How does popularizing companies facebook or twitter page benefit

[Guest]

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[AlanMosley]

I have the same thoughts, there may be some businesses that benifit more then others from social but for a smash repairs for example, i cant really see Socila being of much use. I think you are better putting your efforts in to plain old SEO unless you have content that is likly to go viral.

If you have a funny ring tone for a mobile phone then social may get you a load of sales. If you are offereing a free quote on smash repairs for the Pine Springs area, then i think you are better offf putting you efforts into Local search.

I should also confess i know little abourt social, maybe others can show me to be wrong.

[donford]

I have to agree with both of you. I almost feel like social networking is a fade, which is propagated by tweens & teens and females in general. I will admit that it has done wonders for viral marketing campaigns and celebrities who want to interact with fans. For companies not directly related to these general demographics I can't see the benefit of spending much time investing in trying to make it work for you.

The reality is, the information you want the public to know about can be found on your website, why this must be regurgitated on all these social networking sites is beyond me.

[AlanMosley]

hear hear.

Search engines do look at Social hype as a ranking signal, but even then it is open to spam, there are sevices that will give you a thousand Likes for a few dollars. I cant see it being a big ranking signal and hard to seeing the effort being worth it when you can put that effort into gettting links to your web site.

I see you promote engineered rubber. I cant imagine Engineered rubber going viral, and even if it did, would the views of teens on facebook be a judge of where to get your engineered rubber?

[AlanMosley]

Just came accros this article

http://searchengineland.com/search-trumps-social-for-local-business-information-104667

[Ticket_King]

Our product is perfect for a acquiring a strong foothold in social media.  With that being said, as we went from 200 likes to 3000, our site rose in rank on Bing and Yahoo.  I keep reminding myself that Google may not use likes as part of their ranking algo., but Bing and Yahoo do.  Yes, I'm spending money to get some of those likes, but I'm also watching my pages go up in rank.  If your product isn't a good fit, I say focus on local seo. It took a big push to get those 3000 likes, and we don't have the local SEO opportunity, as we don't have a storefront, or physical address.

[AlanMosley]

I have read that likes are not permanent, that you need to keep them up, I don’t know if that’s true.

as you say your site is suited for social
I guess its horses for courses

[Guest]

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[Guest]

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[AlanMosley]

but are they are permanent signal for Search engines?

[jennita]

Think about a big brand like...let's say... Pepsi. It's a lot easier for them to reach Pepsi fans through Facebook than it is from their own site. It's easier to get someone to interact with them on Facebook since people are already there. Also it's not just teenagers on Facebook (like someone mentioned below), I mean how many times do we hear people talking about their mothers, aunts, uncles, dads, grandparents being on Facebook? All the time.

If you're a big brand (which it's mostly big brands that do this) then you're using social more to engage with the community than specifically for rankings. I mean if you're Pepsi, you're always going to rank first for pepsi keywords. But getting your brand in front of the face of your fans, in the place they already go... priceless!

[jennita]

I beg to differ that social networking is just a fad that's propagated by tweens teens and females. Sure when you look at Facebook data, the largest number of users are 18 to 25 year olds, but that's only like 20%, the other 60% are in other age groups, mainly older. And more than 50% of Facebook users globally are men. On the note that it's just a fad, social networking in general has been around for many years and I don't see it going away any time soon. Sure it's going to change and morph, but social networking is simply are part of our future.

If you're doing social right, you're not regurgitating the same thing that's on your website. You're building a community, engaging with your users and helping to grow your brand.

[EricaMcGillivray]

It's good to note that beyond being 50% of the population, women make 80% of the buying decisions and heavily influence another 5% of them. While this may not be true for every company (depending on what you're selling), we're a powerful marketshare that you can't afford to ignore.

[AlanMosley]

i knew donford's commment "tweens teens and females" was going to generate a responce.

I am suprised to find that more thebn 50% are male, I dare say I doubt that figure would hold true if you counted time spent on facebook.

[AlanMosley]

I remember someone from General motors saying that 80% of their marketing efforts were aimed at the women of the family. He said that a Man makes the decision what car to buy, but he makes that decision based on what car would least upset his wife. If they were marketing for males only they would only make V8 sports cars.

I quite cowardly distance myself from donfords comments

[AlanMosley]

I can see your point; I guess my comments were more from a purely long term SEO ranking perspective.
I guess like I said earlier it is horses for courses.
Me myself I don’t like in your face marketing, I like to find information about items I want to buy, not be presented with information about items someone wants to sell me. I even get annoyed when asked if I want fries with my order at MacDonald’s. While my other half will buy whatever is put in front of here, tell her it’s on special and she will buy 2.
I remember standing in line at a post office where they had stands full of impulse buying items like calendars, cups with slogans on that sort of thing. I watched the customers in front of me, 3 men 3 women. The 3 men stood still waiting, the 3 women could not stop looking at the items, 2 bought something and one of them bought almost everything presented to her. This may explain Erica’s stats on buying decisions, they male of the family just can’t keep up.

[KeriMorgret]

Or it might be just the type of activity that's more visible. I remember liveblogging a session at SMX or SES where the male sitting next to me played farmville for the ENTIRE session.

[donford]

I kinda knew it would stir the pot after I posted it, but that wasn't my intention. The "Fade" of Facebook, Twitter and at one time MySpace was initially propagated by youths (10-25), while it may not be pre-teens or just teens / youths using them now, I do give them most of the credit for making them the success they are now. This trend isn't unique to social networking; online gaming, cell phone apps, ring tones, all were once not cared about by the older demographics are now starting to become mainstream.

Again I wouldn't discount Social Networking as a viable tool for certain markets, I will not concede the point that it is valid for all markets.

As for the female comment.. that may have seemed off base, but I was only speaking from my demographic 35-40 year age group. Considering world wide I can certainly see that more males may actually use social networking since large sections of the world do not give female's the same respect and rights as males.