Online social media has totally revolutionized not only the way that people interact with each other, but more importantly the way that customers interact with businesses. With more than 800 million users worldwide, Facebook alone is a colossal marketing entity, not to mention other social media powerhouses like Youtube, Twitter, Google Plus and Linkedin. While there is a lot of media hype and hysteria, social media sites have fundamentally changed the way that any kind of company with a public presence operates, and are now as essential to a business as an email address and a homepage. But with all the obvious changes social media has made to the marketing environment, it is crucial to have a realistic assessment of its capabilities and results.
Like any kind of new marketing bandwagon comes a multitude of dishonest or clueless firms and “social media experts” that prey on uninformed businesses by over-hyping and under-delivering. Millions of dollars and countless hours are wasted on useless social media ventures every year. Social media is not magic. Without proper marketing and business fundamentals behind it a social media presence will inevitably fail and simply be a waste of time and money. Despite creating the illusion of “free” advertising with its lack of start-up and hosting fees, social media requires a constant presence, fresh content and site maintenance in order to be successful, which demands valuable time that many businesses can’t afford to spare. That’s why Social Media Brisbane does all the work for you, while still allowing room for oversight and approval by clients.
Common examples of where businesses commonly go wrong with social media include:
• Bad Content. Boring or stolen articles, outdated advice, and painful attempts to be hip are all too common when it comes to content published online. People on the internet are savvy, and can sniff insincerity and condescension from miles away.
• Impatience. Building a healthy online social network takes time and persistence. A successful network doesn’t sprout up overnight, it takes time and content in order to grow. All too often a business will create a social media profile, watch their results for a month and then quit in frustration when they don’t get the unrealistic results they expected. This also ties into:
• Consistency. Spacing out your content on a regular schedule across multiple platforms is far more effective than using up all your content at once, or not updating at all. Nobody likes a spammer, but with the overload of information that we encounter every day, without a consistent reminder of your brand’s presence you will be quickly forgotten. Even just a regular weekly update can do wonders for maintaining and increasing relationships with customers.
We here at Social Media Brisbane comprehend exactly how social media operates, and treat it as a part of your marketing strategy rather than the be all and end all. We also integrate revolutionary Search Engine Optimization techniques into our work, something that no other social media group does.
Choosing consultants that value gimmicks over content, that endlessly throw around buzzwords like “viral” or “Web 2.0” instead of strategy and goals will simply end up as an exercise in frustration.