The World Cup and Social Network Marketing
Shame on the Dutch for attempting to make up for a talent deficit by cheating, bullying, even assaulting, their more talented Spanish opponents. Whilst they killed the spectacle of the final and almost snuffed out World Cup fever, as hosts South Africans were the real winners. Now everyone understands football and that it takes a full squad of talent acting as a team to win. In business small companies differ from larger ones by not having a complete squad. Often only a goal scorer and a goal keeper.
Out of position strikers, AKA small business owners, try things they barely understand and if they do not work in an unfair trail assume they cannot work and abandon them. This applies particularly to most forms of marketing. A prime example is social network marketing. The logic goes, I tried it and it failed to deliver therefore it does not work. Excuse me, if an untrained person from the street is given access to a jet fighter plane and the opportunity to fly it, are they likely to get off the ground? No, so why should an untrained person attempting to use social network marketing either untrained or via a novice expect to experience success?
This behaviour, which feels ok in business is like trying to score from defence without your boots on. The fact is that social network marketing is, when applied properly, one of the easiest, lowest cost, and most effective ways to get noticed to drive interested people towards your business and convert them to customers who really engage and bond with your business. Bad social network marketing not only fails but can cause damage, done well it is a money making machine.
Twitter use has exploded increasing tenfold in the past two years. Facebook has grown for 100 million active users in the middle of 2008 to 400 million active users early in 2010 already rising through 500 million uses. If Facebook were a nation it would be the third largest in the world. It has 1.6 million business pages that attract 5.3 billion fan visits. Online video use is exploding YouTube viewing has grown from 1 billion to 2 billion views per DAY in the last half year with the average daily viewing at 30 million hours. It is not a fad, is not going away and has become an essential business tool, those who fail at this might also find they fail at business.
It is perhaps not surprising, but helpful none-the-less, Facebook and Twitter users actually spend more than twice the average internet user online. Over 80% of social media users, that’s 4 out of 5, have received and acted on advice over which products to buy. Social media is more powerful than advertising in deciding what to buy because the message comes from a trusted person. Far from not working, or not appropriate for your business, it is possible to make a lot of money from social network marketing. But, you do have to do it in the right way. A good question is, how is it done? Because, many have failed and most of those concluded it to be a waste of time, however, 35% of all businesses trying had some success attracting new business and 52% have made more money than they invested with it. So 1 out of 2 businesses that have tried, regardless of their expertise, makes some money from social network marketing.
Prominent success stories include Dell, who gained 6.5m customers using twitter, an Airline promotion that generated 5,000 bookings (and crashed their website with demand) 85% of which came from facebook & twitter, HP who revitalised failed launch using blogging for a competition to get 85% sales increase. Sole trader examples include a £150,000 business generated in 2 years using only social media to create demand, an online business that grew from 0 – 60,000 customers in six weeks, a small legal firm gained a 2700% increase in website traffic in just 1 year, a dating agency generated £3.5 million of fees in six months.
I conclude that when applied intelligently social network marketing delivers extraordinary moneymaking results. So just what are the key points to success? The most important understanding is to know that there are two types of social network activities, those that make friends, and, those that make money.
Business is not about social trivia, people who impress in business are not necessarily the life and soul of parties. It is the same on the social networks. It is vital that you separate you social and business presence, and that you treat them very differently.
On your business presence you need to present yourself in a way that builds trust and confidence by sharing knowledge being helpful and appreciated as the best source of knowledge and advice in your field of expertise. Provide top quality information generate tips and articles provide access to resources and give problem solving advice. Business visitors really have no interest in your social life, your kitten or your kids. By all means show interest in the social lives of your visitors but keep your own to yourself.
You do not have to be boring or dull, do add a little personality occasionally but focus on being an expert and avoid trivia. Once social media marketers have understood the difference between ‘business’ and ‘social’ the next most important learning is to give people what they want. They use the internet to research, understand and gain confidence before making decisions. So you should provide advice be reassuring and helpful. Avoid selling, offering and badgering, all of those things drive people away from you unless they are ready, when they are ready they will ask.
Good social network marketers provide information to sales messages in a balanced ratio of 50:1 betters ones have resisted and moved the ratio out to 100:1.
