Which social media sites are a must..
- Thread starter MAWuk
- Start date
Hey 
The great thing about Google+ is that it also helps with search rankings, so that's another to seriously consider.
You might find this article interesting from www.socialmediaexaminer.com - it's pretty tech heavy, but well worth a read!
Hope this helps!
The great thing about Google+ is that it also helps with search rankings, so that's another to seriously consider.
You might find this article interesting from www.socialmediaexaminer.com - it's pretty tech heavy, but well worth a read!
Hope this helps!
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Answer: none of them.
Spend a few minutes each day posting on these sites if you have the time but as none of them are going to generate any leads those posts just become vanity posts.
Do some reseach on the life of a tweet or a facebook post. You will them realise why they are pointless.
Spend a few minutes each day posting on these sites if you have the time but as none of them are going to generate any leads those posts just become vanity posts.
Do some reseach on the life of a tweet or a facebook post. You will them realise why they are pointless.
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Hi Mawk
Good luck in your new business!
You have a great list of social media platforms there, they do take time so I would recommend you start with a couple rather than them all right away. Which to start with all depends on what you offer and to whom. B2B companies tend to do better from LinkedIn and Twitter, B2C propser on Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest and Instagram can be interesting if you have a highly visual product. The key to all of them is consistency and regularity.
Good luck in your new business!
You have a great list of social media platforms there, they do take time so I would recommend you start with a couple rather than them all right away. Which to start with all depends on what you offer and to whom. B2B companies tend to do better from LinkedIn and Twitter, B2C propser on Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest and Instagram can be interesting if you have a highly visual product. The key to all of them is consistency and regularity.
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Hi Fisicx
I understand your point re if we look at how social media directly leads to sales that for most companies, it doesn't offer an ROI. However, I would also say that social media is a marketing activity we shouldn't look at in the same way we might do a PPC campaign or a sales focused email campaign. It's far more of a brand marketing channel, than a direct to sales one. Here's a few things we can expect and look for from social media:
- A regularly updated social media campaign shows a company is very much alive and dynamic. Something that reflects well on us as a brand.
- People ask questions on social media, just as do on this forum, these are often opportunities to be helpful and build connections, which may lead to sales further down the road.
- If we write great blogposts, or publish content elsewhere, we can promote it via our SM accounts.
- If we have an active Twitter account, we can take part in discussions relative to our area, profession or a whole host of other topics. These lead to connections, which (as said above) can lead to sales further down the road.
- More and more people visit a company online in 2, 3, sometimes several ways now before making a connecting or purchasing decision. We can gain some insight into how such repeat visitors work for us by viewing the new Multi Channel Funnel report in Google Analytics. Most companies see social media feauring here as part of their multi channel funnel conversions.
All in all, there are many reasons and ways to both do and benefit from social media.
I understand your point re if we look at how social media directly leads to sales that for most companies, it doesn't offer an ROI. However, I would also say that social media is a marketing activity we shouldn't look at in the same way we might do a PPC campaign or a sales focused email campaign. It's far more of a brand marketing channel, than a direct to sales one. Here's a few things we can expect and look for from social media:
- A regularly updated social media campaign shows a company is very much alive and dynamic. Something that reflects well on us as a brand.
- People ask questions on social media, just as do on this forum, these are often opportunities to be helpful and build connections, which may lead to sales further down the road.
- If we write great blogposts, or publish content elsewhere, we can promote it via our SM accounts.
- If we have an active Twitter account, we can take part in discussions relative to our area, profession or a whole host of other topics. These lead to connections, which (as said above) can lead to sales further down the road.
- More and more people visit a company online in 2, 3, sometimes several ways now before making a connecting or purchasing decision. We can gain some insight into how such repeat visitors work for us by viewing the new Multi Channel Funnel report in Google Analytics. Most companies see social media feauring here as part of their multi channel funnel conversions.
All in all, there are many reasons and ways to both do and benefit from social media.
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T
TradeSmart
I am afraid I have to completely disagree with that. It purely depends on what business you're running.
Cleaners, Joiners, Decorators etc generate vast amounts of work from Facebook.
