The business world is changing so quickly and we need to move with the times.
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Many of us are now open for business 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are mobile connected, because a missed call may be a missed opportunity.
In marketing, social media seems to be all the go so much so that television advertising is now extremely cheap, except for the few top rating shows. Of course many print publications that relied entirely on advertising are now downsizing, closing or moving to the e-space as they struggle to find relevance for paying customers.
Blasting the social media space does have its downsides including the cost, over-exposure and money wasted on inappropriate channels.
For example, while it may be appropriate to promote and have others wholly endorse a new fitness craze on Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites, the same may not apply to a new surgical scalpel, or blood-sampling syringe.
Many experts would say the main purpose of social media in business is to drive people to your website.
For some products and services this may be so, in which case a lot of work needs to be done to ensure your site is easy and fast to open and grabs the reader’s attention. SEO of you website in this case is essential.
Many use AdWords to be near the top of Google and BING but this can be very expensive. Further, in many cases people ignore AdWords as it may send the message that you on top, screaming for attention, not because you are good, but because you‘re paying. Beware, the downside of AdWords.
Ideally, if you can identify the most common search term for your business activity and register a URL including that term you are well down the path of being number one without ever paying.
In some cases a website is not so important or necessary if the sales process can be made directly from the social media channel. Again, we must ask, where does our market reside and what is the most cost-effective interact?
Make sure you are properly targeting your market. You are the experts, so focus your social media people.
For example, we all complain about the traffic these days, but let’s look at the upside. People with long commutes listen to the radio, now more than ever. Use this to advantage, but again, think of your audience. A millennial may listen to a rock station whereas a senior executive, CEO or board chairman will be listening to an entirely different station.
Use an Opportunity Matrix to find how your customers behave and don’t be fooled into thinking that blasting on social media is necessarily money well spent.