-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueBox Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Why You're Not Seeing Results from Social Media
September 24, 2012 |Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Exasperation is probably the best word to describe how most managers and executives feel about their social media experimentation so far. “We’re using social media to get the word out, but we just don’t seem to be getting any traction. Many companies are making this work for them, why can’t we?” Today,I want to provide five reasons why your social media plans may not be working. If you’re not getting anywhere with your social media marketing (SMM) program, odds are that one of more of these are problem areas for your company. Vague or IIl-Defined Goals If your goal consists of, “We really need to get into this social media stuff because everyone else is,” well, that goal is pretty easily accomplished. Just push some junk out over Twitter or Facebook. But I’m thinking you’re not exactly going to be thrilled with the results of this campaign because you really thought something else good would happen. Your real vague goal was, “If we do this like everyone else, we should get more people calling us, or wanting to order or something.” I was talking with a vendor the other day and I asked him what he wanted to accomplish. This is what he told me: “We want use social media to stay in touch with our customers. We want a measured stream of content that’s useful to our customers, going out to them via social media.” Now that’s the basis for an SMM program. He knew specifically what he wanted to accomplish and the reason for it. Specific goals lead to the specific actions required to accomplish those goals. And it’s better to be specific, but off on your order of magnitude than being vague and not getting any results at all. If I set a specific target saying I want 10 sales leads a month, I like my odds of at least getting part way there versus a vague goal of “I need more sales leads.” Specific goals lead you to grapple with reality. It can be uncomfortable, but it works. Not Promoting your Social Media Channels Many companies leave their channels alone and let them grow “organically.” That’s code for “we’re lazy.” If you have 200 Twitter followers you should be figuring out how to make that number grow to 400. The same goes for Facebook fans. I am continually dumbfounded by companies that have 100 followers on their LinkedIn company page they weren’t even aware of. These are the same companies out beating the bushes to build their e-mail lists. The more people you have that can possibly see your message the better. This is what you hear the marketing types call “reach.” Actively promote your platforms on your website and through everyone in your company. Here’s why increasing your reach through more followers, fans, and connections is critical to your success: Each of those people has the ability to share your content with his or her circle of fans, followers, and connections. I have over 500 connections on LinkedIn. If I like your content, I will share it with my 500 connections. And among those connections there will be potential customers for your product or service. It is this ability to share content that gives social media it’s power. I may be connected to someone that you are dieing to meet. If you send them something, you’re a salesperson with an agenda. If I take that same content and share it with them, it’s coming from a trusted colleague. Lousy ContentI think that getting content right is the hardest thing to do in SMM. And, for the last time*: Your sales pitch is not compelling content. Your social media fans, followers, and connections want information that will help them do their jobs. If you provide interesting content that does this, they will share it with their networks and they will want to see more of your content. With all due respect, your press release likely doesn’t qualify as compelling or something I want to share. Your content has to be about your readers, their world, and their problems. It can’t be about how great you are.
*The last time in this paragraph.No Next Level Skip these last two sections if you don’t want sales leads as part of your program. Still with me? Good. If you want sales leads, you need to get your fans and followers to ask for more content so you offer something more in depth than the content you have been sending out. Examples would be white papers, case studies, webinars, or e-books. If your content has been good, and a reader has been following you because he or she likes and values what you have to say, he or she will be more likely to sign up for more in depth content, and that’s how they become a sales lead. If you don’t have that next level of content, don’t expect to receive many sales leads. Poor Execution Poor execution covers a multitude of sins. Lousy next level content is the worst one. A form saying “sign up for more information” may seem like a sincere offer of assistance from you, but the reader sees a sales person coming to their office, saying "open wide," and shoving products down their throat. No call to action is another. You have to tell people to sign up for the webinar or case study. You can’t expect them to find it accidentally. Last of all, stop it with the never-ending forms to fill out. You’re not with the government. Making it difficult for someone to get the content is counter-productive. You do all this work to get them this far, and then they leave. Do you really think you’re not turning people away by asking them “How much do you spend on (our product type) a year?” and “Do you have final purchasing authority?” All you need is their name and their e-mail address. Maybe their company, but you can usually figure that out from the e-mail address or by looking them up on....a social network! In terms of capital required, SMM is very inexpensive, but that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to turn your brain off. This stuff needs to be thought through. Once you wrap your head around the way it works, all of these ideas and concepts will form a logical sequence. So go out and make some mid-course corrections to your program. You can be one of the companies that “gets it” with social media and profits from it. Bruce Johnston is a sales consultant specializing in social media. He has over 25 years' experience in high-tech sales and management, most recently as general manager of a PCB manufacturer. He can be reached through his website www.practicalsmm.com or through his profile on LinkedIn.