SigmaWay Blog

A research was done in 2015 where purchase decisions of 20,000 European citizens, across 30 product areas and more than 100 brands in the year 2013 and 201 were examined. They were asked how social media influenced their purchasing decisions.  It was observed that social media recommendations induced an average of 26% of sales. It was found that consumers made 10% more purchases on 2014 in comparison to 2013. Moreover, the choice of product also played a vital role. For example, 40 to 50% of consumers look for social recommendations for categories like travel, investment services, etc., whereas only 15% recommendations were looking for low end utility services. So we can see that Social media does play a vital role in brand awareness and hence end up converting to the sales. Read the full article here: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/getting_a_sharper_picture_of_social_medias_influence

The social media is actually the official platform to communicate and connect with the mass of people. The access in different social media is needed to attract more audience and promote their own organization in a grand way. The skill to master the network and devote time for the same will lead to a successful one. The posts should be at repeated intervals considering the time zone of different countries. The content should be specific so that the audience gets a track of the nature and working of the company. The idea should get circulated in a simple way so that the people get connected. The skill of digital marketing is needed in order to increase productivity and boost an organization. The uploading of pictures in the different sites helps in engaging a large audience as it's an attractive technique to pool the audience. The information circulated and the working procedure should be consistent enough to sustain the status of an organization. Read more at- http://www.business2community.com/social-media/5-social-media-tips-success-01288131

A platform to reach the audience and communicate best is how we define the social media in recent days. The social networking sites have multiplied their reach through the proper tools of communication but then we have to follow some basic few steps to keep us updated and tied with the social world perfectly. The marketing steps start initially with the targeted audience whereby we can sustain the people in numbers. To follow people, posting more pictures and keeping the sites updated with the latest know how. There is need to post something out of the box and attract the audience by accessing through the different social media sites. The posts should be in numbers and the time allotted for social networking sites should be the most. The interaction with the audience should be regular and sometimes personal touch is also needed. There should be some proper research and reading for the social media books. The content of the page should be convincing enough to pool the audience. The social networking promotions should have some special factors such as a good avatar and an innovative background which will attract the mass. The trending technology of using email conversations and twitter and so on are also important for communication. The boost for yourself and the social media to reach out to the people can be achieved by integrating the various ways. Read more at-http://www.business2community.com/social-media/20-ways-amplify-social-media-reach-01280718

Social media has emerged to be the answer to several marketing problems. Be it improving interactions with customers or finding new ways to boost sales, social media answers it all. Using social media, companies can directly interact with their customers instead of just advertising to them. Companies can emerge as social media powerhouse in the following three ways:

(i) Companies should not concentrate all their efforts on a single social media platform. Instead, they should make their presence felt in several social media channels so as to avoid alienating many prospective customers.

(ii) Social media marketers should maintain uniqueness when it comes to creating content and producing strategies.

(iii) Companies should raise their voice in social media. This helps to maintain brand consistency and create associations with customers. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/become-a-social-media-powerhouse

Initially social media was used for socializing but with the progress of time it has undergone an impactful makeover. It is not only about advertising to a huge section of consumers but it is also the fundamental tool to influence customers. Firms will be able to determine basic information about their customers while marketing over social media and as a result the probability of obtaining clear data rises. This enables quick and easy access to data. The data collected from social media platforms are more or less accurate. However companies should take advantage of the various social media networking sites for trading their products and thereby improving both data and content.

To know more about this study, please follow the link: http://www.business2community.com/social-selling/social-media-purchasing-feature-changing-marketing-01283019

Social media is sustaining its pathway to ever growing popularity and ultimate success. Social media success is not just because of the huge audience but for the several factors which keeps it going to the right way. The prime factor is to be social and communicate with the pool of audience. The entrepreneurs use social media to improve business but there is always a need of communicating with the whole lot of enthusiastic audience just to make them feel that everyone belong to the same social media community. The social media is a platform to promote yourself or your organization but in a different way. The posts get valued more if it is a value post than a post of yourself and your organization. So, there is a need to mix and match the posts. The content of the promotion should reach the audience through the quality social media tools. The social media is a place to get the long term benefits rather than getting a high time business for a short span of time. The focus should be on one at a time so that one can master one task at a time. The social media is a place to provide value with benefits rather than just thinking only from the financial perspective.

