Myths And Truths About Social Media

This is an interesting article as it speaks to some of the regular myths and silly nonsense that I see all the time. Often from those purporting to be "social media gurus".  So instead of me writing more of the same, here's someone else with the 'good oil'.

Starting with the first myth... which reminds us again what social media marketing is. In case you have not considered this - it is Inbound Marketing.

Here are the top 5 myths that your supervisor, manager, or CEO likely believes about social media, along with some strategies to enlighten them.

1.    Myth:  Social Media Is Free, Right?  

This is the most common fantasy about social media out there – that it is free, just because there is no cost to set up an account on social media.  This is a huge myth!  Establishing your business on one or more social media networks takes an investment of financial and human capital.

Truth:  It is true that social media marketing aka inbound marketing, costs less per lead than traditional outbound marketing.  According to Hubspot, social media costs an average of 60% less than traditional outbound marketing.  In order to leverage your efforts, make sure to connect your marketing strategies, traditional and social. Use your other marketing efforts to promote your social presence, and use your social presence to promote your traditional marketing efforts.

You can read the other myths here
http://kimgarst.com/myths-your-boss-may-believe-about-social-media-how-break-truth-them

What do you know about social media that turned out to be a myth? What do you think you know about social media that might still be a myth? And how do you separate the myths from the truth of social media? There is some great news and it is true. Find out the difference.

There are a great many benefits to using social media to keep your business relevant and visible where customers are looking for products and services.  If you'd like some help with that, give me a call on 0403 365 855 - Lindy


Related posts:
Many hands make lighter work of social media for local businesses
Here's how to save time and get good content for your business online
Inbound marketing the new old fashioned way to do business
Financial planners: Social Marketing the key to keeping business on the books
Business writing not just on the social media wall
What every business should know about social media

Getting Started Guide To Social Media

I see such a lot of stuff posted online about social media, how to do it, why you should be doing it and all of that stuff. Mostly it is a lot of the same thing over and over and many times the articles are written for people who are already understand the basics of social media.

In reality many who are using social media tools don't know the basics. Yes they may have a Twitter or Facebook account but they don't necessarily understand the underlying principles of how social media fits with a website, what makes a good website and how to create a social media strategy that marries offline activities - that marketing that you do all the time offline, with social media.

So I've compiled some articles from my Actionbites blog into an ebook you can download and read at your leisure.

Enjoy!

Download here

Facebook Introduces Global Pages

For those with an international business this will be good news. 

From Facebook:

"With this new structure, Facebook users will be directed to the best version of a Page based on the country those users are in, enabling them to see localized cover photos, profile photos, Page apps, milestones, "about" information, and news feed stories from Pages—all while remaining part of the global brand community. 

 

Each brand's Global Pages structure will include local Pages for specific markets (single- or multi-country regions) and a default Page for all other markets. More details on this new framework:

 

• One global brand identity. Users from all countries will see the same Page name (translated into their local language), fan count, and People Talking About This (PTAT). 
• One URL. Brands can promote a single URL in all off-Facebook campaigns, and users will be automatically directed to the best version of the Page for them. 
• Global insights. Admins of the main Page will see insights for all global users in one easy-to-view dashboard."

Hubspot thought this was important:

"Okay -- so what's the difference between a global marketer just setting up and customizing different Facebook Pages? In one word: centralization.3 Key Benefits of Global Pages

1. A Centralized Facebook Presence: No matter which version of the page a visitor gets routed to, all visitors will see the same page name (translated into their local language), fan count, and 'People Talking About This' counts.

1. A Single URL: Rather than having to promote a different page URL for each localized page, global brands will be able to promote one single URL in all of their marketing efforts to promote their Facebook presence, since page visitors will be automatically be redirected to the appropriate version of the Page based on their goegraphic information.

1. A Centralized Global Insights Dashboard: Rather than having to check the Facebook Insights for multiple pages, administrators of the main Global Page will be able to check Insights for all page variations in one centralized dashboard.

Read more:Here's what Hubspot had to say

Gary Vaynerchuk On The Thank You Economy

Gary Vaynerchuk is a wine merchant whose uptake of social media for marketing has been remarkable. Unlike so many, he is straight-up. no BS.

Here's what you need to really understand on how your business is going to be affected by this new economy. Get with it and learn how this works.

Online Content Can Be Used In Different Ways

Businesses need to be producing content - that's information - to use on the internet for your website, your blog, your social media networks and for other uses that are not online. Here are some ideas on re-purposing your content. Not sure about how to create content? Call me and let's chat. Lindy


View full image Content Repurposing Strategies

Travel And The Internet

Tuscany Italy. 

So I'm just back from a trip to Italy and I'll have a few things to post about this in the days to come.   For now, let me say that planning a trip like this involves a lot of research and slog to get things just right, study the areas, the places to stay and work through a list of 'must-haves' that I wanted.  This turned out to be much less painful than I might have expected.

Contrast this with attempting to plan a similar trip to the Hunter Valley and the experience would have been very, very different.

We sit here in this wonderful part of the world and we are wasting the chance to let the world know about it.

Time this got fixed. Tourists need to be able to find out what's worth seeing in a location or they will never go there. They need to be able to get around, they need to have access to excellent broadband and they need to be able to find what they need and have service when they need it.

The world looks at places like Tuscany and with good reason just want to go there and see it. To eat the food, and to just soak up being there. What's it got that the Hunter doesn't have? An attitude. One that we could cultivate too, but will take more than just thinking "she'll be right, mate".