We are All Relatives Finding Our Social Content

If the telescope is strong enough, you may just be looking at the back of your own head. Everything is relative - Einstein said that. We are all relatives - I said that.
Posted by Soma Social Marketing on Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Are you a Marketing Manager who needs to convince the Board that Social Media works?

From the Archives:

The following is a letter that we sent to a major insurance company all the way back in 2003, explaining some of the objections that they would hear from the board and pointing out some talking points that help explain Social Media to the management of their firm. Now while this was much more important back in 2013 as social media was much closer to the margins than it is now. 

This document is clearly a little dated, it holds up fairly well. Though in 2016, marketing managers  are much more receptive as to the value of social media, he fact is that there are major Namibian   brands are still unable to recognise the value in social media. 

In the past 3 years, Facebook's targeting abilities have grown much more sharp. While they have done away with some features, new features and insights allow companies to better reach their clients. This contrasts with developments in other fields of marketing. E-mail spam filters have become more sophisticated so people see less and less of the spam e-mails that companies send. Phones are smarter and so are users. Telephone and sms marketing has shown diminishing returns year after year. Newspaper advertising has gotten more expensive even in the competitive market as have print costs. Developments of technology for satellite providers and television manufacturers means that more and more consumers can simply avoid watching commercials at all. 

We are slowly moving towards a world where consumers will only see the marketing messages that they want to see. That's a world where not knowing your customer and where they spend their time, means not being able to market to them.

Parts of our letter from 2013. We have changed the name of the insurance company to Company X in order to respect their confidentiality:

It’s only for social updates

Social Marketing is a fantastic and cost effective way to increase brand recognition and positive sentiment. It’s a great way to increase employee morale and recruit new staff members, but Social Marketing is not just for social. It is for sales as well.

Peer to peer relationships are extremely important in the age of Social Marketing. Think about how you choose which movie you are going to see. You may see trailers or promos for five or six movies, but the single biggest motivation is the recommendation of a friend. Why? This is because you trust the judgement of your friends.

Many people choose holiday destinations based on this. The success of sites like Trip Advisor is due to these social interactions. It’s difficult to tell one lodge’s promises from another, most people will rather rely on what previous visitors had to say about the place. They have little incentive to lie, as opposed to those offering the services.

A successful Social Marketing campaign for Company X and associated brands recognises this reality. People trust the recommendations of their friends.

Cost too high

Social Marketing is a cost effective way to engage prospective clients. The way people search for services is changing. Previously people used the services that their parents did. They searched in the yellow pages, for example. People are using the internet and specifically social media to locate services these days.

Newspaper advertising is very expensive in Namibia. Dollar for dollar social media is the best value for money. For the cost of two full page adverts over the span of a month, a company can reach the same amount of people every single day. And unlike newspapers, we know just who saw your ad and we know who is interested. We can see exactly how many people we are reaching that we know, how they feel about our brand- we are- unlike a newspaper- having a conversation with our clients. Just by placing adverts that formerly went into newspapers on social media the company can cut costs significantly.

People will slander us or say bad things about us

Slander is slander- whether it occurs on Facebook or in a newspaper. The story about the University employee who harassed his ex-girlfriend on Facebook, and lost in court, set a precedent here. This means that someone who slanders you or your company will be just as liable for slander as if they said it in a public place.

People will be profane and it will be associated with our brand

While we encourage free expression, prolonged profanity cannot be tolerated. There is of course a marked difference between a client who is legitimately angry and wants to express themselves and a ‘troll’. The latter is there simply to abuse our time and goodwill and will never be satisfied, the former is a valued client whose business we wish to retain. Two different approaches will be taken depending upon the nature of the complainer.

This is why client complaints are a good thing for us. Clients who complain offer us an opportunity to resolve complaints in a very public way- there is no better advertisement for your brand than showing that Customer X takes care of their customer’s needs.

Trolls on the other hand, once identified, will simply be removed from the page.

People will not like our page

Soma Marketing has tried and trusted means of generating interest to social media pages. In the case of the Company X brands we are confident that there already exists sufficient public interest due to the high recognition factor.

It’s unprofessional and too personal for our brand

Most Fortune 500 companies have taken advantage of the immense opportunities offered by social media. Coca Cola, Disney and Toyota are some of the biggest companies on the planet but have put great effort in social marketing because they know it works.

This may have been a valid objection in 2008 but in 2013, those who are not using social media will be left behind in a changing world.

Visit Soma Marketing on our Facebook Page.

Poised For Take-Off - Make sure You Get Lift-Off

If you know of a business that is poised for Start-Up and Take-Off, kindly Comment on this post and let people know who...

Posted by Soma Marketing on Thursday, 25 February 2016

The New Emoji may make you sad :(

Facebook knows when you are naughty and when you are nice. They want to know when you are happy or when you are sad by tracking how you feel through the new emoji's. Happy or sad? Angry? Do you stay on Facebook longer when you are angry or when you are happy? Facebook wants to know. 

Do you think people buy some products when they are happy and others when they are sad? What about when they are in Love?

Facebook users get older

This year Facebook will experience the largest percentage share increase in the Ages 65+ demographic. During that same period, eMarketer data suggests that the Ages 18-24 demographic share will decrease slightly. Our dedicated team of digital marketing experts will help you help you meet your business objectives and goals. Call us on +264 81 621 0524

Not just for the Fortune 500

You don’t need to be a big name brand with a six figure marketing budget to make social media work. In fact, recent research has shown that small businesses are more likely to succeed within the social media arena than their supposedly all-powerful, ’jump in feet first’ corporate counterparts.