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N
Nochexman
This is a little simplistic. If MAWuk runs customer support from Twitter or Facebook this could achieve a great deal.
I would add google+ to the list for SEO purposes.
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- Original Poster
- #10
Well thanks for all the replies, some interesting points made. I think the comments about it being worthwhile if you are a certain type of business is spot on. A friend of the wife's is a hair dresser and she dose extremely well out of face book for example. My industry is not something that I think would necessarily generate business from face book, however I feel that having a presence on it and twitter lets the world know that you are still trading and doing work, like someone has already said. Thanks again
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Of course they do. But analyse how they get that business.
Most of the new business will come from recommendations. People don't use facebook to search for tradesmen, they ask their friends if they know someone. This is the point I keep making (and has been confirmed by a lot industry experts), the best results from SM come from other people sharing. It's not what YOU share, it's what others share for you.
@positivesparke made some great points but they are all related to people who are already following you. @MAWuk asked a specific question and the answer is still the same, SM sites should supplement other marketing activities. You need to make people aware of what you do first so they can then join you on SM activities.
It all boils down to want you want to achieve. If it's to get leads then SM isn't the way to do this. If all you want to do is spread the love then use SM - but don't expect this to earn any money.
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A
AnnaDMC
Join each social network and measure its engagement levels over time. Also look at social book marking sites, like StumbleUpon and sites like Reddit. Build a community, where you are contactable in different forms to cover a wide audience. Also ensure that you engage with others on this social media sites, don't expect people just to find your tweets and connect, you must comment, share and like other peoples content too.
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Evie47
Completely agree. Whenever you post something on any of your social media websites ask yourself 'would I like to see this content in my newsfeed? Would I like it, share it, retweet it?', the reason why posting interactive content is so important is because social media accounts like Facebook have an algorithm, if people do not engage with your content, that content will be shown to fewer people the next time you post something. BUT, if you post something that does spark interaction, then your next post will be shown to a wider audience. I read this in a book, called Jab, Jab, Punch. It's better to post nothing on social media than post for the sake of posting.
If you need help, get help from a few pros to get you on your way. Check out fivesquids.co.uk (ignore the fake social media stuff and look for the jobs that specialise in social media content i.e. I will write you compelling tweets for £5.)
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I think it really does depend what you're wanting out of social media. FB can be great for small businesses generating local custom. While G+ is great in the sense that it encourages discussion amongst people with similar interests and can help in terms of brand awareness.
As for Twitter, British Steve's case study speaks for itself!
As for Twitter, British Steve's case study speaks for itself!
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None are a must.
There's a million and one other more important things to focus on as a new business that comes before social media.
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S
studioraygun
Depends entirely on your business model and your target customers. I don't believe it's true to say that you NEED to be on social media (think B2B, long-term, high value relationship business) but in the same breath I think it's wrong to say social media won't add value to your business. Even the aforementioned type of business could benefit from having a social presence, just so they can be seen to have one.
And that's the worst case scenario. With an actual strategy, which includes frequency of posting + the right content + the right tone, I've seen B2C businesses increase their traffic and sales massively.
You've got it covered with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (personally, we don't bother with Facebook) but also look at Google Plus and Pinterest. Plus is good for search rankings (G's effort to maximise their exposure of Plus) and Pinterest is best for visually-led businesses, like fashion, photography etc.
And that's the worst case scenario. With an actual strategy, which includes frequency of posting + the right content + the right tone, I've seen B2C businesses increase their traffic and sales massively.
You've got it covered with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (personally, we don't bother with Facebook) but also look at Google Plus and Pinterest. Plus is good for search rankings (G's effort to maximise their exposure of Plus) and Pinterest is best for visually-led businesses, like fashion, photography etc.
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A client has discovered unless you have an account you can't see the pins. So while many people will have a pinterest account you are forcing people to sign up to see your images.
If you are selling cheap socks then I doubt any SM activity is going to help. If you are selling luxury cars then twitter isn't really going to connect with the right clients.
SM is great for being social - that's what I use it for. But if I want leads then £50 on adwords will bring in more money that a week of tweets.
And those who say SM is great for brand awareness don't understand marketing.
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E
Excel Expert
Another for none is a must.
