Pest Management Professional, September 2013

marketing matters Is social media worth the effort and investment Harvey F Goldglantz Contributor S ocial media does not work for small pest management companies nearly as much as its promoters say The challenge companies face with social media is it was designed for conversations not selling People participate in social media sites for entertainment content and conversations Most people are turned off by the advertising and self serving business content embedded in social media sites About 61 percent of small businesses dont see any return on investment ROI for their social media activities according to USA Today Fast Company cites an Adobe white paper that says 88 percent of 750 surveyed marketing professionals didnt believe they could accurately measure the effectiveness of their social media campaigns Fifty two percent said dealing with social media ROI was their biggest frustration Many PMPs believe that social media is a waste of time and money because theyre not seeing an immediate ROI But small businesses do see returns from social media they just dont know what they are when they see them says Pam Springer CEO of Manta a respected small business social networking site How do you know its working A social media plan isnt an ideal strategy for businesses looking for short term results It works best when used in conjunction with search engine optimization SEO efforts long term The primary benefits of social media engagement are qualitative and intangible Theyre long term qualities like the development of brand awareness interaction influence building loyalty and building trust The days of having one dominant channel to measure customer engagement such as an ad in the local phone directory are long gone Your goal is to make every contact a positive one that leads a customer through the decision making process via interaction with multiple media channels Consider a scenario in which a potential customer visits your website and follows your brand on Twitter She views several tweets and downloads information that was discovered on your Facebook fan page She visits your website to learn more signs up for your email and finally becomes a paying customer No single interaction moved the customer to purchase rather it was a culmination of contacts and interactions on the road to the sale One thing that is quantifiable Social media has a direct impact on elevating search engine rankings across the board Google in particular helps websites with quality content rank higher in search results as the result of recognizing activity on social networking sites A social media strategy requires patience Its ROI is a delayed ROI built on the aforementioned factors So if youre a small company with limited advertising dollars to invest make certain your limited dollars are placed where results can be measured PMP You can reach Goldglantz president of Pest Control Marketing Co and author of Marketing Matters at hgpcmcinc@ aol com Buy Marketing Matters by Harvey F Goldglantz from the PMP bookstore at mypmp net 144 September 2013 Pest Management Professional www mypmp net