In our last post we put a compiled list of the pros of SMM to enable you to reach your objective for online marketing. In this post we cover the cons. We believe (and hope you do too) that knowing the cons will reduce the number of mistakes you are going to make!
Cons:
- Information on the social web moves fast, but often at the expense of deeper personal relationships. Marketers, while they can reach customers in new ways and get feedback from them faster than ever before, still aren’t personalizing communications and engagement to the benefit of customers and the organization.
- A fan or a follower isn’t a business objective. Social media has enabled marketers to chase metrics that don’t impact their business. Do we really NEED social marketing to attract prospective clients?
- It is very time consuming. There are so many social network sites to be involved, interactions to make, relationships to build, tasks to get done, content to write almost on a daily basis. Realistically, this isn’t really what you need to do in a day.
- Viral Negative Publicity. The viral nature of social networking can be both on the positive and negative side. Negative publicity spreads faster in social media these days than in traditional media.
- Reduced content = reduced traffic. In social marketing, the value that you provide through content really does matter a lot. Once you begin to be inconsistent in this area, you will see a decline in the number of your audience and number of visits to your blog.
- You lose some control of your marketing efforts. Anything you publish is up for grabs, and others can easily criticize you.
- Social media marketing places high demands on your talent. It can be difficult to constantly come up with innovative exciting content that interests a variety of readers and, without relevance your efforts will be wasted.
- Social media is a long haul strategy. It could be months, or even years, before you start seeing it translating into increased customer loyalty and sales.
Earlier the question was Should we do social media marketing” Now the question is what platform is suitable for social media marketing. SMM works best when combined with offsite marketing and helps cut down offsite marketing costs by continuing with the hype created by the offsite initiative online.
Compiled below is a list of social media marketing pros. Once you have them in a single place it is easier to chalk out your social media objective. Once the objective is clear you can easily choose the right SMM platform for your business.
Pros:
- You can learn how to improve your products and services. By encouraging open communication through public comments, you can learn what you can do to make your products and pitch more palatable.
- You can build brand loyalty. Not only can you use social media to build your brand, you can use it to demonstrate your personality, interact with customers and show them that you care, which, in turn, breeds loyalty. Social media marketing can also boost your reputation and build relationships.
- You can reach customers that traditional marketing misses. You never know who will direct a friend to your blog, Facebook page or social bookmark post, so your potential for reeling in new leads is unlimited.
- You can learn more about your target audience, not only by their comments but also by studying visitor analytics.
- Relationship building. The one-to-one dialogue you can have in social media makes it a powerful platform for building a closer affinity with customers and brand loyalty.
- Its where your customers are. Facebook isnt merely a domain filled with teenagers and 20 year olds. It now attracts all demographics and ages. In fact, Facebooks fastest growing segment is the over 55s, making it optimal for your business.
- Word of mouth/ viral marketing. Social media can spread your offers and messages amongst 1000s of people very quickly. And the best part is that its your customers spreading them for you.
- Give your brand personality. Posting messages everyday can develop peoples perception of your brands personality very quickly through your writing style and tone of voice.
- Learn more about customers. By listening and participating in their online conversations you can find out more about your customers problems, likes and dislikes and preferences.
- Low cost of entry. Creating profiles and pages on Facebook and Twitter is quick, easy and free to do, although advertising directly on these sites requires money.
- Customer service. People don’t rely on email and the phone to get their questions answered anymore. They’re now posting messages in blogs and forums to get them resolved. Engaging with social media enables you to respond to the evolving nature of customer service, and improve loyalty as a result. But keeping up with customers is vital.
- Crisis marketing. When something goes wrong, your customers want to know how you’re going to put it right. Many arent going to wait for a press release or newspaper article before they start forming a negative opinion about your lethargic response. Twitter can be used to get your apologies out fast, and enable you to answer concerned customers questions.
The year 2010 was the year of social media. Social media consolidated its position and by the end of the year major search engines admitted that their algorithm took into account the visibility of a website link on the profiles of the famous and the popular!
The year 2011 will be the year of mobile applications. Internet access via mobiles will increase. Mobile browsers on the other hand will display search results based on location. So ensure your website is a part and parcel of those applications especially if you are in retail, services or hospitality business.
