Social Media is all the rage, it is generating buzz online and in traditional media and every man and his canine is either a self-proclaimed “guru” or is ready to hand over their hard earned dollars to someone that claims to be one!
It wasn’t too long ago that we went through the same experience with websites and everyone who was able to “get you on the first page of Google” – oh wait that is still happening today! Sarcasm aside here are some facts and recommendations that will assist you in making sense of what to do next!
DISCOVER THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT REASONS TO GET EXCITED ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA
There is a lot to be excited about, and most small business owners, and professional services firms are getting in on the action; setting up Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter profiles and forming connections on LinkedIn.
Much of the excitement however is based on the fallacy that Social Media is free and easy, neither of which is true. However there is much to get excited about. Marketers who have been using Social Media have achieved some great results* for their brands:
- Increased Exposure – 85%
- Increased Traffic – 63%
- Qualified Leads – 52%
- Closing Business – 48%
*Ref: 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report – www.socialexaminer.com
Here are some more statistics that should make you excited if you are an SME business owner or a marketer working in the SME space…THE OPPORTUNITY is greater than your wildest dreams:
1. Between 40-65% of Australian SME’s still do not have a website.
The stats vary drastically depending on which research you subscribe to, however one can safely say that at least 50% still don’t have a web presence. An out of the 50% that are now online at least 90% have a website that is:
- Poorly designed
- Poorly written
- Doesn’t illustrate a substantial point of difference (read have a professional brand)
- Doesn’t provide the visitor with a substantial and explicit reason of why the prospective visitor / client should choose their product/solution/service!
- Does not have a call to action
- Is not correctly promoted or regularly maintained and updated.
So just by having a professionally designed website that does the above you will be in the top 5% of your industry segment!
Unfortunately in 95% of cases engaging with a “professional web design agency” will not solve many of the challenges above – for this you will need to work with a marketing specialist that assist you in answering these questions. Start by downloading qubePartners Check and you will see what we mean!
2. Almost 25% of Australia’s full-time workforce now has a LinkedIn profile and almost 11% of this 2 million-membership figure, reached this week, are small business owners.
This means that 89% do not have a profile. As someone that looks at hundreds of LinkedIn profiles every day and runs both free and paid “The Art & Science of LinkedIn” workshops on LinkedIn, the 11% who are on LinkedIn do not have profiles that are optimised to “doing business” online! To see how you can use LinkedIn to find, attract and retain customers, register for our Free 1 Hour Workshop
3. This week The Age Small Business ran another article “Social Media for Small Business:
Where to Start – what was amazing about it was the Comments by the readers and the result of the Survey, which highlight that many of the readers (professional white collar professionals and small business owners) still don’t understand how Social Media fits into their Marketing landscape and hence do not see the benefits! Another massive opportunity for those that gain this understanding now – ahead of their peers and competitors!
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