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Social Media Marketing
Social media or 'social media marketing' is often cited by marketing experts as the way forward for free marketing, based on the premise that it costs nothing to post sales
messages on all of the main social forums.
All of these are just a snippet of the available options.
On the face of it these all seem like a viable way of getting your message out there, only there is a problem. It's just not working. In fact it the opposite is likely to be true.
When you start to look at the issue of social media platforms you can quickly see the flaws in any form of social posting.
Here are a few.
Targeting – are the platform and your followers or fans in your demographic. I often use the following analogy to help clients with focus on their target market. Can you sell products to people and businesses that can't afford your products and services. eg. House maintenance services to tenants. Answer a resounding no, so working out your demographic (target market is important).
Engagement – can you share a message that is valuable to the targe tmarket via social feeds. There is big difference from being a TOWIE star with a a Twitter account than being a Plumber in Brighton.
Of course I am not saying that tweeting should only be done by minor celebs – but you need to make sure that the conversation fits in what your plans are, and that you actually provide information that is required by your target market. The plumber that provides advice and information along with downloads and supporting information
about plumbing and other practical plumbing issues is the business that will do well on social media.
Time constraints – every social media expert will tell you the benefits of social media for small firms- reality its a time consuming and becoming a less effective method of marketing anything.
As I only like to deal in facts – here they are.
Average hourly rate for a Plumber is about £50, social media according to the experts can be done in an hour a day – over 5 days per week, the cost of which is 5 x £50 which is £250 per week, or £1000 per month.
For £1,000 per month most businesses could have a brilliant presence online and have a whole range of targeted, responsive marketing plans in place.
Now I not saying that these would be better than any social media strategy but costs and results going to be more controllable and results are more likely to profitable.
In order for me to provide some guidance and help for your business get in touch today and we can talk over where you are with your business and how I can improve results.
Small business advice and help that you can rely on.
Richard Smith.
My restart your small business report is below. It's a great read based on facts and information you probably are not aware of, and of course my 30 Day Restart is available now.
As always you can contact me here.