Many SME business owners forgo social media marketing or even marketing of any kind, many of them want to integrate SMM Strategy into their marketing mix portfolio, unfortunately, many of them just don’t take actions – because the reason of don’t have time for that, or in the other words like saying “I don’t have time to tell people about what I do.” or, just don’t believe it works etc.
I believe that most potential clients are tired of being bombarded by mail, unsolicited email, phone calls (point: we refer to these methods as junk mail, spam, and telemarketing). Social Media, on the other hand, is a new way of connecting to your market, is changing the way people connect and do business. It avenues allow your philosophy, method, and most of all resource to be walked down voluntarily by a prospect. If they like what they see, then they choose to walk into your “store.” It is an efficient way for a business to attract new customers, increase customer loyalty and expand leads. It’s definitely something that everyone in business should work towards understanding better.
You can find more additional Articles Here toward how SMM, a powerful marketing tool that changed and help spread the word quickly about your brand and services.
I find that many business owners are getting the wrong idea when they hear “social.” They think it means people are only using social media to joke around and shoot the breeze.
Social media or social marketing actually is about helping people to find you when you have something value. So put something of value on your web site, on FB or on your blog etc, and then tell people about it is essential, to help your audiences get to know, like and trust you. Word-of-mouth referral has always been, and remains, one of the best means to reach new clients.
I also find that since they can’t control what is being said, most companies are afraid of losing control in social channels. Actually, it is more about “know control” than No control. The more you know, the smarter you can act. The fact of the matter is that consumers are taking control, at least in some parts of the purchasing funnel, so you need to change. McKinsey & Co has created a great model that explains this shift and how the AIDA model has changed.
Beside that, most marketers and executives are expecting fast and solid ROI from every marketing venture they engage in. But social media marketing is slow marketing even though the impact potentially is huge, with a proper strategy in place, the results still takes time.
The nature of marketing is changing right before our eyes, it changes fast. We can (and should) use mass media to attract customers/clients. However, the behavior of today’s consumers are changed, they expect to engage with the company – to have a dialog, to share thoughts and opinions.
A 2009 Harris Interactive Survey found “More than half (54%) of all online adults said social media content has influenced their online transactions, with 82% of those reporting that social media has influenced their choice of vendor.”
As of Oct. 2009 Twitter grew 200% from 2008. About.com predicts 26M Twitter users in 2010. Softpedia.com states, “175 Million People Use Facebook Every Day.” The other day on blog.linkedin.com the headline reads, “LinkedIn: 50 million professionals worldwide.”
How can a SME business owner, in this hot social media climate, refuse to spend an allocated time every day on social media?
Social media isn’t the silver bullet to all of the worlds marketing woes. But if you are able to use it as part of the marketing mix, it can be very effective, there are thousands of potential customers are waiting to hear you message.
It is also true fact that to carry out social media marketing campaign well, it does take time. It may not be the best priority for every SME business owner. It is all depends on the status of their business, their market and their goals. Some of them may get a bigger bang for their buck somewhere else.
But if don’t have time for social media, or you just don’t believe it works are the reasons that hold you back, then you are setting yourself up for not being found, and this will double or triple you lost if you are in a B2B environment, because the number of people that can be reached on social media platforms is staggering.
If you are a SME owner who has no time to do all the work by yourself, I strongly suggest you to create a social media budget and hire people to write blogs and post to the main 3 social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. There many businesses also create videos and post them to their own website and YouTube, while also linking to videos from their other social media accounts to drive more people to their website.
Implementing and managing a social media strategy is time consuming. It is hard to keep up with. But like it or not, that’s how our customers are evaluating us (i.e. – reviews), where they are talking about us, and how they are making buying decisions. By that, every business must be part of the conversation. Yes, it is time consuming to participate in social media (isn’t all marketing time consuming?), but imagine how much time you’ll have on your hands if you don’t! If the business doesn’t have the capability to engage in social media, then they should outsource it.
If you are an open-minded and willing to learn type of person, and consult the specialists on the tips and tricks of social media as that will certainly make the difference. If you can effectively use social media to advertise, the cost is far less than all other forms of advertising, but you would need to ensure that the reach was appropriate.
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