Hi,

I recently went to a Business Link event dedicated to exploring the use of social media in the business world.

One talker asked for a show of hands from the floor of those that had company web sites. Seeing as it was an event about social media -- IE: Web 2.0, not Web 1.0 -- I fully expected all the 50-odd people to stick up their hands.

I was astonished to see that fewer than half actually did.

When he asked how many people blogged only three people put their hands up, including me. As for SEO, I counted 8 hands.

I'm wondering if this is typical of small to medium sized businesses, and if so, why?

I'd love to hear your comments / experiences and then turn these into series of blogposts for my blog, Planet Client.

I'd say that peple went there to find out more about social media marekting and whether it's for them or not, otherwise if they are hot on doing it, why go to the event? It's a show of hands I would totally expect. I run website marketing courses and almost none of my candidates have nevr done or know anything about web marketing, seo, etc. And that's what I expect - since they have come to learn and find out more. That is typical of all courses and seminars.

How many companies can say they have sold goods as a result of social media? If you sell social products like music you may stand a better chance but for most of us its a waste of time.

If you spend half an hour a day for one month at say £10 per hour thats £100 per month that you have to get back.

Hi,

I recently went to a Business Link event dedicated to exploring the use of social media in the business world.

One talker asked for a show of hands from the floor of those that had company web sites. Seeing as it was an event about social media -- IE: Web 2.0, not Web 1.0 -- I fully expected all the 50-odd people to stick up their hands.

I was astonished to see that fewer than half actually did.

When he asked how many people blogged only three people put their hands up, including me. As for SEO, I counted 8 hands.

I'm wondering if this is typical of small to medium sized businesses, and if so, why?

I'd love to hear your comments / experiences and then turn these into series of blogposts for my blog, Planet Client.

Sean; good to see you on the forum.

How important, do you think, is Facebook for B2B opportunities?

We use twitter and Facebook, and have a search engine optimised blog. I guess the people at the event were people trying to find out about it, so there would perhaps be a lower number already using social media?

I think SF could be an excellent resource for business, but you need two accounts really, one to be a professional face of your business, and the other to argue with people - but that is against forum rules.

Our blog updates twitter via a plug in, and our Facebook page via RSS Graffiti, so a blog post appears on all three streams automatically. I can also update the facebook page directly from twitter by using a hashtag, but I haven't yet got a set-up that allows me to have tweets appear as mini-blog entries, which would be useful for live updating.

Sean; good to see you on the forum.

How important, do you think, is Facebook for B2B opportunities?

It isn't as important as it is for B2C marketing, but it isn't totally worthless either.

I'll even stick my neck out & say Twitter might be slightly better for B2B. LinkedIn & ecademy could also be useful for B2B.

Social networking offers another way for you to keep your site's users updated on what's happening, without them having to visit your site daily. If you have a blog, it can let your users know when you make a new post, it's easy to set that up automatically.

It's another way to stay in touch with your site's users, it can be used in a similar way & in combination with email newsletters, rss feeds, etc.

It also offers the opportunity for you to get feedback from your customers, for them to advertise your business to their friends/followers & for you to get more information about your customers.

It doesn't need to take half an hour a day, it can be set up in under an hour, automated & just used for half an hour a week, or half an hour a month, or even just left alone. The more work you put in, the more you'll get out, but there can be diminishing returns.

Twitter, in particular, is also an important part of seo. Social media marketing isn't separate from seo. The most popular search engines after google are on social network sites like youtube, twitter, facebook & wikipedia.

Agree with the above - we can schedule blog posts (using wordpress) which will automatically generate the tweet and FB update - and now tweetdeck has scheduling too, so updating can be done once a week in a block, with little updates as and when.

It really is all about keeping it up - you can see in our web stats when we've been regularly updating and when we haven't.

How many companies can say they have sold goods as a result of social media? If you sell social products like music you may stand a better chance but for most of us its a waste of time.

If you spend half an hour a day for one month at say £10 per hour thats £100 per month that you have to get back.
Yes its obviously better for some businesses than others, I met a guy whose company publishes books( I think it was on Poetry?) at a Business Link event and he was saying facebook had been tremendous for him.
Just like Steven Fry I am sure I would get 500000 people following me on Twitter, if I blogged about mortgages?

Yes its obviously better for some businesses than others, I met a guy whose company publishes books( I think it was on Poetry?) at a Business Link event and he was saying facebook had been tremendous for him.
Just like Steven Fry I am sure I would get 500000 people following me on Twitter, if I blogged about mortgages?

You're missing the point.

