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I worry about a common pitfall, spending too much time trying to generate commercial outcomes with social media without measuring returns on effort.
When you challenge the current inordinate focus on social media, you draw many defensive responses from the “gurus.” The first response goes something like this; “Facebook is the second-largest site in the world and growing!”
One thing I've learned in actually running a commercially viable internet centred business, the size of website and page views do not automatically equate to a commercially viable profit centre.
The reality is that Google is still THE #1 search engine. Managed effectively Google search does produce sizeable commercial results. (Combined with effective and integrated advocacy, broadcasting, print and outdoor digital marketing the results can be outstanding - but I digress this is another part of the online marketing story).
The next defensive response from the "gurus" is likely to be that “Twitter's and Facebooks' user bases grow by millions each month. However, it’s interesting that many seem to be close to or working feverishly to find the right formula. Their goal is a feast of sales through these media channels. This nirvana is unlikely without a realistic measure of ROI, so you can focus on what works and drop what doesn’t.
Recently, Facebook passed Google in the average user dwell time. Again for business, the issue is between times spent versus successful actions that result in measurable sales. Significantly, Facebook is designed to engage users as long as possible. This compares to Google search designed to help users get what they need as quickly as possible.
Now is a good time for business to stop and think. It’s all about ROI isn’t it? If your social media work is connected to a pre-close and or closing sales pages that sit on a 365Hub like WallCann, then you can measure ROI outcomes. For any kind of ROI you need to ensure you match the need to a solution with a good secure transaction and delivery system.
Without a decent sales conversion, transaction and delivery process, you may struggle to obtain sustainable revenues from all your hard work generating visitors.
How do we ensure we can make better use of our time with real advocacy marketing and networking?
I noticed that a lot of people justify page views as an effective commercial measure. These marketers will have you believing that spending hours mastering the ins and outs of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and social bookmarking, will deliver page views and therefore automatically high ROI. But they have no benchmarks or increase in revenue to verify their position.
Sure it is very important to build a presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but simply having great social profiles is not enough to help you get the new customers and aggressively grow your business.
Remember, social networking as part of your commercial marketing activity is really just advocacy marketing. Focus your efforts on using your social profiles to talk to people and get them involved in a conversation that’s relevant to your niche. Try asking provocative questions. Provide well-researched answers; help people to become a real advocate of products that they believe in and love to talk about.
If you’re building your social profile by simply taking in all the noise in your Facebook feed and getting lost in funny Jack Ass videos, you’re not adding value to your business.
Post your updates, engage in conversations, and then get on with the rest of your day. You should really be spending your time finding a decent advocate program that you can link your social media into. The right advocate program will assist you to leverage your social media efforts. Explore these new opportunities, and create great content for your sites.
Facebook is great for engaging users and keeping their attention and it may be great for your niche....but is it? Advocacy marketing works best when you come up with a solution to a problem for someone. And then, when a buyer follows your advice, they’ll often buy the products you recommend. But to get them to make that purchase, they have to be in an action-oriented mindset. And Facebook users are not usually action-oriented.
Think about it, who wants to actually do anything while they are checking out all those funny Jack Ass videos out there?
If you’re in the business of brief distraction and 30 second media grabs, Facebook and Twitter will work. But if you want to build your business by helping people solve problems and encouraging them to take action, then Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn will present a big challenge. You need a good next step, a decent 365Hub that delivers solutions quickly.
When travelling I get bored at looking out of the window, so I like to spend that time on micro-blogging. Often short, impatient, clever bursts during major events come from tweets. But I detest spam and Facebook is full of pokes and self-promotion and twitter is full of all kinds of spam.
Over the past year, I’ve found that my various Twitter accounts are getting more and more spam. While most of this comes from auto-following people who follow me, there is one statistic that says it all. WallCann measures ROI of visitors from various media channels through its 365Hub. Having analysed thousands of visitors from social media sites, the actual sales is less than exciting.
Several international research papers point to the analysis of tweet chatter and found that 40 percent of tweets were “pointless babble,” six percent were self-promotion, and four percent were spam. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Facebook comes up with much the same result.
So if noise, self-promotion and spam comprise 50 percent of Twitter and Facebook content, then is it surprising that many social media users are becoming frustrated and are tuning out? In fact, some anecdotal reports suggest that more than half of all Twitter accounts are now effectively dormant.
If you have a following on Twitter and your users are engaged, you need to find a way to use it to your advantage. But look at the facts and don’t spend hours posting content, assuming your great content will naturally break through the clutter. You’ll need more strategy than that.
Social media can be a great source of traffic and a terrific way to build backlinks. But when you’re running an advertising or advocacy marketing business, you have to remember that it’s not just the messenger or the channel, it’s the targeted message. If you want to be a successful marketer, focus on creating great targeted content and post that content through a mix of channels, so you can appeal to potential fans, friends, advocates and customers.
Look at your marketing engagement with social media the same way you look at writing good quality content. Focus on the quality and usefulness of what you’re going to say, then get the word out through every channel you can.
What counts today are buyers, not simply visitors. Visitors are really important, but only if you have a sales conversion system like WallCann 365Hub for measuring media ROI options, converting visitors into buyers, processing transactions safely and delivering excellent service every time.
WallCann, as a leading advocate marketing company, has experienced stellar sales growth. Australian 365Hub generated sales increased by 60% in March and 70% in April 2011, reportedly a flat retail period compared to last year.
When customers are scarce you need to spend time and money wisely. The 365Hub leverages many media channels to obtain consumer traffic and accurately measures advertising channel cost per sale.
WallCann is a web enabling technology that delivers a more cost effective sales marketing and distribution system through its 365Hub.
In 2002 WallCann built a single marketing website to earn money as an online commission sales agent.
WallCann discovered their clients were "sticky" to the advocacy approach and responsive to cross sales exposure to other product ranges. So WallCann then went about capturing a better operating margin by sourcing products and creating new brands direct from local and international manufacturers.
WallCann now market a wide product range through many channel options, like Ebay, Government, wholesale, cause markets like SAAFL and our own direct retail sales stores like performanceshop. WallCann can with little effort cross sell an ever growing product range at minimal incremental cost in the race to reach new customers. This gives WallCann users a major advantage with greater referral and advocacy reach in addition to their in-house marketing options.
In 2008, to further reduce cost per sale, WallCann developed the 365Hub IP. A single platform that draws in high ROI traffic, processes sales and provides CRM and logistics, all of which facilitates low cost product procurement, multichannel sales transactions and tracking of KPI’s and advocacy payments. This means WallCann has a significant cost and reach advantage over traditional bricks and mortar resellers and the various other emerging online store models.
The WallCann 365Hub also enables individuals to obtain rewards from their personal social network, with a simpler and faster system than existed in WallCann’s early entry to online marketing and sales in 2002.