The Social Media Question

I’m just back from the coffee shop where we drink coffee before we get over into the office.

Behind me were two guys. One was speaking very loudly. Both were talking about social media. The conversation went like this.

"Once we set up our LinkedIn account we then set up Facebook and Twitter pages. Then we simply connect to as many people as we can via LinkedIn so that will bring people through all of our Social Media. That will give us a massive reach."

The older guy said he didn’t quite understand. The younger repeated what he had already said but in a slower much easier way to follow. The older guy then asked this question.

“Will it bring in more clients?”

The younger guy replied,

“I am not sure but I think so.”

Both final agreed to kick-start their social media campaign on the basis that they simply HOPE it’ll work.

This approach to social media marketing isn’t unusual. The reason it isn’t unusual is that for some it is still new. For some, it is a learning curve. For some, it is almost magical and hence mysterious.

That has been supported by a huge wave of NEW marketers selling the social media myth. The myth is simple and dressed in a way that social media can seem magic. Once we enter the realms of magic it is usually left to magicians. Yet we all know magic isn’t real.

The true social media question you as a businessperson should be asking is this.

Will social media give me more business, more sales and more money in the bank?

An Example from an Art Gallery case Study

A couple of weeks ago we had a call from a company that struggled to deliver a full house into an art gallery.

Here was the problem: Just 6-days away and still no ticket sales. The artist had said if it wasn’t a full house he wouldn’t turn up. The gallery was hysterical with fear of failing.

They had been doing social media for a few years but had no idea if it worked. This was the first time they tried to make it work. They simply posted events with no response.

We were asked if we could help.

Now if you have just six days to create a turnaround what would you do?

First, I will tell you how it ended then I will tell you what we did.

Six days later the gallery was packed. The photos on Facebook showed a gallery that had no booking just six days earlier but on the day of opening was packed to the roof.

Obviously, they were more than happy.

So how do we do that in such a short period of time?

The first thing we do is look for targeted, speed and proven strategies. Speed is clearly based online and proven are things we have tested in the past and know will work. The only real problem is we do like to test things for each business in a bespoke way and are their targeted customers online or more important on social media?

Once we find the targets or people we are aiming for we started to test images on social media.

Here’s something that was crazy!

A single image of his painting - that are just brilliant - pulled just 3 clicks where a totally different image of the painter painting pulled 250 plus clicks.

It was …

• The same advert
• The same words
• A different image

They were already committed to paying $10 dollars per click – we reduced it right away using what we know to just $1.50 for the same click.

The next thing we did was testing multiple online channels. Now the mistake most make is they simply throw everything online and hope it works. You know the stuff like Facebook posts, LinkedIn networking, regular Adwords etc. The only problem is when you are very short on time you need to be sure that the traffic is highly targeted so risk on a hope and pray campaign isn’t an option.

So we did all the research needed to make sure we had

• The target as close as we could match
• The message as close as we could match
• The reach as accurate as possible
• And then we took the available online channels to push out the tickets.

We took a route where rather than use everything we know we would reduce the risk and use (on a bit of a guess) what we felt based on experience would work and has already worked.

So we chose 7-ways of reaching the marketplace rather than just one or two.

There was no truly better result from either ticket outlet as both had the same amount of tickets downloaded.

The lesson was simple: Use what you know, use everything that you know but stick to what you know will work.

Ask these questions.

• Are your customers on LinkedIn?
• Are your customers on Facebook?
• Are your customers on Twitter?
• Are your customers on Instagram and more?

Because the reality is there are still a lot of buyers out there that do not use Social media. Those buyers could be your buyers. If that is the case why over rely on social media as a tool to bring in clients?

Social media could be your best option for marketing ever. It could also be an option where disaster will follow.

I have seen businesses fail because they refused to ignore advice that the only option was social media.

Guess what?

As you read above when targeted, tested and done properly social media could transform your business. A client of ours went and bought himself a new red Ferrari on the back of the campaigns we did for them using social media. For him, the 300 plus leads we delivered transformed his business.

And then, of course, the gallery above… six days later the artist turned up to a full house that could have been disastrously empty.

Over the past few years time and time again I have completely turned around businesses online campaigns. Maybe I could do the same for you?

• Like the client that went from 3 leads to over 330 every month
• Like the client that went from no online leads to 17 per hour – every hour – every day
• Like the client that transformed his booking systems and sales from the odd one here and there to over five million units sold in a single month

And more.

Social media does raise a question and should raise many questions for you.

Questions like

• Why am I in business?
• Why do I advertise?
• What do I want from my business?

The answers are really simple – you want your business to be a success. That being said just taking the latest things and trying them, hoping and praying they will work can cause a danger to your business.

• Social media should be approached with care.
• Social media should be tested for actual results.
• And ask what are the results you want?

Buying LIKES, getting likes and shares – do they actually increase your bottom-line – sales?

I love social media but I keep reminding myself that over 31-years I have amassed over 257 ways to build a business. Yes, 257 proven, tested strategies, tactics and techniques that build a business.

Around 4-years ago I decided to stop using social media for business. I got sick of the hype and lack of results for myself and for my clients.Maybe 18-months ago I decided to kick-start a few tests supported by research we had been reading.

The test results for clients and us were pretty amazing I have to say. Today social media is part of the toolbox of 257 tools because frankly it works for some businesses and will fail miserable for others.

Don’t play with your business on social media. Don’t listen to unproven advice on social media. Take wise steps to make sure it is working for your business not you working to put free content on social media.

I hope this helps you somehow.

And if you would you like me personally to look over your online campaign and offline campaigns I can do that for you.

We can do more than a few things.

• Locate your targets – IF they are using social media
• Slash advertising costs and start tests from as low as $5 per day
• Increase response by testing everything
• Boost sales using tested to work strategies
• Message to market narrowed down so we give your buyers what they are thinking
• And …
• Increase your leads
• Create brand domination
• Six-day Turnarounds
• Huge Breakthroughs
• If you’d like to talk this through you know where I am.

 

• Offices: Iconoclast Collective, Orange Beetle, 213 Ashley Road, 2nd Floor, Hale, Cheshire, WA159TB
• Tele: 00 44 (0) 161 928 8328
• Text: 00 44 (0) 7793069486
• Skype: orangebeetle
• Facebook messenger: www.Facebook.com/orangebeetle

Give us a call right now and let's talk.

Feel free to hit reply and arrange a conversation.

All the very best.

Alan Forrest Smith