Home: Message List - Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

Re: Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

Spamfork — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:22:44 GMT

I'd say social media marketing can work and does work for some..... One trick is to understand that social marketing is fundamentally different that what many people are used to. For example don't compare social media click through rates to AdWords or normal banner click through rates. Test - test - test & take advantage of some of the incredible ad targeting options through sites like FaceBook.

P.S. New Small business customers can try FaceBook Ads for free. Just head over to Manta.com to register for free....
http://www.manta.com/member/register/

Re: Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

davidglenn33 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:31:57 GMT

Great.

Also, I'd consider posting an offer of some sort (10% XYZ or Buy 2 for 1, etc...) on your main page as well.

Remember to keep the customer in mind at all times. The more you make your site about "comfort community" and about them, the more they will come back and invite others.

Simple rule for you to remember:
1 - What will bring the customer to my site
2 - What will bring them back
3 - What will encourage them to invite others to come to it too

You'll be amazed what you can learn about what motivates them if you can get the conversation rolling on your site. And it's a blast too....

Re: Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

vjoyhme56 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:20:02 GMT

David,
Thank you very much!
The people on linkedin are not my customers but I am working on that by providing help where I can and asking them to visit my website.
I will work on getting customer reviews and posting on the site, that is an excellent idea! I am considering adding information about the value of a good nights sleep since I have been doing some research in that area. I like the catch phrase of comfort community, I will build on it!

Be Blessed!
Vickie

Re: Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

davidglenn33 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:13:55 GMT

Hi vjoyhme56,

Are the people on linked-in your customers? If not, I'd go to the base of customers you have and begin there. Social Media marketing is about giving your customers and prospects a voice and this in turns generates more customers. I recently read an article posted on the CMO Council site called "
turing customer pain inot competitive gain". This a great article and
could give you much food for thought.
In this article, they talk to the "customer 2.0" as being very sensitive and trusting of recommenations from consumers as being the number one source of trust when making a purchasing decision.

About your business, I looked at your site and you can really build on this.

The value social media marketing provides you is in leveraging what your
customers tell your prospects about your product and service. This is
the root of your success. You can start small with this and get a few
customers talking about you on your site.

I'd think about encouraging your customers to get a conversation going as to what gives them the most comfort and enjoyment from your products or even similar products. The technology your want for this is a forum, or you may even be able to use your blog account. You'll have to check into how your blog is set-up and how it can be used. Here's the idea....you want the customers to tell stories, give thier opinions, give ideas and suggestions on how to use your products, etc.... You want to build the conversation and get customers to be your best advocates.

You'll have to work on this, but it can be easily accomplished by simply email and calling your customers and asking them for a bit of help. You can even offer them a steep discount on thier next purchase as an encentive.

Next, I'd be sure to contribute to the dicussions on the forums as the subject matter expert. Adding your own input and ideas. You'll need to provide a steady diet of thoughts, sugestions, stories and recommendations to keep the conversation going. This will take some work at first, but after a period of time, it will take on a life of its own.

As far as the other ellements go...

Your blog is only one component of your social media play. Is the blog linked to your website? Are you posting on the blog on a regular basis? Do you know who many people are reading it? Are you incouraging them to comment back? Do you have a forum where customer and prosepects can engage? I'd understand how you are using your blog first and the results you are seeing now.

The other elements are used to provide additional support. Social Media is like a cake, you'll have to try a few different ingredients to get the right taste. This is a trial and error process - just like traditional marketing.

The facebook page is a good idea and so is twitter. These are different ingredients that help support the overall play.

But, I'd also think about where your inteneded audience lives on line, where do they go, what are their habits, what are their interests, etc.... I can help you on the research side of this as well. I have great contacts with companies who do social media research.

Lastely, I'd try and get your customers and prospect to do a very simple registration when they become a member of your "comfort community" (catchy hu?). This is where you capture simple information like name, email and mobile number if you can. You'll need this data to be able to market to them as well.

There are social media marketing technologies as well. Once you have a base of customers built, there are a few great tools out there that can really help spread the word and drive engagement and bring people back to you site.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this was helpful.

Any other thoughts from othere Bank Of American participants is much appreciated.

My very best regards,

David

Re: Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

vjoyhme56 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:53:06 GMT

I am new to this type of networking and so far it has not helped my business. I am not sure how to target my audience or how to get them to view my blog. I have over a thousand contacts on linkedin but it has not helped my business. I have connected several people looking for job oportunities or reconnecting with old friends. If you can tll me how it is supposed to work I will regroup and try again. I am working on a setting up facebook, twitter, and myspace. I have a website for my business https:www.privatequarters.net/5228 but I need to know how to utilizing the tool of social media mktg.

Re: Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

vnavguys — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:57:25 GMT

Yes it works and it works well. In fact Googles new algorhytm has 10 new social media pieces to it. I rely on it, in fact I created a job just for marketing our sites, projects, posts, products etc,.

Ken

Re: Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

iyazam — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:06:03 GMT

Social media marketing is all about two things:

1) It allows you to reach more people

2) It allows you to market your information to those people.

Recently I launched an E-Book explaining how to do Social Media Marketing:

The Super Website Marketing Handbook!
http://www.iyazam.com/our-book.html

Re: Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

davidglenn33 — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:30:53 GMT

Here's the questions again. The previous post did not come out right.

What are the best social media tactics to use for my business?

Am I currently doing the right things based on my business objectives?

Where are the conversations happening?

Are the conversations good or bad?

What is the impact on sales, customer support, web traffic?

What impact will social media marketing have on my current marketing budget?

Is social media marketing more or lesseffectiveness vs traditional
marketing?

What resources (human, capital and tools) do I need to drive success?

How muchtime do I need to devote to my social media marketing before I start to see success?

Can I scale my efforts?

What are the impacts (positive or negative)on other areas of the
business?

Does it improve cusotmer support, should I change support
habits, should I change the way I communicate with my customers, do I
need a PR team, etc...?

Re: Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

davidglenn33 — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:37:58 GMT

Is the question of ROI on Social Media Marketing an importat one to answer?

I think many senior level marketing people would want to know the answers to the following quesitons:

•What
are the best social media tactics to use for my business?

&bullAm
I currently doing the right things based on my business objectives?

&bullWhere
are the conversations happening?

&bullAre
the conversations good or bad?

&bullWhat is the impact
on sales, customer support, web traffic?

&bullWhat impact
will social media marketing have on my current marketing budget?

•Is social media marketing more or lesseffectiveness
vs traditional
marketing?

•Whatresources (human, capital and tools)
do I need to drive success?

•How muchtime
do I need to devote to my social media marketing before I start to see success?

&bullCan I scale my efforts?

•What are the impacts (positive or negative)on other areas of the business? Does it improve cusotmer support, should I change support habits, should I change the way I communicate with my customers, do I need a PR team, etc...?

Are there any other questions the marketeer wants to know?

Thanks all!

Re: Social Media Marketing? Does it work?

vistasad — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:29:33 GMT

Someone in this thread has provided around 25 social networking sites. We have a list of almost 50. The problem with our list is that it does not contain 'typical' profiles of visitors.
That would be useful for marketeers.

http://www.vistasads.com