Nevertheless, the 2011 State of Digital Marketing Report revealed that more than 50% of companies closed leads via social media channels. It also disclosed that, whilst the bulk of digital marketing budgets are spent on PPC followed by SEO, most brands have increased their budgets for social media marketing for 2012. But what is the value of this relatively new medium? The list below briefly outlines why engaging with customers through social medial channels can drive improved revenue and/ or brand preference.

1. It increases visibility at a low cost
Buying advertising space on traditional channels such as print, television and radio is expensive, especially relative to the cost of setting up social media pages. Corporate websites are generally stagnant compared to blogs and social media pages. Social media pages, on the other hand, have the potential to generate multiple brand impressions at a very low cost.

2. Customer service is quicker and easier
Customer service teams can listen out for customer issues online, and resolve them. Starbucks takes this a step further by asking its online communities for suggestions on how to improve its business, and then discusses the ideas on the site where others can see. It’s generally good practice for companies’ social media staff to respond to tweets and wall posts.

3. It grows your online community
Increasing a brand’s Twitter following and Facebook fan base is the cornerstone of most social media marketing strategies. This is because it ensures sizeable audiences when the brand promotes new products, services and promotions. Unlike traditional marketing channels, social media generally allows for two-way conversations between the brand and its customers. What’s more, some social media pages are used as forums by loyal customers.

4. It increases organic search rankings
In general, if a brand has a large online community, this means higher levels of conversation about the brand. This gradually leads to more traffic to the brand’s site, more mentions and more links. The cumulative effect is that the brand’s organic search rankings gradually improve. For more information on R.O.I. Media’s social marketing services, click here.

5. It can increase your company’s trustworthiness and goodwill
In a study conducted by Ogilvy and Chat Threads in 2011, findings revealed that social content can change a brand’s image positively. This finding was coupled with a recommendation that brands should incorporate social content into their branding programs and track perception metrics. By doing this, PR managers can also get early warnings of potential PR disasters before they hit mainstream media.

6. It helps the brand to understand the target market better
Generally, the bigger a brand’s social media audience is, the higher the level of conversation. By listening first, a company can be better prepared to join online conversations and be more likeable to its audience.

7. The future is online
There’s already research which suggests that Generation Y (born between 1976 and 1995) is increasingly using social media to research products, find deals and evaluate peer reviews prior to making purchase decisions. The iGeneration (born after 1995) is predicted to be even more highly connected than past generations. Simply put, marketers need an online social presence, because that’s where there customers are and will be.

8. It increases the chances of going viral
Customers may like the content you post for various reasons. Perhaps it’s hilarious, unbelievable, deeply emotional, agrees with their worldview or makes them stop and think. Whatever the reason, social sharing buttons and embed codes prompt people to share content with their circles. Some campaigns even offer incentives for people to share.

Speak to anyone who works in marketing today, and they’ll very likely agree that social media is simply essential at this stage. Contact R.O.I. Media today and find out how we can apply our industry expertise to your expanding brand needs.

There is a quote that goes like this – “Numbers don’t lie”. But, when it comes to your Facebook Fan page, the number of fans does not necessary tell you the truth about how successful your social media marketing campaign is.

When a company first decides to set up a presence on Facebook, they are usually all about the numbers. Their main request is – Get me lots of Facebook fans! There are many companies whose sole business is to sell you Facebook fans – for a fee you can get a set number of fans liking your page. However, as good as the numbers look, it’s what you do with these numbers that counts.

A page may have 10,000 fans but if the page has a low interaction rate; is this a successful social media campaign? I have always said … social media is about building communities. This means building a community of people who are genuine fans of the brand and who, in turn, will become unofficial ambassadors for the brand through recommendations to their social circles.

So how do you build a Community of Genuine Fans?

1. Interaction – There is nothing worse than a company that uses their Facebook page to update us with boring posts on their products and services. Telling your customers how great your company is or what products you have to offer is hardly going to get you many responses. Think outside the box! Find cool articles and images around your industry. For example – if you are a clothing store – post interesting links about the fashion industry, pics of new fashion trends and relate them to your business. These types of responses have a much better interaction level as people will comment of photos or give their opinion of an article if it was interesting.

2. Reward Fans – Studies have shown that people make a large part of their shopping decisions based on referrals/advice from friends and family. Loyal fans of a brand will end up recommending you to other people. This type of advertising has a high conversion rate, as people trust recommendations that come from friends above traditional advertising. So how do you get loyal fans? – make them feel special. Run promotions for fans where they can get a certain percentage off when they make a purchase. Send free samples of your product to fans who refer others to your page.

3. Create a Hype – Nothing creates hype like a great competition! Look at Brutal Fruit’s Facebook page – they received such hype when they decided to bring Kim Kardashian down to South Africa to launch their new Cheeky Cranberry flavour. Fans of the page could enter to win an invite to an exclusive dinner and, through the hype, their fan base grew extensively. Whilst you may not be able to have an international superstar as your brand ambassador, giving away cool prizes is a great way to build hype and give your fan page a viral element.

4. Talk to your Fans – A fan page is a great place to get honest and free consumer research. Use the poll feature to find out what people think of a particular service or product you offer, what could be improved etc. Also, make sure you respond to fan questions and comments in a timely manner. As a social media marketer it is a must to have a Smartphone – setup alerts for your Facebook account so you can receive notifications when someone writes on the wall. This means you can reply to fans anytime, anywhere. People appreciate a prompt response and it shows that there is a real person behind the page and not some automated robot.

If you are running a Facebook fan page, you really need to take the time to interact with your fans as well as give them interesting, relevant information that will keep them coming back to the page. Your fans have the potential to become your biggest referrers of new business, so stop focusing solely on the numbers and start building a community today!

