"But Social Media gives me the jitters! It’s too much of a risk, we don’t have the budget, the experience, the resources."
Seriously? You’re going to ignore the biggest shift in advertising since the invention of television? Ok, but before you leave, check that your concerns aren’t answered below:
Reasons for NOT implementing Social Media Marketing (and why to ignore them):
"No one else in our industry is doing it."
Well then, be a pioneer in your field! Jump ahead of your competitors and make a dent in the social media world before they realise how important it is. If you can make your company accessible through social media, you will multiply the number of customers finding your site online.
"What about ROI? They say it’s not measurable..."
As explored in Where to start - Social Media Integration, the ROI of targeted and specified aspects of social media can absolutely be measured. But the return on social media should not be viewed separately from your general marketing strategy - it should be integrated into how you advertise, how you market, how you respond and interact with customers.
"We don’t have the expertise/understanding to do it right."
Ahem. That’s what we’re for! We create bespoke strategies for each client we work with, and offer full training and support for your staff to become involved and competent. We usually work on a sliding scale - initially helping you get set up, trained and understanding the processes, then handing over as much or as little of the responsibility to you as you like.
We believe that the nature of social media is to be genuine - we can’t pretend to represent your business in all your online interactions - only you know your business well enough to do that, and you should be stamping your own personality on your social media presence. But we’ll be there to hold your hand.
"It’s too exposed, too public for us..."
Hate to break it to you, but the internet is public. If you’re running a business online, you’re part of that. Social media was created by people, not marketers - to communicate and share - and it has become assimilated into commerce and business whether you like it or not.
Consumers are now so used to having so much information at their fingertips, they are not satisfied with just taking a company’s word for it. They dig deeper, check reviews, ask their friends, do their own research. By offering up a measure of transparency and, yes, vulnerability, you are opening yourself up to so much more than one-way marketing.
"But what about negativity? Can’t someone just post something horrible about us on our page/site/profile?"
Yup. But if they couldn’t put it there, they’d put it somewhere else. You can’t control what people are saying about you, but you might as well try to make a good impression in response. Social media has not created the negativity, it’s just provided a soap box.
Criticism is hard to take, but it can be valuable. You can find out exactly what customers think of you, what they dislike, the problems they’ve come up against... and you can fix things! Turn a disgruntled customer into a grateful and happy one by addressing their issue and making good. The best thing about all this...? It’s public! Other customers can see what great customer services you have and will trust and respect you for it. Now, turn that frown upside down.
"We don’t have the budget for it."
Quite simply, we all need to change the way we market. Try not to think of social media as a new, separate department, but something new to be integrated and distributed into all your existing departments - PR, Marketing, Customer Services, Research & Development, Design - it relates to all these aspects. Most of the platforms, networks and tools you need to get started are free, all you need is a little start up time and effort and a change in the way you think about marketing.
"What if we can’t keep up? We have Twitter feeds, Facebook, blogs... too much going on!"
At Ikroh, we make sure we make secure, detailed plans before we get anything going. We discuss carefully with you and your company what will be manageable, and work out plans for future development, so you are always in at a comfortable depth. We provide you with the training to know what you’re doing, the tools and methods to keep on top, and help you maintain and monitor your progress.
"Won’t the market get saturated if everyone starts ‘doing’ social media?"
The internet is already saturated, with sites that will never rank, e-stores you will never visit. Social media is not a guarantee that you will ping to the top of your field, but it makes a big difference in your visibility, your accessibility and the opportunities available to you. Saturation is not something to worry about, so long as you are striving to keep fresh, creative, to be unique and spectacular. Do it well and stand out!
"I’m worried about loose cannons within my staff - what’s to stop them going on a social media rampage with our account?"
This is why we help you write a social media policy for your company and your staff, detailing your ethics, rules and desired approach. You don’t need to give every staff member access to everything all at once - it’s about choosing the right people for the task and having a common goal in what you are trying to achieve. Social media is for putting across the personality of your company - there are always risks, but in the grand scheme of things, social media mistakes are drops in the ocean and quickly forgotten.
"But we’re just a small company. How can the little guy compare to the big brands?"
That’s the beauty of social media - it’s a great leveller. In fact, often the small, local business can make a bigger, or quicker impact with social media than a larger company. It’s all about passion, enthusiasm and personality. On a minimal level, it doesn’t take much time or effort to set up a few social media channels and get interactive - you can tweet from your phone, you can schedule blog posts, you can find the people most interested in what you do and target them directly. You don’t need a massive budget, just the guts and the ideas to get stuck in.
The reality of social media (and why you have no reason to ignore it any more):
People have always had their opinion and enjoyed giving it - it’s just now they have a global stage and unlimited audience potential to do so. Why wouldn’t you want to - at the very least - be keeping tabs on this for your business? Wouldn‘t you rather be involved in this opinion sharing, using the information your customers give you to act on their requests and their complaints, finding out what makes them tick so you can keep ‘em ticking?
We think social media is pretty darn cool. And we get excited at the prospect of helping other businesses discover its potential and put it into practice, so let us help you get integrated.
Our team are on hand to answer any questions you may have, so if there is anything at all you want to know than just drop us an email or call us on 01908 379938.
Most of us use social media daily as a form communication. We exchange our daily thoughts, opinions, photos, videos and links. We share our experiences – from the mundane to the spectacular... > Read More
“But Social Media gives me the jitters! It’s too much of a risk, we don’t have the budget, the experience, the resources.”
Seriously? You’re going to ignore the biggest shift in advertising since the invention of television? Ok, but before you leave, check that your concerns aren’t answered... > Read More
