Business Man vs Social Media!

Business man vs Social Media

(the story of Me and my Social media Manager)

This is a small fictionary story with Me and my Social media Manager...Enjoy!

 Am a business man and I have a small business! It’s 2015 and Social Media are permanently in our lives.

As a business man I know, due to social media and the way they work, that advertising is a lot cheaper because people’s attention has turned to social media instead to the TV.

 People now have found a place to connect, socialise, engage, get informed and stalk: P

The TV is already disappearing and has been replaced by YouTube.

From the above, I know that I can advertise and market my products with a very low budget.

But I have some problems with social media, for many different reasons and I have some concerns with marketing and advertising in social media.

These problems are:

    

 1. I don’t have time managing the social media                                                                                    

2. I don’t know how to present my brand on social media.

                                    

3. I advertise and promote but nothing happens.(no attraction)

                                     

4. I  have high engagement but no one is buying.

                                 

5. I don’t see any significant growth on my business (ROI).

Therefore, my next step as a smart business man will be to hire a social media manager, since I don’t have time to learn social media and I have another hundreds of problems in my mind.

So as a  business man who cares about his business I like to work with people that I can trust (very important), people that I can communicate and understand. Someone who is willing to help because he likes doing that and someone who knows what his doing and he is authentic.

So I find one of those here! SMMDynamics ;)

And because the social media manager that I Hire knows about social media and their technicalities which are sometimes confusing, he also, (luckily for me) has many good ideas and suggestions about branding.

Therefore, he is willing to help and solve my problems 1 & 2 instantly.

- MY problems 1 & 2: Solved!

Then, After watching over and over problem number 3,
 I realise that raw advertising, promotion and pushing products does not work on social media as it was working on the TV, radio, banners etc...

For the below reasons:

A. People are on social media to connect, not to watch advertisement that was “violently forced” in The TV for so many years!

B. Brainwashing does not work as it was working on TV due to “algorithms” on social media.

So, in order to tackle this issue, me and my brilliant social media manager agreed to change the tactics and we promised to keep our advertising and products "pushing" on social media to the minimal.

We also agreed that in order to attract attention we will be posting out content that is related to what people like the most to see. 

"What’s that?" 

"Entertainment, Positive emotions, Useful information, Inspiration and Education!"

This way people will turn to see our page and give us some seconds or minutes of their precious time and if they are interested they will convert to customers, hopefully!

Problem solved, because now I know how to attract the attention.

But I have 2 more problems. 4 & 5

They see my social media accounts but they don’t buy!

Why they do not buy? (I ask myself)

TRUST! Mainly because of Trust. 



 My social media manager has perfectly fixed The layout and details of social media accounts and everything is in place (contacts, photos, posts, about me, description…)

 So,(Hypothetically speaking) There are no other problems for people not to buy. 

 So my expert social media manager suggests to me to create trust. 
By engaging and starting conversations (cusotmer service)

By Showing to people what we know

By presenting our brand as thought leaders in our industry

By showingt to them our vulnerabilities, strengths, values and the authenticity of our business.

Because he says that thats what we need to do to gain trust! 

But, How do we do that? 

Hmmm only he knows and he better have a good plan and strategy!

Therefore, Problem 4: SOLVED!

Now, lets see problem 5.

 “I don’t see any significant change on my business since my brand went on social media”

So i ask my social media manager...

He says:  "We need time and consistency on what we are doing and then will see."

Why do we need time and patience on ROI?

Easy!  Because every person on this Earth is different and to earn each person’s trust takes time and this time cannot really be estimated. 

One might need 1 year to build Trust for others can happen just in a day. So I better find the fastest ways to earn Trust! I hope my manager knows a trick or two!

I guess I have to trust my social media manager. I know am investing money and time on him but I see that he has a plan and he believes in it and he is actually working on it and trying to help.

Problem 5 DONEEEEE!

So after all, my precious social media manager calls me and asks for how much he is worth to my business in order to come with an agreement for his services.

I don’t really know! :P But I think I will give him for now the equal amount he deserves for the work, thought, help and time that he is doing currently  and  if there is a good ROI in the future I would reward him even more!