Small businesses are better able to catch strike the correct tone on social media as opposed to their larger counterparts. 

A few tips for increasing video engagement. Do you follow these steps?

From the Archives: Beware of Facebook's 'like farmers'

This story was first published in The Namibian way back in 2013 but still mostly holds true today.  http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=107686&page=archive-read#

ROB PARKER

Facebook has been undergoing some changes which users have likely noticed. The social media site are putting more and more adverts into your news feed and getting better at tailoring those adverts to user preferences.

Aside from these growing intrusions there is another phenomenon rising as Facebook implements new features: The Like Farm.
All Facebook users have seen these posts whether we recognise them or not. You will see a post that says, 'Bet you can't name a country without an 'A' in it', or a picture shows a man standing on the edge of a cliff and the caption instructs you to 'Type 'jump' in the comment box and see what happens'. Of course, nothing happens, it's a photo for crying out loud. You might have wasted your airtime on that one.
That post usually comes from a page that specialises in creating this type of engagement - A Like Farmer.
The images and memes are selected so that as many people will 'like' them as possible. They will play to your urge to solve a puzzle. The puzzle will be easy enough so that all can play, as the point is to generate comments and likes. Others will plea: ''Like' if you hate cancer.'  Or 'If I get enough 'likes', my dad will quit drugs.'
The creators of these Facebook pages first share the post among themselves. Creators of pages like this will typically also have a large number of followers each. Now the posts and pages are instantly visible to thousands of other people's news feeds. The people who then from there interact with that post then expose that option to their friends.
So where's the con? The people who started the Facebook page, having quickly acquired thousands of followers, sell it off, which was always their goal. Now an advertiser has all those names and Facebook addresses and will use them to try and sell you genuine items, or could inbox you attempting to con you.
When visiting the site Likey.net, which offers users an array of different spam-type groups to like. By all indications, these sites are very busy, and their respective Facebook pages are as well. What you actually may be doing when you click 'like' on one of these Facebook memes or images, is signing yourself up for future spam.
Like farms and like buying aren't entirely new concepts, Google dealt with similar problems with link farms during the search engines adolescence. Since Facebook developed the open graph and is busy distributing 'like' buttons all over the web, they have become more of an issue, and will probably continue to be unless Facebook decides to do fix it.
One solution Facebook are toying with is introducing a fee to send a private message to people who are not on your friend list and they are running pilot projects for the program now. Aside from the potential for massive revenue generation, the platform is also hoping to cut down on spam. While logistics or user resistance may derail those plans, the solution would render the Like Farm for commercial purposes seemingly obsolete.
'A statement on the Facebook website stated that imposing a financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage unwanted messages...'. The problem, as usual with Facebook is that the cure may prove to be worse than the disease as they are essentially promising to sell access to your inbox, leading to fears of being flooded with constant spam from big companies with the budgets to buy access.

Customer-centric, Value Driven Marketing

The words and pictures tell the story.

Posted by LoneWolf Econsulting Services on Tuesday, 23 February 2016

Facebook and the new ROI

Facebook does not work the way it did in the good old days. Facebook is now a paid platform.

Facebook went from being a private company to being a publicly traded company. This helped create real pressure on Facebook to deliver return on investment (ROI) for their investors. Many Wall Street investment banks such as Goldman Sachs became investors in Facebook. These guys want their money.

So the days when you could just put up a Facebook page and have decent content and you would see that page take off are largely behind us. Facebook's algorithm ensures that only a very small percentage of people who visit your page can actually see your posts. Less than one percent of them!

Staying social on social media

People in Namibia are on Facebook for a lot of  reasons, but very few people are on there to look at advertising. Facebook wants you to keep it social. Nobody wants to see boring sales copy in their newsfeed.  Keeps it local and create value for your followers.

Don't spam your followers. Create a conversation  with them.

Social media training in Windhoek

Soma  have trained many Namibian entrepreneurs through Esh-Ham consulting on how to make the most of social media for their enterprises. These trainings take place annually in Windhoek.  We also have assisted some of Namibias largest companies and government organizations create a strategy for their unique needs.

Digital Marketing in a Digital World

It is no exaggeration that you live in a digital world and from that perspective it is imperative that your business has...

Posted by Soma Marketing on Thursday, 18 February 2016

Target Your Marketing With Social Media

Social Media means that you can identify and reach those people who are the most likely to purchase your product. So, if you are a fictitious college offering I.T courses in Windhoek, you would want young people,  living in the capital to see your advertising. Our advertising would be designed specifically to appeal to that demographic.

If you get this part right, you are on your way to understanding how Social Media can work for you.

Social Media for Your Small Business

Social  Media for Your Small Business.

Social Media is an excellent way for companies with a marketing budget to reach the people who are the most likely to buy their products or services.

Your advertising  budget is finite. This means you have a certain amount of money to spend and no more than that. When you advertise with traditional media, such as a newspaper or the radio you are paying to advertise to everybody.

This means if you are advertising  courses for your college in formation technology,  you are paying the newspaper to advertise to grandmothers and English majors - not exactly your target market. We engage with your target demographic.

Follow Soma Social Marketing on Facebook. Click on the Link

Soma Social Marketing - Windhoek, Namibia

Innovative. Talented. Inspired. Dynamic. Critical. Honest. Eclectic. Temperamental. Crazy. Outlandish. Loud....

Posted by Soma Marketing on Monday, 25 January 2016