The Naked Truth About Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is a real challenge for small businesses. Research published in survey after survey paints a pretty gloomy picture as they reveal that the majority of small businesses are failing dismally in their efforts to formulate successful social media campaigns.
This stands in sharp contrast to the numerous product offers published on this forum which demonstrate huge success in acquiring prospects and clients through the use of some piece of software. Yet, I think we all recognize that a piece of software is only a tool; it can never replace you as the driver.
Maybe the survey results I will reveal presents an unprecedented business opportunity,to assist small business owners to achieve better results. Whichever the case, current surveys reveal that small business are not embracing social media in a constructive and successful manner.
Let's focus on Facebook and exclude the big boys, exemplified by brands like CocaCola, Starbucks, Red Bull or Mashable. These companies run very successful Facebook campaigns with millions of devoted fans. Their success rests on foundation strategies which involve the key elements of interaction and engagement with their fans, most often generated by apps, photos, videos, contests and other gimmicks. These organizations have what small businesses lack - marketing resources.
Small businesses are struggling as shown by the following survey results. First, let's put marketing on Facebook in perspective:
To deal with this problem, Facebook introduced the EdgeRank algorithm and has announced that only 15% of status updates posted by fans and friends of fans show up on the News Feed. Other sources claim the figure is less. The algorithm filters and prioritizes what is shown to users and is limited to what "Facebook considers most interesting, relevant and important".
What does this mean to businesses with limited resources? It poses the real problem of rising above the crowd. EdgeRank imposes the need to create content that produces user interaction and engagement or it will not be shown to fans.
As an aside, Facebook has faced some heavy criticism lately from users because they preclude users from seeing what they like to see posted from pages they have liked. In response, news has surfaced this week that Facebook is experimenting with two new features which have been released to a few select users (remind me that keeping up with Facebook functionality is like chasing a moving target). One feature allows users to receive Notifications from pages they have liked whenever they publish new content and the other feature allows users to see all status updates in a separate stream.
Back to the noise and the challenge small business face.
It gets worse, even when people resort to advertising.
To finish on a more light-hearted note, how would you like to immerse yourself in the insider lingo practiced by the modern day ad executive? You just may have to if you want to utilize the services they provide. Try to get your arms around the following technologies or run for shelter.
This stands in sharp contrast to the numerous product offers published on this forum which demonstrate huge success in acquiring prospects and clients through the use of some piece of software. Yet, I think we all recognize that a piece of software is only a tool; it can never replace you as the driver.
Maybe the survey results I will reveal presents an unprecedented business opportunity,to assist small business owners to achieve better results. Whichever the case, current surveys reveal that small business are not embracing social media in a constructive and successful manner.
Let's focus on Facebook and exclude the big boys, exemplified by brands like CocaCola, Starbucks, Red Bull or Mashable. These companies run very successful Facebook campaigns with millions of devoted fans. Their success rests on foundation strategies which involve the key elements of interaction and engagement with their fans, most often generated by apps, photos, videos, contests and other gimmicks. These organizations have what small businesses lack - marketing resources.
Small businesses are struggling as shown by the following survey results. First, let's put marketing on Facebook in perspective:
- As we enter the final quarter of 2012, Facebook has acquired 1 billion users.
- Facebook users post an average 17.5 million status updates per hour. This equals 420 mill updates per day.
- Users enter an average of 2.7 billion "likes" per day.
- Facebook publishes some 37 million pages.
- 250 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day.
- 54% of users access Facebook via mobile devices.
To deal with this problem, Facebook introduced the EdgeRank algorithm and has announced that only 15% of status updates posted by fans and friends of fans show up on the News Feed. Other sources claim the figure is less. The algorithm filters and prioritizes what is shown to users and is limited to what "Facebook considers most interesting, relevant and important".
What does this mean to businesses with limited resources? It poses the real problem of rising above the crowd. EdgeRank imposes the need to create content that produces user interaction and engagement or it will not be shown to fans.
As an aside, Facebook has faced some heavy criticism lately from users because they preclude users from seeing what they like to see posted from pages they have liked. In response, news has surfaced this week that Facebook is experimenting with two new features which have been released to a few select users (remind me that keeping up with Facebook functionality is like chasing a moving target). One feature allows users to receive Notifications from pages they have liked whenever they publish new content and the other feature allows users to see all status updates in a separate stream.
Back to the noise and the challenge small business face.
It gets worse, even when people resort to advertising.
- A recent Forrester research report claims that social tactics are not meaningful sales drives because less than 1% was driven by social media.
- Research by Nielsen Labs reveals that only 6% of fans interact with published content.
- As far as advertising goes, research by the Nielsen organization shows a 0.07% correlation between high click-through rates and actual sales.
- Produce content that motivates people to interact and engage with the content. On Facebook by liking, commenting or sharing.
- Utilize the new advertising features that Facebook has introduced in 2012. Beside vastly improved targeting in their Ad Creator, there are new features like Promoted Posts, Sponsored Stories, Offers and last, by not least, the new Facebook Ad Exchange.
- A Datalogic study found that ad campaigns that focuses on reach generated an average 70% higher ROI compared to campaigns that did not and, campaigns that maximized frequency, had a 40% higher ROI.
- Facebook mobile ads perform substantially better than side-bar display ads. A TGB Digital study, using a large sample, revealed that desktop ads produced a CTR of 0.083% and CPC of $0.88 whereas mobile news feed ads produced a CTR of 1.14% and a CPC of $0.86.
- The Facebook Ad Exchange opens the door to the very latest technologies in direct-response marketing and ad retargeting. You cannot access these technologies through Facebook but need to become a client of one of the participating ad exchanges.
To finish on a more light-hearted note, how would you like to immerse yourself in the insider lingo practiced by the modern day ad executive? You just may have to if you want to utilize the services they provide. Try to get your arms around the following technologies or run for shelter.
- Open Graph Sponsored Stories & Action Targeting.
- Evolutionary Goal-based Optimization.
- Multi-touch Attribution.
- View-Through Conversion.
- Global Frequency Capping.
Kindle author and freelance writer. Special offers on writing eBooks, manuals or reports. eBook: Facebook Advertising: "Strategies, Tactics, Tools & Tracking", http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ADV5LT6. Amazon Author page http://amazon.com/author/alexbeckis.