If you blog about mortgages, you might be right to think it wont get millions of readers, that doesn't mean it's worthless. Even if you only get 5 followers & they're all spam robots, it gets your site on there, it's getting links to your site & it's improving your visibility to people that are searching for mortgages.

Blogs are extremely important for seo, it's a valuable source of content for google to search through & for you to get lots of relevant keywords in.

How many companies can say they have sold goods as a result of social media? If you sell social products like music you may stand a better chance but for most of us its a waste of time.

If you spend half an hour a day for one month at say £10 per hour thats £100 per month that you have to get back.

Using twitter and FB doesn't take long, and has a big effect on web traffic if the content is interesting to people.

You're missing the point.

If you blog about mortgages, you might be right to think it wont get millions of readers, that doesn't mean it's worthless. Even if you only get 5 followers & they're all spam robots, it gets your site on there, it's getting links to your site & it's improving your visibility to people that are searching for mortgages.

Blogs are extremely important for seo, it's a valuable source of content for google to search through & for you to get lots of relevant keywords in.
Thanks for those comments I did not realise it worked that way.

I run website marketing courses and almost none of my candidates have nevr done or know anything about web marketing, seo, etc. And that's what I expect - since they have come to learn and find out more. That is typical of all courses and seminars.

Hi Sandra,
And is it your experience that many of these people won't even have a company website? This is the part I find bewildering. Learning about the possibilities of Web 2.0 when you've not even engaged with Web 1.0 is peculiar.

How many companies can say they have sold goods as a result of social media?

Hi Kipper,

You're right; it depends what your business is. SEO tends to work better for product-based businesses than for services. This holds true for Google Adwords, too.

For example, if you're a plumber from Sheffield then an SEO campaign built on so-called long-tail keywords (such as 'reliable sheffield plumber') makes perfect sense, because done properly it can deliver targeted traffic indefinitely.

For service-based firms, SEO can only ever be part of the marketing mix. It's just as important for such firms to also engage in activities such as thought leadership, through blogs, white papers and online articles.

Such content can be optimized, so that over time it will generate organic traffic. But there's no quick fixes here; you're talking 6 months - 1 year to see any real SEO return on a blog for example, which is why so few companies lose the faith.

But they're kind of missing the point, because blogs, articles, white papers (and platforms such as this forum) are a showcase for a company's expertise and experience. They help build trust with prospective clients and can build goodwill with existing ones, because the content being created is designed to be useful and helpful to them.

Sean; good to see you on the forum.

How important, do you think, is Facebook for B2B opportunities?

Hi Steve,

Facebook is an odd one. Although it's the most visited site online, companies are still working out how to bend it to their will.

As far as I can see, FB remains ostensibly a platform for friends to communicate and for people to find like-minded folk. That and pimply (and often scantily clad) hormone-sodden adolescents 'collecting' friends like maniacs. All of this must account for in excess of 90% of all activity on FB.

That said, FB does lend itself well to certain business applications. The best outline I've seen of this is on Mashable. I've not posted enough times yet to include a link, but go to Mashable's homepage and then click on 'Facebook Guidebook'.

I still feel that Twitter is the better solution for brand building / customer care, and that LinkedIn is the stronger networking platform.

Blogs are extremely important for seo, it's a valuable source of content for google to search through & for you to get lots of relevant keywords in.

This is true, although the biggest challenge with blogs for businesses is finding someone with enough passion and dedication to keep them going; without posting a minimum of 3 times a week for the first 6-months- 1 year, it can take an awful long time to see any SEO return on your work.

Sourcing content of interest to your target audience is the other ongoing challenge. Plus, it's pointless posting SEO-loaded content that is too clunky for people to read. Google also penalizes such 'keyword loading' in blogs,

The advice I always give to companies is: unless you're passionate about what you do, don't bother blogging, as you'll end up doing more harm than good.

Social networking offers another way for you to keep your site's users updated on what's happening, without them having to visit your site daily.


This is true, but a blog can achieve the same thing, with the benefit that people don't have to leave your site in order to engage with you. Off-site engagement results in reduced opportunities for ushering folk into the… groan… 'sales funnel'.

FB's another way to stay in touch with your site's users.

