“Sites Like Twitter & Facebook are for Kids”

Fear: Businesses have a difficult time grasping the concept that the same network their children use to gossip to their friends about the party they went to over the weekend is the same channel that is going to connect businesses with their customers.

Fact: Yes, it is true that a lot of teenagers and college students that use social networking sites. However, the fastest growing demographic group on Facebook is age 35 and older (Facebook).

On Twitter, 45 to 54 year olds make up the highest indexing age group (eMetrics) and Internet users between the ages of 35-54 now account for 40.6% of MySpace visitors (comScore).

So, social media is not just for kids. It is now  a way for organisations to reach out and connect with the right people to grow their business.

“Building Online Relationships is a Waste of Time”

Fear: There is no point of networking with people you are never going to meet. It is a waste of time as it will not drive new business.

Fact: This is far from true – social media has opened new doors to where it is possible to network with your customers, clients, prospects at ease. Not all of them are going to turn into customers, but that does not mean you cannot collect valuable feedback on your products or services.

In addition, building your online fan base is another way for you to promote your products and services and help keep people informed about what is happening in your organisation. There is no such thing as time wasted when it comes to networking with your target audience.

Social Media can open doors that you did not even know existed. You can build a trust based relationship with important people and key influencers in your industry with whom you could not normally correspond

“You Can’t Measure Social Media”

Fear: It is not possible to measure an ROI on social media.

Fact: The very fact that social media is Internet based means it can be measured. When it comes to measuring social media, there are different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) businesses use to help measure that return. For example, the goal of your website may be to measure the number of completed downloads, the number of items added to the shopping cart, or the number of newsletter sign-ups you receive. However, with a social media campaign, you might look at the number of fans that increased over time, the number of comments posted on your channel, the number of discussion threads on your forum, or the number of ratings your video received.

All these Key Performance Indicators can be measured and analysed to determine if the campaign was indeed successful.

There are several tools available that allow you to measure the traffic you receive from social sites. Analytical software such as Google Analytics can be used to determine which social sites brought the most conversions for your product /service. So yes, considering all this, social media can be measured.

“Social Media is Free”

Fear: I can create my own YouTube channel, or LinkedIn page, or Twitter account. There is no cost for me to set up my network on those portals, so why am I being told it is going to cost me money to  make social media campaigns part of my marketing mix?

Fact: A lot of the technology is free, but simply creating an account on Facebook or registering your product name on Twitter is not a social media campaign. You need to ask yourself:

• How do I increase the number of fans I have on my Facebook page?
• How do I get users to subscribe to my YouTube channel?
• How do I get people to re-tweet my message to their followers on Twitter?
• How do I get users to subscribe to my blog?
• Above all, how do I get all this done without becoming a slave to the medium itself and spend too much time meeting all it’s demands?

You still need the campaign, the creative skill, and the drive to get your social media plan working for you. Doing it properly with the right tools helps manage time and ensures you do what’s necessary.

“I can probably do this in-house”

Fear: We have employees that use social networking sites on a regular basis, and they are familiar with the technology, so why not use them to grow our business online?

Fact: In most cases, employees are using social media for personal reasons, and use it to connect with their friends, share photos, and find out what’s happening and where. But when it comes to applying marketing skill to increase revenues by using social media for business purposes, it is a completely different ball game. This is where creativity, campaign ideas, and of course experience are key, and organisations need to turn to the experts in this field to help them put that plan in place and help select the right tools for the job..

There is no one size fits all process for using social media. Depending on your target audience and your product or service, the networks you participate in, the message you decide to deliver and the way you opt deliver it are crucial to your overall success of the overall campaign. It also means that something you choose may not work first time, so having a professional input early can help avoid wasted time and money.

To discuss how you can start to use Social Media or how to use it better and what is the best strategy for you please call us today on 01628 200 400

Or, better still sign up for one of our workshops.