If you are approaching from the point of view "I must be on as much social media as possible" you will end up wasting a lot of time.
The question should be about finding what social media channels do your potential clients use? Once you work that out you can focus your efforts on those channels. If you were an accountant (for example) channels like Pinintrest are going to be fairly useless, however if you were an artist of some sort it would be great. Flipping it the other way, LinkedIn would be great for the accountant and next to useless for the artist.
Unless you are hiring people to look after your social media, find the key channels first and focus on them, otherwise you will end up a busy fool.
If you are approaching from the point of view "I must be on as much social media as possible" you will end up wasting a lot of time.
The question should be about finding what social media channels do your potential clients use? Once you work that out you can focus your efforts on those channels. If you were an accountant (for example) channels like Pinintrest are going to be fairly useless, however if you were an artist of some sort it would be great. Flipping it the other way, LinkedIn would be great for the accountant and next to useless for the artist.
Unless you are hiring people to look after your social media, find the key channels first and focus on them, otherwise you will end up a busy fool.
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I'm in the none (but everyone is probably doing it wrong) camp. Unless you have a massive presence already SM can be a suck on time. But I find advertising on such networks can work as it allows me to target specific groups of people.
Recently blogged about it possibly being a waste of time: https://blog.servertastic.com/social-media-big-waste-time-small-businesses/
Recently blogged about it possibly being a waste of time: https://blog.servertastic.com/social-media-big-waste-time-small-businesses/
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But on another note (contrary to my post above) I would say that it works if you get others sharing (as @fisicx mentioned).
I recently did a fairly technical post in as plain english as I could: https://support.servertastic.com/deprecation-of-sha1-and-moving-to-sha2/
This managed to get on Hacker News (a social media site but not mainstream) and hit 2.5k views in a day. You can also see on the page it got a few social shares as well and is still getting 600+ views a day.
All those visitors are being added to my marketing lists on adwords, facebook and twitter allowing me to show them ads. Those ads are converting to sales extremely well.
So in this case I have managed to leverage social media to make sales but not by me directly posting to twitter/facebook but through others sharing on the platforms.
I recently did a fairly technical post in as plain english as I could: https://support.servertastic.com/deprecation-of-sha1-and-moving-to-sha2/
This managed to get on Hacker News (a social media site but not mainstream) and hit 2.5k views in a day. You can also see on the page it got a few social shares as well and is still getting 600+ views a day.
All those visitors are being added to my marketing lists on adwords, facebook and twitter allowing me to show them ads. Those ads are converting to sales extremely well.
So in this case I have managed to leverage social media to make sales but not by me directly posting to twitter/facebook but through others sharing on the platforms.
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Actually, that's incorrect you can get rid of those pop ups asking for you to sin in or register just click continue and then exit the window, and you can view the site without restriction.
As for social media generally - we use Twitter primarily for customer service, and we are very happy with it. Quite often our customers tweet photos of their purchases and we have gained direct sales as a result from their friends. Tweets might not stay in the twitter timeline for long but they are there on a friends profile permanently unless delete.
Facebook is very useful if you have a product or service that people want to tell their friends about. They're not going to boast about buying a new oven, but a new toy, game or something they are passionate about - definitely. Our customers (some of them) actually rely on Facebook for updates on new products and don't visit the site. Frustrating sometimes but it tells us that we can't afford to miss the key product posts and news.
Fisicx, I respect that you clearly have a strong view that social media will never lead to sales for you, but I have many examples where it does provide sales for us. It really depends on your business type, and in my opinion (based on my own experience) I completely disagree with you.
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It does really depend on the industry, but i think that having a presence, if not an actively contributing account, is necessary for almost all businesses.
The benefits might not be direct sales, but exposure is important, especially for start-ups. And with the direct targeting that Facebook offers with ads, for example, it can help in generating this exposure for very little relative outlay.
"A week of tweets" might only amount to 20 minutes of your time. If you can get your business out there to another few hundred people, linking useful information or your most popular products, then why not integrate SMM?
If you gain 1 customer through an ad on Facebook, who then goes on to recommend your product by word of mouth to family, friends, and collegues, then it becomes worth it, surely.