I'd say this is a better use for FB than using it as a means to update users


FB also offers the opportunity for you to get feedback from your customers

It does, but again, blog comments perform the same function, and can do so as part of a company's site, which is where you want customers to be.

i dont know sean....i use facebook massively and it really does work for me.

almost every event i book in for is marketed through facebook, my stockists are on facebook, i have my own shop on facebook, i manage my fan updates there as well as on the website.

ive used it for limited market research, promotion of my other online shops, showcasing my work and general chat.

i have to admit though, im sorely lacking in the twitter and blog arena- part of this is having mastered the technology, and that is mostly to do with lack of time to sit down and just get on with it! ive mastered the rss feeds from my folksy/fanpage/personal page so im sure i can now apply it to other sites.


x

Sophie - can I ask how you find the FB shop? I added the app to our FB page but I've never heard of anyone sell anything via it. Admittedly we only have a few products on it.

This is true, but a blog can achieve the same thing, with the benefit that people don't have to leave your site in order to engage with you. Off-site engagement results in reduced opportunities for ushering folk into the… groan… 'sales funnel'.

I'd say this is a better use for FB than using it as a means to update users

It does, but again, blog comments perform the same function, and can do so as part of a company's site, which is where you want customers to be.

You're assuming that everyone checks your site daily in case you update it & any time they spend on facebook/twitter is time they would've been spending on your website. That's likely not to be the case.

If you don't engage people off-site, you're missing an opportunity. It shouldn't be seen as an alternative to a blog, it's an addition to one & it's to help funnel traffic towards it. Sometimes it's easier for some people to leave a comment on facebook, or do an @reply on twitter, when they're already using those sites, they're often less likely to comment on a blog.

You aren't taking people away from your site & sending them to facebook & twitter, you should be aiming for the opposite.

i dont know sean....i use facebook massively and it really does work for me.


Hi Sophie,

That's interesting.

I see you get great visibility on Google for 'sheffield millinery' for your website, but not for your Facebook presence. Yet your website seems to have no store on it.

Does this mean Facebook the only place your customers can buy online? if so, it would be better on your website to point people directly to your Facebook Store page, and rename this link 'Store', instead of 'Facebook'.

And as for blogging, have a look at Posterous, which allows you to upload any kind of content via email. It's the easiest (and best) blogging solution for the time-poor.

Have a look at this Posterous site, which belongs to a fashion label http://mytribefashion.posterous.com

You're assuming that everyone checks your site daily in case you update it & any time they spend on facebook/twitter is time they would've been spending on your website. That's likely not to be the case.

If you don't engage people off-site, you're missing an opportunity. It shouldn't be seen as an alternative to a blog, it's an addition to one & it's to help funnel traffic towards it. Sometimes it's easier for some people to leave a comment on facebook, or do an @reply on twitter, when they're already using those sites, they're often less likely to comment on a blog.

You aren't taking people away from your site & sending them to facebook & twitter, you should be aiming for the opposite.

You're right in saying blogs are not a replacement for social media activities, and I wasn't suggesting they ought to be, as that would effectively cap the potential of your online strategy. Rather, I'm saying a blog ought to be the hub of such a strategy.

If a blog is of value to its target audience then people will check it daily if it it's updated daily, usually through RSS.

And because blogposts can be fed straight into FB and Twitter, this can pull in people to your blog who, like you say, use these social media sites heavily.

In this way, people can be driven to your blog, with the aim that this becomes the focal point of your community building, through your content and people's comments.

It's better to have your customers/clients/fans communicating with you and one another on a blog embedded into your website, where your products and services are on display, and where you can soft sell / soft up-sell.

Twitter can also be used to recycle blogposts (as long as they are slightly rewritten) because only between 15-20% of your followers will ever see what you're posting.

It costs you a few followers when people read repeat posts, but the benefits of increased exposure massively outweigh this.

My strategy is to use FB and Twitter to build human relationships, and to convert these into business relationships through a blog, which is allied to strategies including thought leadership (white papers) and high-value ebooks (both of which can be generated from repurposing blog content).

Sophie - can I ask how you find the FB shop? I added the app to our FB page but I've never heard of anyone sell anything via it. Admittedly we only have a few products on it.

urm, mixed if im honest- i have only had one sale.

one thing to check is that your profile language is set to english uk...otherwise it wont be searchable as i found out the other week when i searched for fascinators to check out the competition! ;)

however, from the feedback on the folksy forums, jewellery sellers are getting quite a lot of trade through their facebook shops and they are definitely working for them.

it is still in beta and fairly basic by all accounts in terms of being a selling tool, but i figured as it was free and i wasnt paying commission as i do everywhere else i sell (stall fees for face to face or online) it was worth a punt.

i use it more for promotion to boost my fans as i offer a 10% discount to all fans.

it also acts as my current stock shortlist for customers too as not everything is listed on my other online sources due to the commission aspect. plus as i only do one off and have hundreds of examples of my work, it does mean they have a better idea of what they can have 'off the peg' so to speak.

hope this helps,

x

Hi Sophie,

That's interesting.

