“Social media was in my business plan in the very beginning,” reports Evan Saks, president of Create-A-Mattress LLC in Needham, Mass. “The usefulness of social media varies dramatically depending on such factors as business, industry and target market.”
Saks has thought a great deal about it, tried it and come to recognize that frequency of purchase of his product, every five to ten years, is his tipping point.
“The Purchase Path of Online Buyers,” a research report published by Forrester Research Inc., refers to the “experimental tactics” of social media. Not having obtained revenue from Facebook and a blog that other marketing channels wouldn’t have sent his way, Saks instead maximizes email, the original social media, through paid and organic search.
“I believe there’s a disconnect between the buzz around social media compared with the actual business contribution,” Saks comments. He clarifies that his comments are generalizations, to which he’s seen exceptions.
“The buzz” is infecting business owners of all kinds, like a virus. Checking it out is essential. For 21 months, Brynne Tillman, president and COO of Business Development University LLC in Ambler, Pa., has been teaching businesses about the uses of social media to increase sales. She’s actively used it herself for business for more than three years. Her company’s results from LinkedIn are impressive, with engagements from small companies averaging $12,000 per year to one contract at $65,000 for this year alone.
LinkedIn has made her revenue stream almost pour. She’s doing more customized training and the large contract came from a company that “found us through social media,” Tillman remarks. “We couldn’t have broken in with cold calling.”
At the outset, Tillman invested four or five hours per week prospecting in social media, or about 50 percent of her total prospecting time. She finds that of 20 people she approaches now, ten “don’t remember people they’re connected to. Out of (that group), five of the connections take my call. If I do my job well, I get three appointments. There’s nothing else out there that can do that.”
She recommends LinkedIn for business-to-business users and comments that “Facebook is great tool for business-to-consumer.”
Not at Create-A-Mattress, but Saks cites a nutritional supplement company whose extremely loyal lifestyle-oriented customer base is committed to muscle-building and fitness. It uses Facebook, Twitter and a blog. Many customers order five to ten times per month.
He notes that “it’s a tremendous business and blogging is absolutely essential.” He also indicates that business owners need to keep abreast of innovations in social media, because one might emerge, such as YouTube, that’s more suitable than previous vehicles.
WHEN SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCEEDS
Are social media activities outperforming your other marketing? Tillman dodges the question, commenting that she also uses Twitter and a blog, that “once I see one or two people who might be connected to my ideal prospect on LinkedIn, I ask if they’d mind providing an introduction to me.”
She emails her contact information and includes a paragraph that she invites the person to use. She also offers to make introductions.
Jon Ferrara, CEO of Nimble Inc., a business-to-business, customer-relationship software company in Santa Monica, indicates that if social media efforts are highly successful, business owners should analyze what’s working and invest more there.
“As you start placing more emphasis on your social media campaigns,” he observes, “you'll want to evaluate tools that can help you be more successful when listening, engaging and managing the social sales pipeline.”
Saks says of successful social media campaigns, “It makes me wonder if you’re short-shrifting other tools in your marketing arsenal.”
If social isn’t working for your business, heed Saks’s advice to keep your ears open for a new vehicle.
Dr. Mildred L. Culp welcomes your questions at culp@workwise.net. © 2011 Passage Media.
RSS
E-Mail
Print
reprint or license
