Hey everyone,
I've literally just signed up to this forum as I really want to help as many businesses navigate their way through the mine field that is social media as I can.
I know this topic may have been covered in some depth but would like to give you my views on this......I would first like to talk about social media and why your business needs to be taking it seriously. Then how to actually generate ROI!
If you haven't already realised, traditional media, when used for advertising and marketing, is becoming less and less effective at generating business and ROI. This is because of the massive scale and reach of the internet, which provides as huge platform for brands & businesses to connect with and market to your target audience.
Every networking event I attend I always like to get a feel for how traditional media is working for the companies that are being represented. The results are shocking, even brick and mortar businesses are struggling with traditional advertising and marketing methods and all agree that social media is important in the media mix. BUT many of them are either unsure on how to approach a social media campaign or have started something themselves but can't see any results/ROI!
There is now a big gap between companies knowing they 'need' to get into social media marketing and actually being 'able' to carry out a successful campaign. This has resulted in many businesses delegating the social media tasks to the youngest, tech savvy individuals in their organisation without any proper direction, strategy or training! This can only leave your company running in circles and wasting hours and hours of your precious time!
To actually generate ROI on your social media activities you need a proper strategy with clear goals of what your campaign should look like once successful. Then you will need someone (like a social media manager) who can actively monitor your campaign and report back analysing the data against the goals set out in your strategy.
I would love to know what your thoughts are on social media and how successful you have been in implementing a strategy and what results you have seen....DISCUSS!
Thanks for reading
Personally, this post sums up to me everything that's wrong with "professional" Social Media Marketing (SMM). Forums are a well known form of Social Media, every bit as important as Facebook, Google and Twitter etc, but when you outsource to a SMM company, you lose the personal touch, and the same thing happens as with a lot of SEO, poor quality. All you get is lots and lots of duplicate content, respun articles, and an online profile which isn't really you or reflects your companies values. Here's an example: in fact it's this very post... Same content, blasted out to multiple sources. More internet flotsam and poor quality, which is exactly what Google is targeting with its latest Panda updates. I personally don't see the need to outsource SMM in maybe the same way as a lot of SEO is. Simply allocate an hour a day(or night) for marketing, visit your favourite forums, update your twitter, Facebook and Google+ and you're just about done. If you want a virtual pat on the back, sign up with something like Klout and bask in your own glory  These are obviously my thoughts, and it has the potential to become a good discussion, but at least now this post is unique (unless of course I cut & paste the same reply on FBF) 
Thanks for the reply sjr4x4. I can appreciate your view point, many businesses I speak to also hold this same view. With all my clients I conduct an extensive analysis of how their business works and how they communicate with their customers. This gives me a really clear picture of how to represent the company online. Frequent communication with their marketing department and business owner allows me to run ideas past them so that they can then decide if the update/post conveys the correct message. Re-purposing content on various sites allows for a wider reach that encourages discussion on different platforms, I can guarantee that I won't be the only that is using the strategy! With regards to outsourcing, I find that many business owners just don't have enough hours in the day to follow a defined strategy (if they even have one) and update their profiles. I feel that just blasting out updates doesn't have any significant effect on driving traffic or any other goal you may have unless regular and thoughtful engagement is encouraged and maintained. There is a great importance on building solid relationships when using social media for your marketing efforts.....after all, every product or service purchased today is the result of a relationship. I hope this reply answers some of your points above
“Re-purposing content on various sites allows for a wider reach that encourages discussion on different platforms, I can guarantee that I won't be the only that is using the strategy!” Definitely not, and I'll freely confess to being guilty to using lazy techniques like automated twitter feeds  but then you take a step back, and stop following the pack. Spending a bit of extra time making unique content will encourage more discussion and gain far more respect, especially as most of us regularly frequent multiple forums.There's multitudes of SEO peeps that pass through here, most all following the same old style, low quality post counting, link dumping, some stick around, but there's 2 in particular on here who buck the trend and generate some very interesting posts and contributions, and have let themselves become seen as natural experts on their chosen topic. That to me is the beauty and potential of Social Media, and it can generate genuine leads, but I think only a personal touch can achieve it for it to seem believable, unless your ghost writer/social media manager is very good. “With regards to outsourcing, I find that many business owners just don't have enough hours in the day to follow a defined strategy (if they even have one) and update their profiles.” Very good point, and I can see why a lot of people will outsource, I only hope the outsourced SMM industry doesn't end up with the same reputation as the SEO industry, or even worse, it's the same people Hope you stick around and become our resident SMM expert