I see you get great visibility on Google for 'sheffield millinery' for your website, but not for your Facebook presence. Yet your website seems to have no store on it.

Does this mean Facebook the only place your customers can buy online? if so, it would be better on your website to point people directly to your Facebook Store page, and rename this link 'Store', instead of 'Facebook'.


sean, its totally down to lack of planning on my part and not understanding enough about the technology i was using before throwing myself in head first im afraid- i have definitely lived and learnt! lol

however, if you google Imogen's Imagination, i manage to quite successfully take up the first page and a bit along with suggested searches.

the website is massively flawed on several counts:
1) lack of space and ability to be able to upload workable, manageable albums
2) NO SHOP!!!!
3) limited design features

that said- i do like the design of it, and the feedback i have had is that it is clear, clean and easy to navigate.

your hint about linking the FB page as a shop is a change that will be made after i finish posting this! thank you, sometimes the simplest ideas are the easiest...and most easy to miss when youre so involved.

i do sell at vintage/wedding/craft fairs which are all included in the website and facebook pages....but i also have a shop on folksy and am in the process of setting one up on frooly (linfo in my signature). i also have a few stockists dotted over the country who are linked into the website and facebook pages.

i have a couple of options re the shop for the website but as yet i dont know which is the best to take:
1) upgrade from the free version of moonfruit through which the site is hosted
2) properly explore the free webstore that i have registered for and get on with it
3) re-do the whole website.

i am sorely lacking in the 3 clicks department and i have no real way of managing my conversions from a visit to the website to becoming sales.

i also know that the front page desperately needs some attention as google is showing that huge amount of my traffic hits the front page and never gets any further....or gets to the gallery and then stops. :(

thank you for the blog links- thats really useful. my only fear is getting ahead of myself and promoting myself through that when really the website is not up to sratch. i dont want to put people off with a first impression for them to never return again.

i have a massive list of promotional jobs that need attention, however (excuses, excuses! lol) im in the middle of silly season for weddings and race days so i dont have a free weekend until august bank holiday, i dont have any leave free until mid july....and in between im getting custom orders and online sales on a daily basis whilst trying to fit in a full time job! :o

x

Time, time time. It's always the biggest enemy (well, besides the Daily Mail: http://twurl.nl/4csh5h). Still, good to be busy in these trying times.

One thing that you might want to add to your ever-growing list is the creation of SEO'd resource pages for your site. These would give general advice about hats -- for men; for women; for weddings; materials; colours matching skin tones; for children, etc.

The idea is that when people do generic searches on subjects such as 'hats for men', 'hats for weddings;, etc, your site pops up near the top of Google, and you then serve up the kind of content searchers are looking for.

A percentage of this organic traffic may then go on to become customers (assuming you don't have to personally measure all your customers for a hat; they could be located anywhere worldwide).

Of course, what you really need is to become Boy George's milliner. He would single-handedly fuel a retirement fund for you. he'd be difficult to please though, I'd imagine.

Can you stop posting link that have been shorted URLs please as I like to see where I am ending up at without first clicking on it.

Er, sure.

The full, information-rich, link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI

Don't you mean the full unmeasured traffic link?




Problems with URL shortners are...

a) I can't see where the URL is taking me before I click on it.
b) There is a middle man and the URL creator tracking the link
c) If the middle man breaks down then all the links don't work.

I've read Sheffield Forum T&C and it says links with tracking variables are not allowed.

Given that most service providers of URL shortners offer analytics to monitor the traffic and given that you can make unique URL you probably breaking SF T&C.

In any case, there is absolutely no need to shorten URLs on forums.

Read full story on why URL Shortners are evil.
http://joshua.schachter.org/2009/04/on-url-shorteners.html

Thanks for taking the time to explain this, John.

Time, time time. It's always the biggest enemy (well, besides the Daily Mail: http://twurl.nl/4csh5h). Still, good to be busy in these trying times.

One thing that you might want to add to your ever-growing list is the creation of SEO'd resource pages for your site. These would give general advice about hats -- for men; for women; for weddings; materials; colours matching skin tones; for children, etc.

The idea is that when people do generic searches on subjects such as 'hats for men', 'hats for weddings;, etc, your site pops up near the top of Google, and you then serve up the kind of content searchers are looking for.

A percentage of this organic traffic may then go on to become customers (assuming you don't have to personally measure all your customers for a hat; they could be located anywhere worldwide).