So how should you decide what to say? The best place to start is to understand who the audience is and what they will be interested to know. If you focus your material you will generate a smaller audience likely to eventually buy from you rather than a larger audience that will never buy. Just measuring visitor count is largely irrelevant, for success you want to provide that sequence of information that make followers aware of you, grabs their interest, keeps you front of mind using additional interesting information and sets you apart as an expert.
The good news is that with only 15 minutes investment per day you can make £000’s per hour. To be efficient at social media marketing you should be both focused and organised. I recommend prepare a worksheet, write down who you want to attract, what they will want to know, your number 1 topic and a list of related topics. The list makes your posts easier to generate. Next, keep a score of your posts, each post on topic is a successful pass, each sales pitch concedes the ball if you get 50 passes before you lose the ball you score a goal, if you get 100 passes before you lose the ball you’ll win the game. The Spanish discovered that it takes a lot of passes and 7 games to win the World Cup. Congratulations, well deserved.
About the author: Tim Meadows-Smith is a hands on investor in early stage and turnaround businesses. Working as a non-executive director, chairman, business advisor and mentor, Tim has a classical marketing background gained internationally with famous global brands. He helps business leaders take the jargon out of online marketing. Reach Tim by email at Tim@Meadows-Smith.com further articles at http://www.timmeadows-smith.co.uk
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Does Social Network Marketing Work?
Shame on the Dutch for attempting to make up for a talent deficit by cheating, bullying, even assaulting, their more talented Spanish opponents. Whilst they killed the spectacle of the final and almost snuffed out World Cup fever, as hosts South Africans were the real winners. Now everyone understands football and that it takes a full squad of talent acting as a team to win. In business small companies differ from larger ones by not having a complete squad. Often only a goal scorer and a goal keeper.
Out of position strikers, AKA small business owners, try things they barely understand and if they do not work in an unfair trail assume they cannot work and abandon them. This applies particularly to most forms of marketing. A prime example is social network marketing. The logic goes, I tried it and it failed to deliver therefore it does not work. Excuse me, if an untrained person from the street is given access to a jet fighter plane and the opportunity to fly it, are they likely to get off the ground? No, so why should an untrained person attempting to use social network marketing either untrained or via a novice expect to experience success?
This behaviour, which feels ok in business is like trying to score from defence without your boots on. The fact is that social network marketing is, when applied properly, one of the easiest, lowest cost, and most effective ways to get noticed to drive interested people towards your business and convert them to customers who really engage and bond with your business. Bad social network marketing not only fails but can cause damage, done well it is a money making machine.
Twitter use has exploded increasing tenfold in the past two years. Facebook has grown for 100 million active users in the middle of 2008 to 400 million active users early in 2010 already rising through 500 million uses. If Facebook were a nation it would be the third largest in the world. It has 1.6 million business pages that attract 5.3 billion fan visits. Online video use is exploding YouTube viewing has grown from 1 billion to 2 billion views per DAY in the last half year with the average daily viewing at 30 million hours. It is not a fad, is not going away and has become an essential business tool, those who fail at this might also find they fail at business.
It is perhaps not surprising, but helpful none-the-less, Facebook and Twitter users actually spend more than twice the average internet user online. Over 80% of social media users, that’s 4 out of 5, have received and acted on advice over which products to buy. Social media is more powerful than advertising in deciding what to buy because the message comes from a trusted person. Far from not working, or not appropriate for your business, it is possible to make a lot of money from social network marketing. But, you do have to do it in the right way. A good question is, how is it done? Because, many have failed and most of those concluded it to be a waste of time, however, 35% of all businesses trying had some success attracting new business and 52% have made more money than they invested with it. So 1 out of 2 businesses that have tried, regardless of their expertise, makes some money from social network marketing.
Prominent success stories include Dell, who gained 6.5m customers using twitter, an Airline promotion that generated 5,000 bookings (and crashed their website with demand) 85% of which came from facebook & twitter, HP who revitalised failed launch using blogging for a competition to get 85% sales increase. Sole trader examples include a £150,000 business generated in 2 years using only social media to create demand, an online business that grew from 0 – 60,000 customers in six weeks, a small legal firm gained a 2700% increase in website traffic in just 1 year, a dating agency generated £3.5 million of fees in six months.