No disrespect but I would not use a service like the one you provide. Your post was laiden with typical sales speak and jargon that is in the countless emails and telephone calls I get about social networking and SEO services. It read like an advertisement rather than a genuine attempt to encourage conversation. It leaves me cold and didn't connect with me. (a few years back it was people trying to build me a web site, then it was SEO and now it is social networking campaigns). I want my content to engage with my customers and I don't think that an outsider would know how to do that. Just my opinion. Gary
“That to me is the beauty and potential of Social Media, and it can generate genuine leads, but I think only a personal touch can achieve it for it to seem believable, unless your ghost writer/social media manager is very good.” Good point. If I met a client that had this worry, we can offer training so they can operate their social media accounts efficiently using their own voice. Although many of my clients are very happy with the update we post out I appreciate your input on this topic as It is a widely debated area. I just want to say one thing.... Social media, at heart, is a relationship management tool. Your brands relationship with it's community is an extremely important one that can influence the perception of your brand in the eyes of the customer. On a lighter note...sometimes social media can back fire, search 'McDonalds twitter fail' (as I can't post links yet) and you will find articles relating to Mc Donalds BIG fail!
“No disrespect but I would not use a service like the one you provide. Your post was laiden with typical sales speak and jargon that is in the countless emails and telephone calls I get about social networking and SEO services. It read like an advertisement rather than a genuine attempt to encourage conversation. It leaves me cold and didn't connect with me. (a few years back it was people trying to build me a web site, then it was SEO and now it is social networking campaigns). I want my content to engage with my customers and I don't think that an outsider would know how to do that. Just my opinion. Gary” Thanks for your response Gary. I will be the first to admit some of the post was an exert from one of my blog posts, as I felt it was appropriate for the discussion. Apologies if you felt like it was an advertisement, this was not my intention. I just think that many business owners have too much on their plate, and If they were to take on social media they would be spending lots of time on it but not seeing any results because of a lack of knowledge & strategy.
“Personally, this post sums up to me everything that's wrong with "professional" Social Media Marketing (SMM). Forums are a well known form of Social Media, every bit as important as Facebook, Google and Twitter etc, but when you outsource to a SMM company, you lose the personal touch, and the same thing happens as with a lot of SEO, poor quality. All you get is lots and lots of duplicate content, respun articles, and an online profile which isn't really you or reflects your companies values. Here's an example: in fact it's this very post... Same content, blasted out to multiple sources. More internet flotsam and poor quality, which is exactly what Google is targeting with its latest Panda updates. I personally don't see the need to outsource SMM in maybe the same way as a lot of SEO is. Simply allocate an hour a day(or night) for marketing, visit your favourite forums, update your twitter, Facebook and Google+ and you're just about done. If you want a virtual pat on the back, sign up with something like Klout and bask in your own glory These are obviously my thoughts, and it has the potential to become a good discussion, but at least now this post is unique (unless of course I cut & paste the same reply on FBF) ”Beautifully summed up, Steve. I'm sure many of us were naive in the early days and guilty of copy&pasting to a few areas, but at least it was me as a real person. Holborn Direct Mail 020 8683 7155
“I just think that many business owners have too much on their plate, and If they were to take on social media they would be spending lots of time on it but not seeing any results because of a lack of knowledge & strategy.” Your absolutley correct in saying business owners have too much on their plate. But as Greenmaster has said we are inundated with spam emails and nuisance telephone calls from certain sectors of the SEO fraternity, you may well call it marketing, I call it a pain in the butt. Anyone that contacts me offering SEO work be it onsite, offsite, social media, ppc and whatever else they can possibly dream up, would have just wasted their time. Since Christmas I have collected over 1000 SEO emails now sitting in the junk mail folder, most go their automatically anyway and I'm sure me being on here helps the junk folder grow day by day. Most of what is written about SEO in this forum can be read in a thousand other forums relating to SEO the same old stuff, but just dressed up differently after all there is only so much that can written on the subject.... Thanks, Barney
Social media is ever increasing in popularity as a marketing platform. Persons who are looking to utilize this will have many places to choose from to do so, and choosing the correct ones and being able to maximize each one's potential is key. Scintillion |
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