M4bmarketing commented on the following stories on BizSugar
Why Measuring Social Media ROI is so Difficult
"Just my two cents worth. The same questions about ROI were and still probably made about brand advertising. One issue is that unless companies have a tracking mechanism in place it is difficult to track. In the case of advertising one measure is brand health which measured the engagement among other things with customers. To Zane's point about social media agencies, perhaps they do not have the experience in measuring these types of metrics. The issue companies may be grappling with is that they are probably using a combination of tactics including social media. Again it can be difficult but not that difficult to separate out the elements and track results. This should be a huge opportunity for research companies to assist agencies and their clients. Just one other point. With advertising, you have a budget for production and media and usually outsource these functions. It is easy to allocate in a P&L. With social media companies are needing to spend time, which they are not used to allocating and perhaps do not know how to measure the return on time."How Market Research Can Help Your Business
"The interesting thing is that he had the idea, fine tuned it with customers and took the assumptions out of the equation. Also what we sometimes forget to to proactively get regular feedback from customers by staying in touch. The only word of caution is that it is important not to just take what your customers say literally as it can sometimes be misleading. One way around this is to do what he did and ask why, what reasons etc to gain deeper insights."STUDY: 75% of Small Businesses Are Not Engaging In Social Media
"The problem with this survey and others is that the sample size is too small and they do not provide the breakdown of those sampled. The results may or may not be right, but you can't tell from the survey. This means you can't draw conclusions and state them as facts. It would be good if someone actually did a proper survey that is detailed so not to mislead people and stating results as fact when they are statistically representative. "Are You Upsetting Loyal Customers When Attracting New Customers?
"Hi Shawn, Comments are great. Re the lower prices it depends on the product or service. It could be worth looking at if pricing is an issue however you need to consider whether your costs are likely to rise (this would then mean your margin goes down if prices are not increased), whether you can get a longer contract or terms etc. I always prefer to see what they actually would value, what is important to them and if possible not play on price as a competitor can easily match you. Also if you hold the price with these customers for one time they will probably expect it each time which could be a problem. "The Best Way to Use Freebies to Generate Sales for Your Small Business
"I think we are getting a little caught up with thinking we have to always provide something free to gain any customers. Number one is a good reminder. It also depends on your market, customers and working out will the free element actually move the customer along to purchase or at least find out about your proucts or services. Otherwise it is just another cost to a business."Subscribe
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Small Business Social Media Use Debated
"It is a good post and highlights you can get any results you actually want with the way you design your research, sample make up, questions asked etc. As I have mentioned before it would be really good if the next piece of research contained depth and insight instead of top line results. Also I am not sure why there is such a debate, maybe I am missing something. As small businesses are looking at ways to connect, the more diverse case studies presented and analysis of why they worked could be more beneficial."