Outreach potential with Twitter, blogs, websites, Facebook, and YouTube.
We all want to generate more leads and more sales. Isn’t that a key function of your Internet Marketing Plan?
We keep hearing about many different online marketing tools and how all these different companies use social media, websites, blogs, etc. to get a huge following and tons of sales.
Many of our clients wonder … where are the big sales? How do we take advantage of social networks to generate great sales? Should we have one more website?
All valid questions, thoughts and concerns.
By looking at different approaches to online marketing, we also assess the outreach potential for our clients. Many come to us and say, “We’ve seen this from Twitter. I think I want Twitter because I heard company XYZ (a Fortune 500 company) uses Twitter and sold $ x last month.”
As a consultant to them, our first round of questions obviously comes to them with a focus on their website and their current online marketing presence. How strong is it?
Then we jump to questions about how tech savvy they (and their staff) are.
And finally, we meet the budget. Sure, you can aim for the moon (like these huge Fortune 500 companies), but not on a $ 500-a-month budget.
Obviously, we need to have a certain perspective and focus.
Below we describe our current position regarding disclosure in 5 different online marketing tools.
(And obviously, technology changes very quickly, as does our opinion of where these different tools are located. Yes, this has happened in the past and we continually educate / update our clients on what is best for their situation.)
Internet Marketing Tools: Which One Offers The Best Reach For A Small And Medium Business?
Before we get a lot of negative feedback on this post, we need to clear things up first. As far as we know, Google’s search engine still holds 65% of all search volume. Bing / Yahoo occupy about 30% combined. And the rest of the search engines (aol, ask, etc.) search for the remaining 5% or so.
Also, we fully understand that some tools provide more of a “referral” type of service.
We’ve taken all of these different things into account as we developed this blog post. And we realize that things will or may change over time. However, all of these tools can become part of your internet marketing plan.
Okay, let’s move on to the rest of the post.
In this article, we have analyzed 5 different tools; Websites, Bloggs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Each of these tools has its own strengths and weaknesses. Then let’s get started.
- Websites: Overall, websites are probably the most effective outreach tool companies have at their disposal. Most of the companies have already developed a website and their real problem is that they need the website optimized for search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.). In our book, the website is usually the place where a business starts. After all, it allows the business to be completely out of the way while having a strong search engine presence.
- Blogging: Blogs appear in second place in our book. Blogging has some really positive aspects to it. For example, the appearance of the site can be adjusted quickly and easily. Additionally, a business can quickly use the integrated CMS (content management system) to easily make changes, add content, or edit posts on the site. This tool allows a company to be very functional and flexible. The only reason it slides into No. 2 (versus the tie at # 1) is that there may be a bit more practical applications with a blog. What we are specifically thinking about is the constant desire / need to add relevant content 2-3 times a week to the site.
- Twitter: Next, we take a look at Twitter. And the general impression of Twitter (at the present time and depending on your business model) is that you may want to wait on Twitter until you have some of the other tools blocked and effectively attract leads for your business. In a recent book on Twitter (yes, we read about everything in our hands), the author compares this tool to the feeling of being on a beach full of people trying to spread their message. There are usually many conversations with Twitter and standing out will be the real key. Recently, HubSpot (http://www.hubspot.com) reported in an online webinar that the average link from online social media has a lifespan of 3 hours. What this means is that you would need to tweet 3-5 times a day to keep your message up to date and spread. In defense of Twitter, there are different tools that you can use that will help you manage your tweets and stay on top of your conversation much more effectively and efficiently. However, again, these tools require you to be familiar with a computer and to use it consistently.
- Facebook is the next tool that we identify. All in all, Facebook has a slightly higher level of reach than Twitter. If I had to use Facebook alone. However, if you use Facebook in conjunction with your website and your previous customers, then the potential for reach increases by damage. When you use Facebook in conjunction with your website, it can really go viral quickly. And when your customers “like” that action appears on your customers’ friend pages. Therefore, an excellent reference for your business.
- Youtube: Lastly, we look at YouTube. This is a great outreach tool. There are two reasons why this tool works so well for outreach. First, the YouTube video can be very keyword-relevant. This means that when a consumer searches for your products and services, they can find you on the first page of search results. How amazing is that! Second, the video itself is like a miniature sales pitch. What do you want the customer to do? Call? Ask them to call you on the video. Your phone will have some use.
In general, we consider websites and blogs to be the primary way for businesses to reach potential customers. The main focus would be to have a strong search engine presence and that will lead to more leads and more sales.
As a second-level implementation, we recommend YouTube and Facebook. YouTube will help your business gain exposure online and on the first page of search engines, while also acting as a sales tool. Facebook will help you grow through people you know and people who are your “friends.”
The third would be Twitter. While this tool is last on this list, rest assured that we believe that EVERYONE will end up with a Twitter account at some point in the future.
One of the best ways to implement some of these tools would be to group them together. For example, there are many Internet marketing companies They are starting to offer Facebook / Twitter packages. These packages include some tweets as well as some posts on the Facebook wall.
To see if your company is ready to implement some of these tools, please contact Jeff Hensiek at 866-503-7673, email or through our Internet Marketing Plan Proposal form.
Again, if you found any value with this post, please do post a comment. We appreciate it.