Below are some trends in search engine optimization and marketing that will continue to matter in the year 2011.
- Local Visibility: Local visibility will make a huge difference. Search engines especially Google has changed its algorithm to detect the location of the visitor and deliver results based on proximity of the location. They will further refine the process. Claim your listing on Google maps and other sites like Yelp.com or CitySquares.com.
SUGGESTION: Encourage your customers to post reviews about you on whatever social network they frequent.
- Communities Matter: Who is talking about you? Apparently social ethics has nothing to do with business. The more you are talked about the better! So watch out for 2011 and get popular; either by hook or crook. If the person talking about you is important (has a lot of fans and followers) you carry more weight than your competitors. So if you want to outdo your competitors start a conversation that everyone is interested in and will eventually link to.
BEWARE: Don’t take in negative comments -algorithms can detect it!
- Mobiles: Online access via mobiles will make a difference especially if you are in the retail, services or hospitality sector. If you are on the move Google maps will detect your location via GPS and send you specific retails of stores, restaurants and all that matters.
TIP: Offer downloads of these applications on your website. Visitors will appreciate that gesture.
- Videos: As technology gets better and loading time is almost instantaneous videos are becoming increasingly popular. Product videos will be The Conversion Factor in ecommerce sites. Information sites will attract better linking if they include process videos.
SUPER TIP: For conversion optimization add a product use video to your squeeze page
- Cross Channel Marketing: Resource crunch will see businesses experimenting with both traditional and newer forms of marketing. Small businesses will become more strategic in their planning. Direct marketing is returning back on platforms like SMS.
BEWARE: Do not apply the same strategy to all channels. Each channel has its own requirements!
- Customized Applications: Just as RSS revolutionized your homepage these apps are design to deliver just what you want to see. So make sure you are a part of these app or networks that deliver these apps.
SUGGESTION: Mobile applications are specific to browser and most applications are not cross platform. Provide your visitors the entire array for each platform.
- Advertising: It will become popular in other forms. Banner advertising will make a comeback as partner websites. Videos will be used in adverts. Infographics will be cloaked advertisement on social media platforms. Advertorials along will discount offers will be accepted by many blogs as a form of advertising.
TIP: Advertising on a niche social media platform is a great way of sending relevant traffic to your website.
- Instantaneous Load: Loading time for websites will make a lot of difference as far as optimization and ranking visibility is concerned. The fact that higher loading time leads to high bounce rate is no industry secret.
NAG: Pester your webmaster till the loading time is well below 2 seconds
The unofficial results of the census have resulted in a hullabaloo amongst internet marketers. Everyone is asking the same question- should we have a Spanish version of the website”
To quote a popular article eMarketer expects the Hispanic online population to grow by nearly 10 million people between 2010 and 2014.
The above data shows the estimated number of users from Hispanic population segment by the year 2014.
The crucial point is how to integrate this piece of information with your website marketing strategy. Most marketers think that adding the Google translate software to the website will suffice. However, hardcore marketers disagree. Conversion processes require pampering and playing to the requirements and fears of the decision maker. In that case automated translation does not work.
The content has to be customized to their thinking.
Adding a customized Spanish version of the website can be expensive, especially if you have a large website. Small businesses cannot afford the cost.
However for ecommerce businesses a Spanish version of the checkout page is a must especially if your Hispanic customer base is large. This makes the customer feel special and they will come back to your website again and again.
Let me know your feelings about it.
If your business is primarily B2C you need to be where your customers are. All arguments about not having the time or money take a back seat when you actually know where your customers are. Pingdom.com has come out with statistics on social media behavior. The statistics are primarily based on US demographics.
The surprising result is the young and tech savvy below 30 crowd’s presence is as strong as the 35 to 45 year crowd.
Here is a breakdown of where to find your consumers as per the age profile. So you just launched a new cool bike accessory for kids? Now you know where to talk about it. Cool gadgets? Target sites from the 18+ to 35+ crowd.
It is no secret that social media networking and interactions play a role in brand building and networking. What however helps specially as far as software companies or tools are concerned, these crowds are extremely willing to try out new beta testing stage products.
Hope these stats are of use to you.
Regards,
Ajay