Read more at- http://www.business2community.com/social-media/5-forgotten-factors-social-media-success-01279423

Changing attitude of the young generation along with urbanization in India is driving the expansion of digital marketing in the Asia hugely. Noticing such changes, digital ad spending is also increasing gradually. Increasing use of mobile is enhancing marketing by helping product research work better.  Smartphone has penetrated regions in Asia Pacific like never before. This increases the usage of mobile app which indirectly increases mobile internet ad spending as marketers are benefiting. Western marketers are also looking to move into this region as they can have better social measurement. They focus on the impact of social on key business objectives. Digital marketing increases in countries like India, China that grow into true economic powerhouses with increasing ROI. Read more about it by Stuart Found (Global Digital Events Manager) at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/how-is-digital-marketing-expanding-in-asia

To master social media, learning Social Media Management Software, we can schedule posts at different social media channels to know if someone is complaining or mentioning about me. Adding new features masters us in learning the software better. Automation is everything in social media marketing as we get more time to manage other aspects. But it is a pitfall as we need to respond to changing needs of the clients. Using analytical tools, we can track our followers within each network. Making it interactive and fun with free stuff, no one can stop from being famous with more followers. Do good, feel good – make that a moto. Taking healthy risks be creative enough and check that through SWOT analysis. Read more at: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/sarah-snow/2015-07-10/how-master-social-marketing-quickly-and-effectively

The sole motive behind existence of social media is that it helps to bring people together. Mostly people do not use social media for purchasing goods and services but for boasting about festivals. The ideal media campaigns provide the customers with the relevant and valuable information. Social media analytics helps enterprises to interact with customers and this is highly beneficial in regard to targeting content and promotional activities. In case of directly selling to the existing customers there is comparatively less pressure than selling to new customers and hence there is a sublime line to walk upon while dealing with them. However the most crucial aspect of sales in social media is building trust through engagement with customers, creation of a personal account and sharing quality content.

 To know more about customer engagement, please follow the link: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/what-are-the-most-effective-ways-to-engage-with-your-customers

Social media has grown in recent decades and has seriously affected the social culture as well as the industries. It acts as a stimulus for success by qualifying people and encouraging new ideas. Social media has also great impacts on the sports industry. Nowadays every team, league and sports association has a profile on Twitter. The fans gather on Twitter before, during and after the games and hence a team or an athlete's behavior on social media directly affects fan's insight. Currently, a hashtag is associated with all sports show and event and this helps to build relationship with the audience. It acts as a platform for obtaining news, engaging in discussions and enfranchising brands.

To know more about this study, please follow the link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonydimoro/2015/07/02/the-growing-impact-of-social-media-on-todays-sports-culture/

The process to educate, inspire and reveal is the prime motive of video in social media . The diversification of the video usage aims to connect and share useful information with the target audience. The proper outlook can be reached with the right psychology and the specifications of the video. The social learners look for information and entertainment which facilitates skillful branding. The application of better social video can motivate the target audience if it can connect the people. To communicate and to connect have always been the key role of the social media.

Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/top-3-ways-use-video-social-media-01257449

Businesses have started to realize that understanding the social media is of prime importance. However they often make the mistake of not utilizing the social media in the proper way. It is not only necessary to provide the customers with the requisite information and the various goods and services but also it is important to listen and help the customers if the need arises. So learning and understanding everything about the customer is of utmost significance. It is crucial for every business to do something which the customers are eager about so that they would be able to share their incidents through various social media channels. This however helps the organization to earn trust and cooperation of the customers.

Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/how-social-media-is-the-key-to-customer-success-01258473

Marketers are concerned about the social media programs that they undertake. It often gives the impression that they are plunging into social media but however they don't really get the desired results. The five steps which ensure that B2B social media program come apart in place are as follows:

•  To be familiar with the buyer's behavior by investing in a social listening platform will help to keep updated with the existing media activities.
• Creation of people's content would enable to build trust with prospects.
• Creating and sharing the brand content actively on various social media channels to grab buyer's attention.
• Capture prospects, customers and influencers to focus on establishment of relationships and not sales.
• Tracking and calculating social media progress in order to know that the company is in which stage with the social media.