Of course, what you really need is to become Boy George's milliner. He would single-handedly fuel a retirement fund for you. he'd be difficult to please though, I'd imagine.

i shall certainly add these suggestions to the ever growing to do list, thank you.....after the fair i did yesterday ive got another 2 custom orders which have been emailed over night! lol

as for boy george, unfortunately that rather wonderful stephen jones already has that customer wrapped round his little finger :(


x

urm, mixed if im honest- i have only had one sale.

one thing to check is that your profile language is set to english uk...otherwise it wont be searchable as i found out the other week when i searched for fascinators to check out the competition! ;)

however, from the feedback on the folksy forums, jewellery sellers are getting quite a lot of trade through their facebook shops and they are definitely working for them.

it is still in beta and fairly basic by all accounts in terms of being a selling tool, but i figured as it was free and i wasnt paying commission as i do everywhere else i sell (stall fees for face to face or online) it was worth a punt.

i use it more for promotion to boost my fans as i offer a 10% discount to all fans.

it also acts as my current stock shortlist for customers too as not everything is listed on my other online sources due to the commission aspect. plus as i only do one off and have hundreds of examples of my work, it does mean they have a better idea of what they can have 'off the peg' so to speak.

hope this helps,

x

Thanks - that's useful. I only added a handful of products to ours when I was playing with it a few months ago. It seems to have slightly more features now - I especially like the discount for fans / likers option, which either wasn't there before, or I missed it!

I'm considering doing a thing like woot! when we get new stock in - where we offer a limited quantity of them at a much lower price than usual. I'm not sure if we have enough fans for it to work very well though, but got to be worth a try?

Thanks - that's useful. I only added a handful of products to ours when I was playing with it a few months ago. It seems to have slightly more features now - I especially like the discount for fans / likers option, which either wasn't there before, or I missed it!

I'm considering doing a thing like woot! when we get new stock in - where we offer a limited quantity of them at a much lower price than usual. I'm not sure if we have enough fans for it to work very well though, but got to be worth a try?

glad it helped. :)

have you considered frooly? its a locally based online marketplace. my shop is a work in progress on there....next sundays job! lol

i dont know anything about woot! so i will go a research that now- thanks :)


x

ive just seen this article on the bbc's website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11450923

makes for interesting reading as a small business....and a consumer! :0


x

ive just seen this article on the bbc's website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11450923

makes for interesting reading as a small business....and a consumer! :0

x

After reading that it reminds me of google alert.

This can be very powerful tool in finding when people mention you or even to find new business and creating valid backlink to your site if you harness it correctly: http://www.google.com/alerts

Let me know if you can't see how this can help you find business then I'll write up an example later on when I have a little more time.

This can be very powerful tool in finding when people mention you or even to find new business and creating valid backlink to your site if you harness it correctly: http://www.google.com/alerts

hmmm, that does sound interesting.

so technically i could just put in my business name as the search term and get bulletins emailed to me when people serach for me?

but i have to admit...you lost me at backlink! thats when it started to get a little technical! lol :blush:

i will have a nosy and see if i cant find a bit of reading in between.

thank you :)

x

Not quite. It works by carrying out a pre-determined Google search and emailing you the results. I use it to keep an eye on topics of interest like "bunny rabbit costumes" (http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22bunny+rabbit+costumes%22) or homemade+mace+spray (http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=home%2Bmade%2Bmace%2Bspray#hl=en&sa=X&ei=3Tm3TMKtNIm9jAe40YyECg&ved=0CBQQBSgA&q=homemade%2Bmace%2Bspray&spell=1&fp=a89b5f94480fbeba) or Bavarian cannibal (http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=home%2Bmade%2Bmace%2Bspray#hl=en&expIds=17259,24683,26637&xhr=t&q=bavarian+cannibal&cp=8&pf=p&sclient=psy&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=bavarian+cannibal&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=a89b5f94480fbeba).

I'm also a bit foxed at the backlinks.

tony... i honestly dont know if im brave enough to click on your links! :help:

hmm, definitely need to do some reading on this as im stumped.


x

This is really insightful. The first thing i was told for starting up a business is getting the marketing right- now its all about the new media- twitter facebook web 2.0 is apparently more effective than traditional mediums when targeting students and youths!

i was EMEA business manager for Penton Media(USA) over there its part of the business world more than here - like gun crime etc it will catch up!!

a lot of business owners see it as time spent with no roi - in recession this is even more relevant to their mindset

im just starting a business to tackle advertising sme's business & to irradicate scam selling & good sales people from thomson,yell etc sellling ads to companies that dont need or will benefit from them

I have no sales target to achieve so my agenda is different to the sales people

craig