Selling Social Media

Posted on November 19, 2007 Written by 4 Comments

I have written before about how a lot of senior managers do not understand social media. So I was not surprised to read in BtoB Online that small business owners are confused about web 2.0 also.

The survey of 338 business executives at companies with fewer than 500 employees showed that there is still a large education gap when it comes to social media marketing.

For example asked why they do not have a company blog , the top reason cited for nonuse was “don’t see its value” (57%), followed by “don’t understand how to use” and “none of the sites I visit offer this format (both at 22%).

For social networking sites, the most common reason given for nonuse was “don’t see its value” (54%), followed by “none of the sites I visit offer this format (25%) and “don’t understand how to use” (22%).

When asked how many RSS feeds they subscribe to, 51% said one to three, 19% said four to six, 9% said more than six and 21% said they didn’t know.

One reason I think that PPC marketing has been so successful is that it is easy for executives to understand. Social media marketing (like search engine optimization) is a much harder concept to get their arms around.

Social media marketing is not simply linkbating to sites like Digg. It is about delivering your content to your customers how they want to receive it. That could be via blogs, video or community based sites. It is about engaging in a two-way conversation with your customers.

Until we as social media marketers can find a way to distill the concept of social media market into a 1-2 sentence marketing message, we will have trouble getting the majority of business executives to understand and buy into the concept. Until they understand it, the budget will not be available for social media marketing.

David Wilson

I have been in providing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to clients for the last 8 years. I believe that SMO is where all the online services are going to converge over the next 18 months.

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Filed Under: Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization

Comments

  1. kelvin newman says:
    November 21, 2007 at 1:07 pm

    It’s a tough sell at times but for the companies willing to take the risk theres some pretty big rewards while it’s still pretty uncompetitive.

    I think the period now will be seen a bit like the glory days of PPC, when it was easy to get roi and bid inflation wasn’t a worry

    Reply
  2. Glen Allsopp says:
    November 24, 2007 at 5:35 am

    Social media marketing is not simply linkbating to sites like Digg. It is about delivering your content to your customers how they want to receive it. That could be via blogs, video or community based sites. It is about engaging in a two-way conversation with your customers.

    I think thats a great point and something a lot of people still havn’t managed to grasp, even people who call themselves ‘social media marketers’

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Search Engine Marketing » Selling Social Media says:
    November 19, 2007 at 7:11 am

    [...] – Social Media Optimization wrote an interesting post today on Selling Social MediaHere’s a quick excerpt I have written before about how a lot of senior managers do not understand social media. So I was not surprised to read in BtoB Online that small business owners are confused about web 2.0 also. The survey of 338 business executives at companies with fewer than 500 employees showed that there is still a large education gap when it comes to social media marketing. For example asked why they do not have a company blog , the top reason cited for nonuse was “don’t see its value” (57%), followed b [...]

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  2. How to Really Sell Social Media says:
    February 20, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    [...] How to sell social media to your boss – Ebizz by Chris Salazar How do Social Networks applications incorporate the ladder of engagement? – Beth’s Blog How to sell the value of social media to your boss – Rohit Bhargava – Influential Marketing Blog Web Strategy: How to Measure your Social Media Program – Web Strategy by Jeremiah 10 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing Sucks – Collective Thoughts – Andy Beard Selling Social Media – Social Media Optimization var OutbrainPermaLink=”http://nowsourcing.com/blog/2008/02/20/selling-social-media/”; var OB_demoMode = false; if ( typeof(OB_Script)!=’undefined’ ) OutbrainStart(); else { var OB_Script = true; var str = “”; document.write(str); } Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

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