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TOPIC: Social Media - is it working for you?

Social Media - is it working for you? 12 years 4 weeks ago #2377

  • Rob Maclean
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Hello,

I've been asked to speak at quite a big tourism conference in March and the theme of it is around social media marketing - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. etc.

This is definitely the fashion in marketing circles at the moment and, admittedly, there are big success stories. The best one I can think of in tourism in South Africa is "The Battle of Kruger". And, I do believe that some review websites such as TripAdvisor need a lot of attention (both for marketing and to improve your product).

But how much value do you actually get back from social media efforts? What return do you get on your facebook group update and tweets? How many people follow you and how many of them ever go on to spend more cash with you because of it? From my experience many of the most useful social media marketing has happened when it wasn't planned or contrived by the person trying to 'sell'. In fact it was started by someone else and happened by accident. The Battle of Kruger is a good example.

If you have found that your new LinkedIN profile or facebook 'likes' have not turned around your businesses, is it because you are doing it wrong or because, fundamentally, the opportunity for your business to marketing in this way is quite limited?

I am increasingly sceptical about the return on many of the social media outlets. There are only so many people I can follow on Twitter and get through their tweets whilst still having a life. If someone tweets something dull, I will now unfollow them. So have you got enough stuff that's genuinely interesting to say. I'm not sure I do. I would love to know your thoughts on this. Has it worked for you? If so, what worked? Are you going to keep it going / try something else?

I'd love any anecdotal comments or quotes that I could use to 'sensationalise' my presentation because I'd like to disagree with some of the other presenters there! ;)

Thanks

Rob
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Re: Social Media - is it working for you? 12 years 4 weeks ago #2382

  • Martin
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Hi Rob,

Social media is a two way thing, on one hand its a great mechanism to communicate with your customers and in time, social media will become much bigger. On the other hand, social media sites are used as an SEO tactic to gain better search engine results as engines like google, look at the links to your main website (among other things).

It basically sees facebook and twitter as a content service to your customers.

While I see social media been useful, South Africa is only starting to make use of this marketing medium now. Give it a few more months to a year and more and more businesses will begin making use of it and I think the debate on the matter will change.

Hope that helps :)
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Re: Social Media - is it working for you? 12 years 4 weeks ago #2384

  • Rob Maclean
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Hi Martin,

Thanks for your thoughts. Much appreciated. I agree with much of it, especially the point around content service to customers.

But I still think that unless you've (by which I mean a business, not you personally!) have something genuinely unique + interesting or very topical to say or show then you'll be lost in the sheer volume of 'social media'.

To your point, I actually think there is still room to make it productive in SA because it isn't fully exploited or mature here yet. But we're rapidly approaching the situation in the US where, increasingly, businesses are starting to question how to make money deliberately out of social media. And, in particular, which platforms are the one to use for what type of business? Twitter for realtime news reporting, facebook for targeting marketing, analytics and marketing and youtube if you get lucky with a cool video...

Anyway, it's an interesting one and I thank you again for your thoughts. Anyone else?

Rob
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Re: Social Media - is it working for you? 12 years 3 weeks ago #2391

  • Shelley Finch
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Some really interesting questions there Robert!

As a social media and digital marketing consultant, I am often frustrated by people's attitude to social media marketing - they seem to think it's the "magic pill" and are very quick to say that it doesn't work when leads and sales don't come flooding in.

People simply don't understand the medium properly and are therefore unable to make use of it in ways that would best suit their types of business. Business owners think that it's one-strategy-fits-all which is certainly not the case. Another problem is that people seem to be placing value and emphasis in the wrong elements.

An example is a discussion i had with a fellow digital marketer last week, who is being driven mad by a client who demands to know how many "likes" his Facebook page has as opposed to asking what sort of engagement the page is receiving from existing fans. THIS is a prime example of how social media marketing is misunderstood. Companies are willing to spend a fortune on "like" competitions, but not on good content generation services. Sure I'll like your roof cleaning business page if I could win and iPad, but I assure you that I'll unlike it as soon as I find out i didn't win. Why not hire a writer to generate some great articles on home maintenance to keep me coming back to your page for information and tips.

Wouldn't you rather have 50 fans who REALLY like your product and want to engage with you or 1000 fans who aren't paying any attention to what you post? That's the question every business owner needs to ask BEFORE they engage in social media marketing.

I could honestly go on for hours about this topic, particularly since I have worked with a few tourism/hospitality organisations in the past. I've you'd like to catch up over a cup of coffee and have a bit more of a chat I'd be happy to oblige Robert. You can e-mail me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Re: Social Media - is it working for you? 12 years 3 weeks ago #2397

  • Rob Maclean
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Hi Shelley,

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I couldn't agree more.

It's about interesting content and genuine engagement. Quality, not quantity. Choosing the right channel and medium to focus your limited efforts and budget.

I'll email you re: coffee.

Rob
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Re: Social Media - is it working for you? 12 years 1 week ago #2456

  • Michelle
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Hi Rob. Yes, I believe that social media works well for a business - if planned carefully and done with patience. As a marketer, one should know where people are and what they are saying and/or thinking about; and the internet is one huge place where you can get these answers. But of course, a company or business has to constantly update its pages so that users would know that what they are visiting on your site is updated. People in the internet are always into something NEW [and interesting].:)

Hi Shelley. I really enjoy reading your thoughts about different subject matters. They're informative and fun to read too. :P
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Re: Social Media - is it working for you? 12 years 1 week ago #2457

  • Rob Maclean
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Hi Michelle,

Thanks for your thoughts. I think the challenge is - as you say - the "interesting" content point. Too much focus on quantity rather than quality and too much time chasing "likes" and unengaged followers.

I'm generalising but my personal opinion is that, for many businesses (especially in the hospitality sector which is where most effort seems to be put in to social marketing) the focus should be on review websites/channels such as TripAdvisor (not only to get guests providing positive reviews but also to get feedback on areas where improvement is required) rather than Twitter and Facebook where most businesses are going to struggle to get engaged followers. I actually really like Google+ because you can target your message to different groups (or 'circles') of contacts and easily add media. Plus it helps Google Search results (which ultimately is massively important). But the take-up is that much lower because it is so new.

Thanks.

Rob
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Re: Social Media - is it working for you? 11 years 11 months ago #2575

There are millions of people mingling around social media sites, and that's where the advantage of social media lies. As long as you are consistent and keep on getting positive feedback from people, your site will surely be turning in some customers.
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Re: Social Media - is it working for you? 11 years 11 months ago #2576

  • Rob Maclean
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Hi Lola,

I agree.

The more I work with and around social media the more I believe that it comes down to 3 things.

1. Engaging content (probably the most difficult part to regularly create), 2. Ambassadors / fans (who will respond and share the content) and 3. Selecting the right platform for your business (e.g Facebook, Twitter - but not necessarily all of them).

We recently launched a social media platform (integrated with Facebook) for safari destinations to showcase live game sightings. The idea is to help destination owners get the content and exploit their ambassadors (guests). We've put together a short video:

http://youtu.be/LbQSr9l5oJU

I'd love any feedback on the video / product from anyone on this forum.

Thanks,

Rob
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Social Media - is it working for you? 11 years 2 weeks ago #3433

  • Barry Wark
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Social Media has a lot to offer, not only it provides awareness for people as more of them now are spending tons of times with it than the traditional ones. It also as well provide valuable opportunities to new leads in business as it targets a larger audience. It can be a valuable tool for sharing and gathering information within businesses and clients.
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