I read an article this week citing a survey by Regus that suggests that “44% of SMEs have acquired new customers using networking sites compared with 28% of large firms”.
Somehow I don’t think so.
At the moment on Twitter and Facebook I’m following a “social media expert” telling me how amazing his business is. He seems to go to a lot of BNI meetings and have lots of other meetings and…. well, that’s about it. I’m one of 25 followers (not anymore in fact). Pretty much every Tweet or message on Facebook is automated and is more about him than clients. In terms of being social, it’s just broadcasting – traditional advertising in the ‘brave new world’ of social media.
Social networking works for companies looking to reach new customers, I just doubt the numbers in terms of success. Creating a path from serendipity to hard cash swapping hands is not just a case of diving in and broadcasting, it should be the same as the old school salesmanship – developing relationships over times; relationships that last for a long time.
Basically, that’s what social networking. An online version of traditional networking. But, there seems to be a disconnect between offline and online behaviour that many companies still can’t translate into a strategic path for delivering sales leads. It’s almost as if people forget how they hate being marketed to, then go into work and use exactly the same tactics to try and sell their own wares.
If you have had no joy with your online social marketing campaigns, perhaps it’s something that you are doing wrong. Perhaps it’s not really the right place for your business to be. Social media strategies is something we can help with, so why not give us a call and we can chat about things you can do to improve your approach to social media and sales lead generation.
