Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Social Media?
Social Media can be defined as web based or mobile based technologies that are built to exchange user-generated content using scalable platforms. These platforms are normally called social media networks. Examples of these are Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc.

2. What is Social Media Marketing?
Social Media Marketing is an addition to the standard marketing plan which employs the use of social media networks. The purpose of it is to offer customers and potential customers another line of communication with the company. It allows for better reputation management, a channel for recruitment of customers and partners, helps gain competitive insight and is also another channel to offer customer support.

3. What is the difference between Social Media Marketing and Social Media Optimization?
Both are very similar however Social Media Optimization is a sub-set of Social Media Marketing. Social Media Marketing calls for active participation and promotion of a business’s social media presence while Social Media Optimization concentrates on the social media presence itself and how a business can improve communication and engagement with its users.

4. Why should I pay attention to Social Media?
Social media is one of the fastest growing mediums of communication today. People are spending increasing amounts of time on social media networks and are paying less attention to other classic advertising mediums like TV, radio, newspaper etc. Businesses cannot ignore this shift in user interest as it affects almost every business. Social media is here to stay and isn’t a passing trend. Businesses can’t afford to bury their heads in the sand and hope that nothing happens. Progressive businesses are already allocating a sizable amount of their marketing budget just to grab the attention of social media users. They do this because the ROI is still very good.

5. I’ve heard that people only use it to get website visitors?
This might have been the case a couple of years ago when the full impact of social media wasn’t fully obvious. Webmasters used to try to make interesting posts to get users to click on to their site and left it at that. Things have since. Social media has now become a platform in its own right and commands much more respect. Many sites are even sending visitors to social media networks instead.

6. What can I get from social media?
Put very simply, you can potentially get a huge audience of potential customers listening to your “corporate voice” for very little capital outlay IF your social media campaign is run correctly. You can potentially develop good customers and loyal followers for very little cost IF your social media campaign is run correctly. It all boils down to this. The process isn’t easy however it pays off very well in the medium to long term. Research has indicated that companies that have made the most in-roads into social media enjoyed the best returns while those that didn’t slowly saw their profit margins dry up.

7. How long do social media results last?
Social media campaigns have a set length however corporate social media presence and engagement points must be maintained indefinitely. It would be similar to keeping your customer service department indefinitely. It wouldn’t be wise to shut it down right? The same way that a business’s social media presence up and running even if there isn’t a campaign running that the moment.

8. Is it possible to make money of social media?
The money in social media isn’t in the direct traffic or advertising. The money is in building a social media presence and engagement point for your customers. Customers like being engaged by businesses in a no-pressure friendly environment. If you are nice to them, offer them a good experience then it is more likely that they will buy from you and even spread the word to others.

9. What is the biggest social media site now?
The biggest social media site now is Facebook. It has over 750 million active users and 50% of these people log in everyday. LinkedIn just became the second largest social media site with 113 million members also with over 50% of users login in daily. Twitter currently has 106 million users with an average of over 460,000 new twitter accounts being created every day.

10. Do most businesses use all the social media networks?
The truth is that many businesses are slow to pick up on social media. Some businesses think that it is a passing phase while others are afraid of venturing into something that they don’t know. This is all while social media is alive and well. Users might even have started to talk about them in social media networks and the company has no outlet to offer reputation management activities.

11. Should I spend time to develop social media in-house? How much time should I allocate?
Developing a corporate social media presence in-house is certainly something that can be done successfully. Larger companies like Coke and Hennessy are using internal resources to run most of their campaigns. It however is time consuming and stressful for smaller businesses to run their social media presence in-house. The majority of smaller companies outsource social media to social media consultancies like us and inform us of marketing plans so we can integrate it into their social media platforms.

12. What are the usual costs involved and fee structure if I choose to outsource?
Please refer to our Packages page.

13. How do I measure the ROI of social media?
It’s quite easy. Most businesses simple ask their clients why they decided to choose their products. At the end of the month the information can be collected and you’ll be able to see which marketing technique got the most “bites”. There are other more technical ways to measure which we will call “Clicks, Redirects and Closes”. Each of these measure the movement of users around your web space but it is getting technical. We are almost certain that of all the different marketing platforms available today, social marketing will offer the best ROI. We have our tools to measure the dollars that you’ve spent on social media versus the revenue that you receive.

14. What if I want to change consultants?
Unlike some other consultants we have absolutely no problem with this. All our clients are free to move to other consultants if they find a better deal elsewhere. We are however quite sure that most clients will come back to us. We only ask that our clients allow us to finish the current campaign. A half-done campaign reflects badly on us and also the client.