Read more at: http://www.cmswire.com/digital-marketing/b2b-social-media-5-practices-for-doing-it-right/

Social media marketing is tough and takes time to work, but it's not impossible to make it work. These days' entrepreneurs face difficulties while using the social media practices for their marketing plan. When social media doesn't work for any organization then they should try to find the solution to this problem.

Mandy Edwards (founder of ME Marketing Services, a social media marketing company located in Statesboro, Georgia) in her article in business2community.com lists out the various reasons at why the social media marketing does not work which are as follows:

  1. You're trying to do every platform.

 2. You are broadcasting sales pitches instead of building relationships.

3. You are doing too much online.

4. You're trying to do it all yourself- and run your business.

Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/4-reasons-social-media-marketing-may-not-be-working-for-your-business-01252403

Nowadays with the wide use of "SMART" objects , the task of the marketing departments is to communicate this information to the consumers so that they not only understand but adopt. The success of marketing and incorporation of the Internet Of Things depends on how the information is disseminated which helps the consumers understand the ins and outs of the technology and its use.  A sudden change is more preferred than a gradual change, especially where technology is concerned. Social Media incorporates some of these technologies like smart vending machines, video media advertising, etc. that paves the way for the future.  In addition to social media messaging, the following methods are used to educate consumers  :  webliners, videos, online presentations, white papers. Read more at   http://www.socialmediatoday.com/technology-data/elizabethvictor/2015-05-28/internet-things-and-implications-social-and-branding

To ensure long-term success of any community, they should balance strategy, operations and tactics well. Many organizations are focusing on the technical aspects of communities but not enough on developing its community team or systems to support them. So Companies Registry recommends to hire enough staff, provide professional development to the team and define the structure, culture and rewards through policy and governance. The best-in-class communities are almost twice as likely to have formal advocacy programs, and three times as likely to have multi-tier programs. Tactics are some quick wins that organizations take advantage of it in order to improve engagement. Defining company’s value, implementing new member welcome program, investing in community management training helps improve tactics. Read more about this article at:   http://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/how-to-maximize-the-value-of-your-online-community/ 

The scope of Facebook is much wider than that of WhatsApp and Instagram. So it would be hard for the outsiders to exist as they would lack audience. But capitalizing on the audience that already exist might be a solution to that. Thus the future of social media will be two-tired. Social leaders include Facebook and Twitter on one side, and the other side include challengers proposing concepts. Hence being the first to launch a new concept will no longer suffice in this competitive world if the concept isn't an innovative one. Now, check-ins need to be incorporated into this social network platform. Read more on this article by Marie Dolle (Head of Content) at: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/mariedolle/2015-05-28/social-media-era-consolidation-infographic 

According to a recent study in 2014-15, it was found that today's high school students are heavy internet users using social media channels to stay well-informed with current affairs and to be connected with family and friends. 52% of them are part of at least one community on Facebook and 65% of them have Google+ accounts; 6 out of 10 use Whats App. According to the study, it was also found that 75% of these students spend an hour online every day. Two-third who survey, shop online. 63% use Wikipedia, 51% use PDF and 44% use videos as learning resources. Read more about this article at:  http://www.dqindia.com/over-75-of-indian-school-students-spend-an-average-of-1-hour-on-social-media-every-day-tcs-study/

Businesses cannot ignore the impact of daily mobile use and mobile purchasing, especially given the fact that 85% of Americans surveyed said that mobile devices are important in their everyday lives. Mobile app is the perfect platform for reaching to a larger audience. The mobile-oriented services like Whats App, We Chat and Facebook Messenger are now achieving the top social media ranking spots. To know more, please read this article by OREN LEVY (CEO of Zooz) at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246430 

According to the 5th annual Sensis Social Media Report, the percentage of small businesses with social media accounts has declined from 37% in 2014 to 31% in 2015. 68% of the broader population use social media sites, 61% of small businesses don't know how much they spend on social media each year, with just 17% actively measuring return on investment. 57% of small businesses don't know whether they've recovered their investment in social media. 70% of consumers' access social media from a smartphone, 52% use a laptop, 34% use a tablet and 28% rely on desktop computer. To know more, please read this interesting article by ANDREW SADAUSKAS (tech-company editor) at: http://www.smartcompany.com.au/technology/social-media/46997-small-businesses-flying-blind-on-social-media-and-some-are-walking-away-report.html