The benefits might not be direct sales, but exposure is important, especially for start-ups. And with the direct targeting that Facebook offers with ads, for example, it can help in generating this exposure for very little relative outlay.
"A week of tweets" might only amount to 20 minutes of your time. If you can get your business out there to another few hundred people, linking useful information or your most popular products, then why not integrate SMM?
If you gain 1 customer through an ad on Facebook, who then goes on to recommend your product by word of mouth to family, friends, and collegues, then it becomes worth it, surely.
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Seems to be a lot of misinformation about the impact of social media on SEO rankings.
Here's the reason why you should be focusing on social, as any decent SEO agency would tell you. It's where 99% of your audience are. Come up with compelling content, share, build engagement, convert - forget about trying to trick the algorithm!
Regardless of what happens, either attack social media with vigor, or don't do it at all. Mismanaged/lazy social profiles make companies look slobby.
Here's the reason why you should be focusing on social, as any decent SEO agency would tell you. It's where 99% of your audience are. Come up with compelling content, share, build engagement, convert - forget about trying to trick the algorithm!
Regardless of what happens, either attack social media with vigor, or don't do it at all. Mismanaged/lazy social profiles make companies look slobby.
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gemma.wilson
It seems there is a divide as to whether SM is any use to a business. I believe and quote those who've said similar; but I feel it depends on the company. I feel Twitter and Facebook would be the main targets for most businesses, with the Instagram, Pintrest, etc, being ideal for a visual product.
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My point is that SM works best if you let others do the marketing for you. If some celeb retweets about a fantastic product you sell then you will get sales and new followers. You say you sell a lot through facebook but as you say, it's through the sharing THEY do not what YOU do.
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But the point others, including myself, are making, is that they might not even discover your brand or product unless you have an active social profile.
Don't get me wrong, I agree with what you're saying. But I think that leaving social media marketing up to your customers leaves a lot to be desired.
Plus, sharing great looking content such as professionally shot photos, works much better for advertising than a rudimentry mobile phone shot photo; to an extent, you can control what they share with their friends.
if they share directly from you with an added comment and direct link to your page or site, well...
Don't get me wrong, I agree with what you're saying. But I think that leaving social media marketing up to your customers leaves a lot to be desired.
Plus, sharing great looking content such as professionally shot photos, works much better for advertising than a rudimentry mobile phone shot photo; to an extent, you can control what they share with their friends.
if they share directly from you with an added comment and direct link to your page or site, well...
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I don't think that Social Media is a must, per se. However, it can certainly contribute to getting yourself known and can be a successful marketing platform for both small and large businesses. It's all about brand awareness - even if you can't see sales necessarily being caused by social media, it contributes to the reputation of your business. The question is, if you have time to do social media campaigns and engagement, then why not?
As a small business myself, I think social media is very valuable to me. People won't trust my services if I am invisible, it's simple as that. So for me, I see it as a 'must' - but I think that 'must' is conditional to what you and your business does.
As a small business myself, I think social media is very valuable to me. People won't trust my services if I am invisible, it's simple as that. So for me, I see it as a 'must' - but I think that 'must' is conditional to what you and your business does.
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So how does SM make you visible? I could undestand people visiting your website or whatever and from there going to your facebook page or twitter feed but the chances of potential clients happening upon your SM feeds without some sort of initiator are very remote.
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Well, here's an example: my town has a few twitter accounts for various things (e.g. businesses, one for the town centre, one for community centres etc). When I reply to the twitter statuses of these twitter accounts, they usually retweet what I say and reply again. This conversation is visible to all my twitter followers, and all their twitter followers as well - thus extending my exposure, especially in targeted areas. I've had quite a few local businesses follow me after conversations like this. I also retweet my opinions and relevant design discussions/blog posts, to let those new followers know that I know what I am talking about.
Works relatively well actually.
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How many of those followers have comissioned you do build a website?
I'm not saying SM isn't good and useful but it rarely pays the bills. I put up £50 for a short adwords campaign last week. It's generated about £600 of work so far. To earn that sort of money via SM I would have to put in a lot of hours of posting and commenting. The ROI for direct marketing is much much better.
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