"Nobody can tell me why I need it.
I still don't understand why I need to be using social media for my business."
If you look online you'll find dozens of articles about social media marketing for business but still business owners are hemming and hawing about getting serious about online marketing.
Most of the articles are not read by business owners who spend their time working hard in their business. Most of the articles they would not really understand because they are frankly written for other marketers.
We could talk about increasing brand awareness. That's valid and important. But it doesn't really grab business owners in a way that they can get excited about.
We could talk about your brand looking more legitimate if your business is actively engaging online. But that too is not something business owners get excited about.
Increased sales. Now that's something a business owner could get excited about. But you may not if have a website and no way to know if it is doing anything to help your business attract customers or result in sales. If your website is like so many (not just small) business websites there is a good chance it is neglected and not optimized for either Google or for people, don't update the website or know how to read analytics (if you have any) so as to know about what is happening with your website. In that case, you might have no understanding of the difference when your website and an online marketing strategy is in place and working effectively to deliver sales.
Perhaps customer service is of interest? Probably not. If there is no functional funded online marketing strategy then there is slim chance there is a good focus on customer service in the business. Marketing. Sales. Customer Service. They are the Three Graces of business but are often starved in business, treated like stray dogs.
No Structure To Hang The New Information On
So what is the value for business owners in using social media marketing ... and why don't they get it?
It comes down to that 'you don't know what you don't know' thing.
The world has changed so much in the past five years. We have gone from using fax machines to having a generation who doesn't know what a fax machine is and children and even adults now, who expect to be able to access any information any time online. There are no "business hours" online. If we want something, we want it now - we don't want to wait! We certainly don't want to wait for things we don't have to wait for. Things we could just take action to get right now. Want insurance? Go online and get a quote and buy it. Want a new book or set of saucepans? Go online hunt down the one you want and pay for it and get it delivered. That's what we expect. It's what we want.
The technology behind that which makes it possible is fantastic. And it is improving and changing all the time. It is easy to use but complex to make work. We don't need to know what makes it work to use it. Just like we didn't need to know how to build a television set to know how to change channels.
So we come to understand the changes in the market place and we fall into the trap that lets us think because we can post a photo to Facebook that we know anything about how it all works in the background.
We think because we have a website it is now "on" and active. It isn't! You have to plug it in! You see, the website is just a program, like on the TV. Without access to it, without knowing what it is and what channel it's being broadcast on, and with no batteries in the remote ... the chances of seeing that program are nil!
Social marketing lets us make the conditions right
so that people who could be customers can find our website.
Without that knowledge to bring it all together we cannot know how to make it work successfully.
That knowledge we need to know to bring this together and make it work is changing too. And requires a deep understanding of the mechanics of how online marketing works. How all the different facets relate back to helping people find the website, who are looking for what we do, and being in the space where customers, are spending time. Without that background understanding the new changes that will continue to be a part of this new environment are just confusing. We can't understand because we don't know how it works in the background.
So. That means, if you want that TV turned on and your business showing the program that customers are going to watch - all of that background knowledge has to reside in your business too.
Your business needs to be doing everything it can to ensure that you have a good program for the customers to see and buy. And everything clear for the potential viewer/customer to get access to it.
To find it. To be able to buy it and to make it - your business - just another part of their day, which they can reach from their phone any time they want to.
That's your business intelligence around social media marketing. A lot of work and a lot of knowledge to incorporate into a business.
Without it, that TV isn't even plugged in.
It took me years to learn this stuff and continues to take hours and hours that I spend so that I am able to keep up-to-date.
Fortunately, you can access that business intelligence!
The quick and painless way.
Why does a business need a good online strategy? So we can get to know you and what you stand for.
That's the start of Know Me, Like Me, Trust Me. And that, is where sales start.
Lindy
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