Not much has been said about this revolutionary browser yet, primarily because of the invite-only phase. However, some of the team at ROI Media were given the opportunity to try the browser out and I was one such lucky individual! I thought it quite apt that at a SEO company would probably be the best judge of any browser given the frequency at which we use the Internet i.e. 24/7.

Overall the browser performed well, as anything would with a Chrome back end. With only 1 crash in 2 weeks total use, it’s even outperforming Chrome itself! The tab sliding animation just seems a little less smooth than Chrome though. Other than that there’s not much performance-wise where RockMelt falls short, even for limited bandwidth users.

In essence the browser brings the power of 2 major social media platforms to your fingertips… and more. You’ll be able to update and tweet to your heart’s content while browsing your favorite blogs without actually having to visit the sites themselves. Something may be said about how this may help better productivity in the office because now web-recreation is far less distracting (and time consuming) because the important information is readily available.

If you have the website (or browser itself) open at the moment, I’ll provide a quick run down of some of the functionality:

To the left you have all your online Facebook friends as they would appear in the chat functionality associated with the site. Also keep in mind that you’re always connected to Facebook when you open RockMelt, so you will permanently be seen as online when you’re browsing. By clicking one of your friends’ portraits it’ll open up a chat box so that you can have word or 2 with them. You can also select certain select friends to appear on the sidebar. At the very top of the list is your own profile picture and once clicked enables you to appear offline on Facebook, update your status and Tweet via your Twitter account. This is perhaps the most remarkable ease-of-use functionality I’ve ever seen in a Social Media application.

At the top you have the usual Chrome tabs and the tools menu you may be familiar with has shifted to the left and now sits in the very top corner. Bookmarks have also stayed the same as with Chrome and serve their purpose with one distinct difference, they’ll remain the same regardless of the PC you’re on. You have your standard back and forward buttons with the accompanying address bar. Alongside the address bar however is a ‘Share’ button that does just that. What to share the URL of the page you’re currently on? No problem! Alternatively you can also click and drag a link on the page you’re viewing into a Twitter or Facebook block that will appear below the ‘Share’ Button. Neat huh?! There is also a search bar many will be familiar with, this one is a little unique though in that the results now appear in a box of their own and you can then select a result from there and it will appear in your current tab (results all from Google.com and not region-specific).

To the right was the most awesome functionality of the browser, at least for my use. By default the browser adds Facebook and Twitter feeds. Customized to look exactly like the real deal, all new tweets and Facebook updates will appear within these feeds and also display a count of how many you’ve missed while you’ve been doing actual work. In addition to the defaults you’ll be able to add almost every RSS feed, Youtube Channel and Chrome extension to this sidebar giving you instant access to an update from your favorite place on the web. The coolest feature of all is that if you having trouble picking which feeds to add, RockMelt will automatically suggest ideas based on websites you visit!

Invites are shared via Facebook and there’s been word of only a 3-day waiting period on an invite applied for from the RockMelt site itself. Either way, rest assured, it won’t be long before you too can embrace the social media browser and the power within.

In October 2009 Google began to include a Twitter feed in its search results. In October Bing declared their love of Facebook by collaborating in order to personalise search results. What this means is that your individual search experience could be based on the Likes of your Facebook friends. These days social networks have a huge sphere of influence in a person’s life. People make decisions to buy products based on the opinions of their peers. This is why user reviews have worked so well on sites like Amazon. com.

The Difference between a referral from a Search Engine versus a Social Network

Visitors that come via search engines at times have a vague idea of what they are looking for. For example, a user is looking for a camera and visits your site as it is the most appealing in the search results. In contrast, social networks make people aware of information and websites they may have not known of before. Referral traffic from social networks is usually people who have never come across your site before, but were referred by someone they trust on their social network.

Social search is revolutionising web search . Already people depend on their social circle for opinions on what to buy, where to go etc. The rise of social search will lead to more qualified traffic coming to your site. These are people who have been referred by their social circles and are therefore more likely to buy into your product or service.

What does this mean for companies with an online presence?

You need to make sure your company has a presence on the main social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Make sure you are investing time and resources into keeping theses social network profiles up to date and engaging with your customers.

R.O.I Media provides a wide range of social media marketing services. These include Facebook, Twitter and YouTube packages.

Contact us today and find out how we can help you with your social media marketing, increase your online presence and boost your SEO.

A few tips on Social Media:

Identify audience – Find out who they are, what they do, the type of sites they visit etc. This will give you a better idea of which social media platforms you are going to target. For example if your target market are teenagers, then Facebook would be a good option.

Set out your goals – Why are you engaging in a particular social media platform?

-          Increase brand awareness

-          Strengthen customer relations

-          Drive traffic to your company website

-          Promote products/services you have to offer

A few points to remember:

1.      There is no point having social content if nobody can find it. Make sure you optimise your content. E.g. If your company has a blog, make sure its ranking on the search engines. This can be done through internal linking of your primary keywords. If you have released a viral video on You Tube, make sure there is a link to it from your website.

2.      Connect your social media profiles to each other – By linking all these platforms you will send users from one site to another.

3.      Use social media to build a targeted community that you can market to. Social media is all about people with shared interests coming together online and sharing information, ideas and resources.

4.      Social media is very useful for online reputation management – It is an instant response, engaging with the customer in their on space on a platform they are comfortable in.

Search engine optimisation and social media marketing are now inseparable. You just need to make sure you have a clear strategy of how to incorporate one into the other. When executed seamlessly you can increase traffic as well as actively engage your target market and improve customer relations.

For more information on social media and SEO give ROI Media a call today.  We offer services ranging from online business development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to Pay Per Click (PPC).