It seems that everywhere you turn there is something being said about social media. According to research* the use of social networking increased by 21% worldwide in 2009. While it’s growing and more and more people are talking about it, it also seems that most businesses are still trying to understand why they should be using it in the first place. What’s that about?
1. It’s all about the bottom line
Well, the why is related to “how and what” a business does to engage in marketing with the aim of creating an opportunity for a transaction - that means sales. Why do businesses exist? Primarily to create value, attract a market who wants the value and engage the market in transaction. Again that means … yep sales.
How then does social media become about sales and not just messaging, conversations and feedback? By understanding that social media’s very point is about engagement, interactivity and completely solicited information in a friend to friend referral sense, this makes it a highly effective channel to gain solicited and qualified leads. Leads handled properly turn into quotes and quotes mean sales. All you have to do is know how to ask in the right way.
2. Replace your push with pull
The “how” of how business engages with consumers, has changed from “push marketing” to “pull marketing” via relevant and relative conversations and interaction that attract the market you seek, to you. That really boils down to the fact that digital has a quality that no other medium has – the power of viral. Most marketers want viral. Why? Because viral is really just good old fashioned “word-of-mouth” and viral means money spent to make a transaction opportunity “better bang for your buck”.
In the traditional direct marketing models you can expect a 2% to 3% conversion rate. Yep that’s right 3% is considered good. But social media done right can give you at least 20% - If not 40 to 65%! That’s what most companies want. Leads that convert to sales and as many as possible.
If you make viral your priority with any activity in social media then you easily move from the push of a static online banner ad to the pull of an interactive competition, promotion, game video, widget etc.
3. Word of mouth (still) rules
Advertising relies on cool design, creative concept, clever words and often quite an enormous leap of faith by the consumer to follow and make a transaction opportunity real. PR relies on influencing the influencers to get the message across. Social media is about one friend telling another friend. Forester’s research says that a friend’s opinion is the most trusted source – weighing in at a whacking 83% trustworthy. Well then where would you spend your buck to make a sale?
Social networks are popping up left right and centre. Social networking provider Ning hosts half a million “self made” social networks on its platform. This from Ning’s launch in February 2007. It’s tempting to think “I'll just create my own Social Network then”.
Social media means changing how you market and conduct your marketing, it’s also about giving over some power to the consumer not necessarily creating your own collection of people.
So to be effective in a space that has a different “how and what” is best to head for where you can find critical mass.
Numbers give you safety but numbers also give you leads.
The stats say that Facebook grows weekly by 5 million people. The service has gained around this amount every month starting about midway through last year, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing.
Well of course you might say- “Well that’s America where everybody is connected to the Net”. But Facebook’s market in South Africa is hardly shabby... a cool 2.4 million. Gaining access to an audience of 2.4 million Facebookers tomorrow seems like a no brainer. Leveraging that audience to interact with your brand just makes sense.
More about Popimedia Innovations
Popimedia Innovations is an Interactive Social Media Marketing Services Company providing a full-service online marketing service with a unique focus on interactive and viral marketing.
With over 100 Social Media campaigns across many industries under their belt, Popimedia Innovations’ brand of social media marketing is recognisable by its leverage of social media networks like Facebook and its definitive success in terms of lead generation for clients. Popimedia Innovation’s services deliver results for marketers venturing into the social media space.
For more information visit innovations.popimedia.com or contact us on 011-268-2640.
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