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What To Do when Social Media Just Doesn't Fit a Niche??

by momo3
11 replies
To be honest, I am sick of hearing about social media from certain people. But I admit, I dont know much about it.. I am an old schooler SEO PPC type dude. Here is what I think:

I think the search engines will really start to value ties to social media -- more and more.. but in SOME niches more than others.

I also feel that a lot of Madison ave style "branding" types like to push social media.
I mean -- who wants to really follow Burger King on Twitter?

I realize that RABID FANS of burger king may follow it as it may have sales and other stuff.

And that is all fine I guess... but is it bringing them remarkable ROI?

But I guess I am wondering this:


IN a niche that fulfills a DESPERATE need, where back-end is NOT there, but its a quick fix -- then how is social media needed?

Imagine I sell glass eyeballs. The maximum I can sell to each person is 2 glass eye balls. I want their money but I really cannot sell them anything more. I realize I can install a facebook "like" button, and get some likes to my site. But should I be tweeting to this crowd?

What about if I sell Printable Divorce Forms. Do I need to tweet to these people down the road? Will a "like" button really be a big hit on my site? (Who wants to be super social about their humiliating divorce?)

What if I sell underwear or something? Will people want to tweet that to their friends? Will they want to be facebook buddies with me?


My thoughts are that Google will analyze this niche and realize that LIKE buttons and tweeting and so forth are not as common in this style of niche.. and therefore not value it as much. At least I hope so. I think google will examine commercial intent of niches, social intent of niches, and so forth. And I am sure they already do.


What are your thoughts?
#fit #media #niche #social
  • Profile picture of the author Lisa Gergets
    I say if social media doesn't fit the niche, then don't use it.
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  • Profile picture of the author momo3
    Uhm. Ok. Anyone else?
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  • Profile picture of the author Lisa Gergets
    LOL what I mean is that social media is only one facet of so many resources out there to promote with...so if it doesn't fit, just go and use a method that does fit.

    Sorry, I guess I should have expounded a bit on what I was thinking. My apologies.
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    • Profile picture of the author momo3
      Its ok..
      I understand Lisa..

      And I agree with you, I think Google will probably see if the niche is social or not. If it is a social niche, then they will give the more social sites higher rankings.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mehak
    i see your point, i do have to admit i LOVE social networking and meeting new people online... I think your problem may be branding. See it doesn't really matter what you're selling if your branding is done correctly as it is very important for social networking.

    People will see you, your personality on these sites before jumping for your product or clicking on your url.

    I understand you may not have a back end product, so why not introduce one? Try selling other products too (maybe related to your current product) this way you're building your list and hopefully making more sales!

    Social sites are where people connect with you as a person, people buy from people therefore it is very important that you put yourself across well first.
    Yes it takes time and you need to build relationships but the results are well worth it
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  • Profile picture of the author momo3
    I hear ya Mehak.

    Whenever I buy things I try to look for legit reviews, votings, comments etc.

    So I think that side of social media will really be a key part of ANY site.

    But as far as following certain sites on Twitter and Facebook -- I really do not yet understand this, especially for sites that deal with personal issues and or issues that deal with immediate and and time-sensitive problems that do not reoccur.
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    • Profile picture of the author JoshuaG
      If you could be more specific about your niche people could be more helpful.

      I'm no social network expert, but I know that niches that don't "have a backend" can still have a social component that you can take advantage of.

      You just might have to get a little creative with your approach.

      In your example of glass eyes, I agree customers won't want to join a facebook group about that topic in general, but they may want to join a facebook group of other people who already have glass eyes and want to talk about their experience with them.

      That group may not help your nonexistent back end, but it could help your front end by being a reputable source of information for those thinking of buying a glass eye.
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  • Profile picture of the author Entrepreneur Stream
    I've been involved with several niches over the years that I wouldn't bother to implement into social media - like you said, some people are just not that interested in "liking" the Facebook page of an ebook that solves an embarrassing medical problem (always profitable niches ).

    No reason to even deal with it. You say you're an old school PPC and SEO guy so you could scale that out and it will be much more worth your time. Additionally, you can try direct mail if you think you can get it to convert and have a nice list source available.
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  • Profile picture of the author brendanwenzel
    I certainly agree with entrepreneurs stream that if you were really good at SEO and PPC then just keep scaling that out, because can take a long time and a lot of resources. personally, the only time that I use social media really is just to say what I'm thinking or whenever I'm doing contests. After that I really have no idea what I'm doing social media and no idea if it's even working.
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    • Profile picture of the author momo3
      I guess social media is a very very broad term, and excuse me for using it as a large blanket term in this thread.

      It can be tweeting, facebook like buttons, facebook fan pages, commenting on dynamic websites, star ratings, etc.

      Perhaps it is more web 2.0 stuff that I am speaking of.

      But how would one use social media for digital products in these markets? (samples)


      Toe Fungus (embarassing problem)
      or
      Graduation Speeches (time-specific problem)

      ?

      I feel I could use commenting on the sites, use votes, and other "Social" elements to be prepared for the future. I think google will WANT to see dynamic sites in the future with social elements. But would one try to get twitter followers for these niches?
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  • Profile picture of the author jewin
    momo -

    Agreed, some niches (i.e. gaming) are going to get better tracking in social media than others (i.e. petrochemical processing). However, I think you need to dig deeper into your niches. For example, people buying glass eyes can only buy two of them... but this is not all they buy. They probably have other commonalities like the need for a particular type of eyeglass or anything else. Run polls on your website to find out what else your visitors might be interested in. quantcast.com would give you some detail on your demographics, but again, think of what other common threads your visitors share.

    With respect to social media, I believe someone else here also pointed out, the SEs are paying more and more attention to 'social media'. See where you can fit it in to drive more visitors to your site and newsletter.
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