End of story!

These are some of my thoughts if I were you in this case!
 I hope I have given you some clarity about social media marketing and some of its dynamics.

What have you learned in this post?

1. Social media marketing does not work like TV advertising and Banners.

2. To succeed in social media marketing you need concistency, patience and TRUST.

3 Social media marketing managers are really valuable and hard to find!

4. Social media ROI (RETURN ON INVESTMENT) needs strategy, time and lots of patience!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment!

George Panayiotou

You can Follow me on: Twitter or Instagram 

SMMDynamics : Social Media Marketing Dynamics.

How social media can really help small business grow!

How social media can really help small businesses grow!

SMMDynamics

Social media is not just about sharing your business name and advertising your services online.

Liking, posting, sharing, tweeting and having a presence in the social media world is just the first layer of the benefits that you get for your business.

Although social media made Advertising and marketing cheaper, convenient and less complicated, there are still some “secrets” or not very well known uses that most of the small business have no idea or do not know how to exploit them.

You can advertise as much as you want and yes, customers will recognize you, find you and eventually come to you. But your business cannot grow just by pure untargeted advertising and marketing.

 A successful business grows and evolves by collecting valuable information about the market, competition, customers, products, customer’s feelings, habits, trends and then acts accordingly making adjustments, changes and improvements.

Think of it like you have a service and you are ready to sell it. You establish a nice advertising and marketing strategy and you put it out for the world to get to know you, your services benefits and then pray that the advertising will pay off and customers will eventually come to you ready to buy. What do you think will happen?

Not much! You will just make some sales and that’s all! People act on their emotions, trends, fashion, psychology, environment and technology.

Am pretty sure that you can now understand and imagine where am going with this. Let me explain further…

Social media can be used not only for advertising, branding and marketing (which those are really important and have huge benefits) but if a business uses social media more sophisticated, it can collect some of the most valuable information that can be used to grow.

Some of them are:

1.      With social media you can easily learn some of the basic, for your business, useful information about your audience. For example language, gender, age etc.

With this information a business can cater its campaigns and its products or services offers to the targeted audience with a much better return on investment.

2.      Social networks allow businesses to locate their current customers and seek for new potential customers through their current customers.

3.      Small business can have the ability using social media to access feedback, maybe the most useful information a business can have. As every business should also understand and find out what emotions and feelings your products and services offer to customers when they are using them. In other words, you can learn what people feel and think about their experience when using your products/services.

4.      Another benefit of social media when used wisely is that they give you the tools to gain information of your competitors and the market really easy.

You can make changes accordingly by knowing where your competition is and make moves to hopefully get ahead of it.

5.      With social media you can track down trends that your customers follow. By knowing the trends and understand them it’s like you are in the subconscious mind of your customers. You know from early on what they like, love, hate, to what they are attracted and where they tend to spend their attention and their time.

As I mention in the beginning, not many businesses know how to collect this information through social media and this is really a goldmine not yet discovered!
Businesses who know how to collect these information through social media and know how to analyze them, they surely can grow real fast and become leaders in their industry.

A good example of a business that has seen huge success due to the fact that they created their own way to collect information and analyze them is Tesco. Tesco has become the biggest supermarket company in the UK just by been using its club card to keep track of customers preferences and shopping habits, which then they analyzed these information and made changes according to their results.

Any business who has the ability to understand their customers and has the ability to make fast changes in order to meet their customer’s needs are now our market leaders.

My suggestion is for small businesses to invest more on getting the real knowledge out of social media and learn how to collect all the useful information mentioned in this article if they really want to grow!

George Panayiotou
SMMDynamcis

Be Consistent on Your Business Social Media

smmdynamics

What do we mean by being Consistent?

Consistency is a steady continuity free from variation or contradiction.
In other words it means to keep doing the same thing that you were doing compatible with your beliefs and values that work for you.

If a person is valuing “fun” then that person to support this value, acts, dresses, talks and does everything in a fun way and style. This is what makes a person genuine and authentic. You express what you really are and what you value in your life.

