Comments on: Sales is Still King – Social Media Has Changed Nothing

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:04:37 +0000

Mark,
Yea, that’s something I didn’t touch on…that although the company/brand must ultimately make sales from their participation in social media, their main job is to provide the avenue for their followers to associate with them.

Thanks for the input!

By: Mark Lewis

Mark Lewis — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:26:39 +0000

I agree a lot with what has been said in the post and follow-up comments. It seems that marketers see social media as a tool for coercion rather than a tool for building value.

The simple fact is that there are some brands I want to associate with and it’s the brand’s job to provide the avenue for me to do so.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:36:36 +0000

Hi Jens,
Yea, social media is overrated – for sure! And you hit the problem on the head – there are a ton of people who think ’social media is cool’ so they write and ebook and make a website on the subject. They have NO experience and NO success in business to speak of…people talk about how business can use social media to increase sales, but they have no business of their own other than a phony website. The Internet makes it too easy for things like this to exist so we have to be careful to avoid them. Before I trust anybody online claiming to be an expert I want to see concrete examples and success stories.

So for instance, in my seminars I tell everybody I am not a social media expert – I have simply used it successfully for business purposes in the last year. I give examples that illustrate this.

Thanks for stopping by Jens!

By: Jens

Jens — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Good Point. I like how clear and structured you point this out. By the way. I think that social medias are overrated in every aspect. Sure it’s easier to get in touch with a potential partner or customer, but this works only for the first step. Once you got someones email or phonenumber everything is like it has been for the last 10 years. It won’t change the world.

Furthermore I believe that mainly so called “internet marketers” (or informational bases business) face the problem of wrong usage of social medias. Because they often seem to provide no value. They heard somewhere that it is cool and in to sell your own ebook, than they bought a quick-guide on ebay for 10 bucks and got a cheap template for their website and that’s it. But if you provide real value than it shouldn’t matter if your online promotion is a bit cheesy.

So for example if Brian would promote his ebook about how to find manufacturere overseas, there is little he could do wrong, because for someone who faces that problem of having no experience in those kind of business, every drop of knowledge and experience is useful.

By: admin

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:48:17 +0000

Thanks Zoey,
Tacky and tasteless sales strategies are all to easy for companies to use online because of the free tools that social networks provide – its more important now than ever for companies to avoid those strategies that turn you away from buying a product. Thanks for the contribution!
Brian

By: Zoey

Zoey — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:30:32 +0000

very interesting! as a consumer, tacky and tasteless sales strategies only turn me away from buying a product. look forward to reading more.