for example understand your target market inside out so you know where they spend time, what they read etc. so you can appeal to their interests/hobbies etc. directly.

 

[fisicx]

You see, I still view forums as the earliest form of social media.

It's a bit like the 'Web 2' thing. Everything that is happening now has already happened. Before forums there were newsgroups, guestbooks, chatrooms and other places to hang out. Places you could post images and links, exchange views. comment and so on. What didn't exist back them was the technology that drives modern SM but the core functionality existed right from the first days of the WWW (which isn't the same thing as the internet).

 

[JamiePMortimer]

if you wish to attract new customers there are better ways of doing so

This, in a round about way, is a valuable lesson.

If your 'target customer' is on social media sites, the social media can work wonders. But only if you 'do it right'.

I'd also agree with previous comments that forums are part of social media too. A word-of-mouth recommendation is one of the best marketing tools any business has.

 

[wearewattle]

It is fantastic for business to consumer industries with low value ticket items - Facebook advertising works wonders here and can directly drive product sales with a half decent campaign, for high vale items or considered purchases the ROI is almost nill. Large brands that can afford to invest serious cash will benefit from brand awareness campaigns - but it is a serious challenge to measure.

B2B? Forget about it In the U.S it is slightly different but the UK B2B market is not buying from Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn does have its place but only as an aid to real world relationships.

 

[EffectiveMarketingandPR]

Firstly yes agree with all the comments above that forums were the first form of social media and continue to be extremely influential.

I agree that first Social Media Marketing typically has a much faster and greater impact for B2C. For B2B it is rarely a direct lead generation/sales tool and if that is the expectation then it is unlikely to be seen as a success. However there are a few other factors to consider that can still make social media a powerful part of the marketing mix and longer term strategy for B2B...

1. Industry journalists/bloggers are nearly always using social media in their research and for communication. Building relationships with relevant and carefully selected journalists can help to distribute your news to the people you want to hear it.
2. Using social media to build a relationship with a few key influencers in your industry can help extend the reach of your communication and message and introduce you to your target audience (tools like FollowerWonk help you find out who these people are).
3. It is widely believed that social signals (blog comments, shares, retweets etc...) influence search engine optimisation and will continue to grow in importance. Engagement (that dreaded word!) from web users indicates to search engines that content is interesting and relevant.
4. Using social media to share your industry knowledge, experience and advice builds your profile amongst your followers. This helps position you as the 'go to' company for your product/service and can result in referrals through to journalists/bloggers coming to you for expert commentary on industry developments, this can increase brand awareness and helps to build trust and confidence.

 

[fisicx]

Have you even read the industry reports? There is now a lot of evidence that B2C social media is nowhere near as effective as it once was. Even facebook has admitted that they now filter newsfeeds.

And forums were not the first form of social media. It's origins go back a lot further than that. IRC anyone?

 

[wearewattle]

Have you even read the industry reports? There is now a lot of evidence that B2C social media is nowhere near as effective as it once was. Even facebook has admitted that they now filter newsfeeds.

And forums were not the first form of social media. It's origins go back a lot further than that. IRC anyone?

I can only go on what I generate for customers - where there is an attractive product or a service that can be attached to something people love (for example a dog groomer had a massive increase in new business via paid adverts) it works. To be clear I am talking about PAID advertising to avoid the filters...using sponsored posts and adverts to drive B2C product sales.

 

[fisicx]

To be clear I am talking about PAID advertising to avoid the filters...using sponsored posts and adverts to drive B2C product sales.

Exactly, that's what all the industry reports are saying. If you want to get seen you have to pay for it. A bit like google really.

 

[wearewattle]

Exactly, that's what all the industry reports are saying. If you want to get seen you have to pay for it. A bit like google really.

oh yes! That is very much the case - you wont get anywhere without spending money - it is an advertising platform, but it is very cost effective, £10 - £20 a day will do it.