Same and similar goes for businesses…
Consistent businesses who act, appear, talk, influence and do everything in a consistent way,
are considered by their followers and fans as genuine and real thus they are generating more trust, even when customers have not yet used or purchased a business’s services or products.

Businesses who are consistent on their thoughts, words and actions not only generate trust but they also stand out from the competition and differentiate themselves from others in same industry.

A consistent business means that it follows steadily and continually its own values and beliefs. The values and beliefs of a business are what makes the business unique and different from others. The same happens with us humans in our society, we all look the same but we all are different.

Consistency in social media

Volume/Schedule:  Have a consistent posting and emailing schedule that mostly works for your business and stick with it. Keep in mind the amount of posts and sharing you do on social media and keep it at the same levels and at the same timelines.

Quality/Content:

 Always offer value if you want to receive back!
The amount quality of what you offer to your audience must be steady and consistent.
Always check and have in mind to offer high quality content to your readers, fans, followers.

Voice/Tonality:

 Come up with a voice and tone to present your content on social media.
Anytime you find your business having to send a message, always be consistent on the tonality you use in the words that you put out.
For example be positive and enthusiastic or super kind and fun or more serious and simple.
Find what works for you and is most appealing for your business and stick to it.

Topics/Industry:

 It is good to find topics around your industry and around the areas you are working on.
But If let’s say, you use one or two topics out of your industry, just because you value them and you like them , then go for it! Just stay consistent to it. No one will blame you or criticize you for it if you stay consistent to it.

How to maintain consistency!

Look the same:

Make sure your business looks the same on every social network you use in order to help customers recognize you from first sight.

Brands Voice:

When you interact on social media use the same tonality and tone you use in all interactions.

Consistent Posting:

Find a plan of what and when to post and stick to it!
By creating your own habits, followers can see them and follow your habits. They already know when you posted or when you are going to post again, so they can come back to you anytime and catch up fast and easy!

Consistent Value giver:

This is the key to earn a lot of customer’s loyalty very easy and lose their loyalty even easier. Always look to offer something of value to your audience and stay super consistent with it. It is better not to post at all if you think your content has no value to offer. Your followers are used to getting something of value out of your content and by stop receiving it, it can generate disinterest towards your business real fast.


Make a commitment to stay consistent on social media!

Consistent posting valuable content, with a consistent voice, schedule and quality on your business social media will improve your company’s reputation and strengthen your relationship with your business fans.

Handle you social media networks and reach out to your audience, stay focused on your business values and belifes, stay active, present and consistent. Keep your business at the front of customers mind and your fans hooked for a lifetime.

REASONS WHY ANY BUSINESS SHOULD BE CONSISTENTLY ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

1.Brand exposure

Your customers are already using social media and they spend a lot of their time on social networks and blogs.
If you want to reach the maximum amount of clients you must be exactly where they are and where they spend most of their time. 
Your business can reach to even larger market while consistently staying active on social media. We all know that larger markets equal to larger sales.

2.Customer behavior

When your business is active on social media, not only customers can see you, you can see your customers. You can literally spy and observe what they say and what they do and try to learn what problems they have and then try to give them solutions to their problems and exactly what they need.

3.Competitive advantage

Most small to medium sized businesses, especially in Cyprus, most probably do not know how to consistently be active on social media or they are not even active on social media.
It’s important to realize and understand that social media for your business need time, continuous effort and development and most importantly they need patience and consistency to start seeing the rewards of them. When the time comes and you have ripped off all the benefits of social media, your competition will be really far behind.

4.Brand awareness

Staying active on social media gives your business the tools of  showing to the consumers who you are and what you are up to.
You can drive the messages you want to deliver about your organization into their minds and develop an identity into their heads.
Making your brand name differentiate from the competition and automatically more recognizable to the consumer.

5.Personalization

Staying active on social media offers your business the chance to come closer to the customer and present your business to them as you want to be presented instead of them seeing you as they want. Thus, the consumer can now perceive you more as a friendly and human entity and not as a cold money making professional.