I conclude that when applied intelligently social network marketing delivers extraordinary moneymaking results. So just what are the key points to success? The most important understanding is to know that there are two types of social network activities, those that make friends, and, those that make money.
Business is not about social trivia, people who impress in business are not necessarily the life and soul of parties. It is the same on the social networks. It is vital that you separate you social and business presence, and that you treat them very differently.
On your business presence you need to present yourself in a way that builds trust and confidence by sharing knowledge being helpful and appreciated as the best source of knowledge and advice in your field of expertise. Provide top quality information generate tips and articles provide access to resources and give problem solving advice. Business visitors really have no interest in your social life, your kitten or your kids. By all means show interest in the social lives of your visitors but keep your own to yourself.
You do not have to be boring or dull, do add a little personality occasionally but focus on being an expert and avoid trivia. Once social media marketers have understood the difference between ‘business’ and ‘social’ the next most important learning is to give people what they want. They use the internet to research, understand and gain confidence before making decisions. So you should provide advice be reassuring and helpful. Avoid selling, offering and badgering, all of those things drive people away from you unless they are ready, when they are ready they will ask.
Good social network marketers provide information to sales messages in a balanced ratio of 50:1 betters ones have resisted and moved the ratio out to 100:1.
So how should you decide what to say? The best place to start is to understand who the audience is and what they will be interested to know. If you focus your material you will generate a smaller audience likely to eventually buy from you rather than a larger audience that will never buy. Just measuring visitor count is largely irrelevant, for success you want to provide that sequence of information that make followers aware of you, grabs their interest, keeps you front of mind using additional interesting information and sets you apart as an expert.
The good news is that with only 15 minutes investment per day you can make £000’s per hour. To be efficient at social media marketing you should be both focused and organised. I recommend prepare a worksheet, write down who you want to attract, what they will want to know, your number 1 topic and a list of related topics. The list makes your posts easier to generate. Next, keep a score of your posts, each post on topic is a successful pass, each sales pitch concedes the ball if you get 50 passes before you lose the ball you score a goal, if you get 100 passes before you lose the ball you’ll win the game. The Spanish discovered that it takes a lot of passes and 7 games to win the World Cup. Congratulations, well deserved.
Online and offline businesses, small enterprises and mega companies, “mom and pop” shops, and the huge franchise known around the world. What do all these businesses have in common? They are flocking to the internet for promotion and marketing purposes. Among the tools and strategies being employed by businesses on the internet, social media is probably the hippest, coolest, “do or die” thing out there now-a-days. So it is worth exploring the question: does social network marketing work?
THE CONCEPT
The idea behind social media is for people to be, well, social. The creators of sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, did not set out to create a space where businesses and marketers could come and make hundreds or even thousands of dollars without spending a cent. Their intention was to give people a save environment in which to connect and build relationships. In fact, ALL social media, with the possible exception of Facebook business pages, frown upon the idea of “Spamming” which is nothing else than bombarding people with unsolicited offers, sales, and/or business promotions of any kind. So, with that in mind, it stand to reason that the concept of social media marketing is a bit of an oxymoron. How do you sell your product or service without presenting your sales pitch or offering people your latest and greatest deal? Well, the short answer is that you don’t.
THE MISTAKE
Hundreds of businesses and marketers are flocking to social media with the sole intention of making money. You’d be hard-pressed to visit any social network without finding someone who posts link after link in the hopes of having someone bite the bait. Many such “marketers” have been banned from these sites, only to come back with a new email address, create a new account and repeat the same mistake over and over and over. The reality is that using social media to pitch a sale, promote a business or enroll prospects does NOT work. You cannot enter these sites thinking that you will create a solid empire out of them and expect to see results. Keep in mind that people do not come to these sites looking to buy anything. People go to amazon or ebay, credit card in hand ready to make a purchase. That is never the case with social media. They are there to be social!
THE BOTTOM LINE
That being the case, then, why is it that so many continue to rave about the wonder of social network marketing? Well, the bottom line is that social media is a great tool for that which it was intended to do, which is build relationships in a viral, high-speed, global manner. If you think about that statement very carefully, you’ll have the answer you’ve been looking for. Does social network marketing work? Well, if you take the time to use social media to build real, meaningful, effective relationships, then you
