Many times we hear stories from people who either love or hate social networking. Quite often this is from their own personal experience, but funnily enough some doubters see fit to suggest it’s a complete waste of time without even trying it! You see we all fear change to some extent, but some of us embrace the change and give it a chance, whereas many are simply too stuck in their ways to accept a new form of communication like social networking.
So what are the criteria we need to look at to establish whether social networking is a waste of time? Well firstly let’s clear something up- from a social aspect it’s purely down to the individual whether social networking works for them as a way of contacting and interacting with friends, family and co-workers. The questions we need to ask are whether social networking is a waste of time for business and marketing purposes.
As a business owner the following points need to be raised to start to determine if you should spend time and effort on social media marketing:
Is my business too niche to gain trade from everyday networking exposure?If so, social networking can be a waste of time- to much work for very little chance of a sale. Register some profiles that automatically updated from your website feed and leave them.
Am I operating in a FMCG market?If so then yes, there is a great chance that social networking for marketing purposes will work for you. Things that people buy wth little risk attached are prime targets for social networking. Items you buy on a regular basis, where you can be influenced by being exposed to them as you navigate your profiles.
Imagine this scenario. You buy a new kitchen perhaps 2 or 3 times in your life. When you want a new kitchen you search on Google for research and try to find 4 or 5 local firms who can quote for the work. If all those companies have amazing Facebook Pages with thousands of ‘likes’ and ‘friends’, it simply won’t influence them to buy from one or another.
The only difference it can make is to help people become aware of your brand, but still this won’t guarantee any sales, and consumers will still use search engines to find a handful of companies to contact. The chance of your followers needing a kitchen on the day you update your page is minute, as on average you only look for a kitchen every 15-20 years.
Being number one on Google, for a phrase related to buying a new kitchen, has a great chance to convert to a sale. This person is 100% in the market to buy! Why would they search otherwise? This is where SEO is in another league compared to social media marketing.
The next scenario is a Football club. Yes it’s not a common type of business venture, but it works perfectly for this argument. How many times do you use search engines to find a new football club? You don’t. You already know the club, you may search for it on Google to get to the homepage, but SEO wouldn’t work for this type of business. Social media however is a fantastic way for people to interact with their club, improving the amount of exposure they get and generating interest. By updating their Twitter feed with news about players, upcoming matches, ticket deals and live results, a club can generate income and increase their fan base through social networking.
There are hundreds of types of company for which social website efforts will be time lost. Today there are millions of business owners across the UK and the World, who are frantically updating their Facebook and Twitter pages with their ‘amazing products’ and ‘stunning services’. The majority will get very little return and should have spent every minute of this time adding unique content to their website for SEO purposes. Then people who find them are going to be in a position to convert to sale. After all, that’s why we’re all here.