 

[fisicx]

Which bring us back to the point of the thread. Social Media is helpful to grow a business but not through posting and tweeting or even sharing. It's good old advertising that still works. Advertise on UKBF, advertise on Gogole, advertise on SM sites. Speculate to acumulate.

I did some tests on one site and conversions improved when I got rid of all the 'share this' buttons...

 

[ethical PR]

Interesting, I actually secured £30,000 of business through building relationships through Twitter.

 

[fisicx]

And there will always be good news stories in the same way I've got some excellent contracts through UKBF.

But 99% of the time you can plug away at SM and get nowhere - for no other reason than everybody else is doing the same thing as you and the good stuff gets lost in all the noise.

 

[AllUpHere]

Interesting, I actually secured £30,000 of business through building relationships through Twitter.

Surely the very fact that this stands out to you means that the vast majority of your work doesn't come from social media.

As with any research, the interpretation of the figures is where most people go wrong.

Your having 30K worth of work from Twitter can just as easily say to us that the majority of your work for that year came via other channels.

 

[ethical PR]

Alluphere - it doesn't particularly stand out for me - my point was that social media is not just about relationship building and engagement, but you can also generate business from it directly. I wasn't making a point about whether or not, the majority of my business comes from social media channels.

As you'll know as someone who works in marketing and PR it's about carrying out research, agreeing measurable objectives, using the right channels, for the right audiences and understanding what messaging will resonate with them. And it's about being able to measure success and learn from your activity about what works best for your business and what's not a good investment of time/money.

If you do this whether you are using social media, direct mail, an online campaign, an event, promotion, media relations or other marketing or PR activity, your more like to achieve on your objectives. Too many businesses look at using PR/media because they see them as free tools and then waste time and energy because they aren't focussing on their customers or the channels they use.

 

[AllUpHere]

ethicalPR, sorry I don't really understand your point.

You said that the 30K deal was done by building relationships with people on Twitter, but that Twitter is not just about building relationships.

I'd say, if anything, building relationships is exactly what it's about. You got the deal because of the relationships, not because you were on Twitter.

 

[ethical PR]

Not true I got the deal because the client found me on twitter.

By the way do share your contact details couldn't find them on your profile or via google always good to engage with fellow marketing and PR people,

 

[AllUpHere]

Not true I got the deal because the client found me on twitter.

By the way do share your contact details couldn't find them on your profile or via google always good to engage with fellow marketing and PR people,

We are going to go around in circles here aren't we. You contradicted yourself in a couple of posts, so I just tried to clarify what your actual opinion is. Either social media is about building relationships or it isn't.

If I wanted the forum to have my contact details, I wouldn't be using a made up name with no contact details.

 

[Andy Anderson]

Will social media help with SEO?

 

[paulff]

Will social media help with SEO?

It won't specifically build links or count towards your ranking, but it'll increase your web presence.

 

[fisicx]

It won't specifically build links or count towards your ranking, but it'll increase your web presence.

What exactly does that mean? I was looking for a garden tool and found the thing I wanted after a google search. Social media played no part in the research. I also needed help with a PHP problem, I found the answer on a forum - no social media presence. Today I have been checking some medical details, again no social media anywhere.

 

[Ticks]

From a consumer point of view. I have been on twitter and someone retweeted a picture of a cute top, I bought the top, signed up to their mailing list and will definitely buy some Christmas presents from them... From a retweet they made £30 and have gained a new client for life who would never have seen them otherwise.

 

[fisicx]

I have been on twitter and someone retweeted a picture of a cute top...

And that is the whole point - someone retweeted the picture. It wasn't the shop owner, it was an existing follower.

 

[Concept Vehicle Leasing]

Social Media marketing is a great way to instantly communicate with your current audience and also allows you to quickly build up your own database of people who are interested in your industry. We find that our Facebook page is more for brand awareness and LinkedIn/ Twitter is more useful for generating leads and discussing the daily going's-on's. Blogging is a fantastic way to communicate a message and draw readers back to your site too.

 

[ericuws]

I'm doing the same kind of project but for my honours year.