Here at SMM, we’re all about social media.
Yet we’re the first to recognize that no matter how important social media is, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. There’s also your website, your email marketing, the search engines, blogging, and so on.
You’ve got to make sure you’re communicating the right message across ALL those channels.
So today I’d like to ask you, what’s YOUR biggest Internet marketing challenge?
Getting listed on Google? Increasing your on-site conversions? Getting more out of your mailing list?
Share your biggest challenge with us in the comments.
I’ll pick one lucky commenter’s challenge and provide a detailed solution to it in an upcoming blog post. So make sure you watch out for it!
It could be YOUR challenge we solve.
My biggest online marketing challenge is simply there is too much too do! How do I focus on the areas that will get ME the best results…as fast as I can?
Biggest challenge is identifying/prioritizing the proper marketing channels, to apply a strategical and tactical outline to, in reaching my target audience.
I’m trying to reach baseball fanatics to expose my baseball trivia book to. I have been trying to incorporate both conventional venues along with social media driven methodologies.
Should I be accessing baseball related e-mail lists?
If so, how do I find these lists?
Should I be driving it through Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.?
If so, what are the most effective methods?
Are there baseball groups/venues that I am unaware of?
If so, how do I identify such groups?
Etc., etc…
My biggest issue is knowing how to streamline my marketing efforts and making everything have the same “look”. I’m very fragmented.
First of all, thanks for your comments – and keep them coming!
@Ann – Getting your visitors to invest in, or buy your product requires a lot more online marketing knowledge than you’d think! Even the best online marketers have disappointing product launches sometimes. Your goal should be to attract super-affiliates that will help you gather that interest in your products. Spend just as much time putting together content and graphics for your affiliate program, and it will go a long way to spreading the word, and increasing your bottom line. Sales letter split testing is also very important.
@Abigail – When you work with ‘taste’ related items, like music or comedy – you might want to focus on forum promotion (becoming an authentic member) and really expanding your social media pages. Include music apps on your Facebook page for example, and stimulate personal feedback there. Pick some authority blogs in that niche and subscribe to them. Actively seek out community members.
@Tony – Email us and we’ll let you know how everything works!
@Charles – Many companies that realize the potential of social media or online marketing are so busy running their businesses, that there is literally no time to invest elsewhere. In this case its best to hire a social media manager, or get your work outsourced. The returns are far higher when it’s done right. You can also start small, and use apps like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to schedule in your posts. Even 15 minutes a day is enough in the beginning.
@Armando – If content is not your thing, there are ways to get around that. Hire a professional writer to create your email pieces on one of the many freelancing sites on the internet. Set a budget you can afford and post your job. The long term investment will make all the difference.
@Mitch – Every millionaire online marketer became successful because they didn’t do it alone. When you are trying to pull yourself in ten different directions, none of them get the attention they deserve. Hire companies or people to help you, even if it’s on a part time basis. Decide what you can and can’t do, and outsource the rest. That’s how you get ahead in online marketing.
@Dan – You need to divide your time between online marketing and social media marketing. Build your own lists, drive people to your website and get sign ups. Then you’ll be able to trade adverts with other marketers in the baseball field, using your list as a bargaining tool. Facebook is a great way to attract interested people, but you have to spend a little on advertising, and do promotion on other pages. Connecting with competitors is a great idea. You can find them via Google, Google Buzz, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Target popular searches.
@Deborah – It’s very important to have a unified look throughout your marketing efforts. If you’re not sure how to do it, then hire someone who does. A little cash outlay in the beginning will lead to more sales in the long run.
Getting listed as high as possible organically on Google.
Having difficulty creating brand recognition and traction. Have new, unique, novel way to deliver/serve energy product (not can or bottle etc)
Have high profile NFL Legend as spokesman…no problem getting retail shelf space but having trouble developing product asvocates
My customers tell me they found me on fb and twitter and on my website and blog but not many follow and even fewer ever comment. I verbally ask them to follow when appropriate and have calls to action on the sites…what else can I do? Should I be more forceful? Is my content dry? I’m not sure.
How do I increase their attention span and turn followers and friends into purchasers? Everyone will take a look, however they don’t feel compelled to purchase.
My biggest issue is finding enough topics to tweet,blog and Facebook about! Then it is the time to get it all done.
Let’s assume that we are doing everything possible to attract hits to our site; key words, SEO, blogs, links, freebies, etc. What should we be doing to inspire somebody to actually make contact with us? – looking at our webpage is fine and I hope that it helps them – that is one of our aims – but we need contacts, leads and sales in order to stay in business
The biggest challenge I have is finding the time and motivation to spend the time needed to have sufficient impact on the social networking sites.
How to take the 99.99% “Social Media is great for business” HYPE and actually build a REAL list of clients and buyers from vanues like Facebook and Twitter. Most of the stuff I have learned in Social Media seminars and training don; thave a REALISTIC application. Yes, of course any of us can find exceptions but the truth is 99.5% of business on Facebook are not getting any impressive results.
My biggest problem is TIME!
Gladys
My biggest challenge is how to engage prospects in a meaningful dialogue which gives them enough trust to take the jump and try out my service. How to increase my relevance and earn and owe the conversation on my topics. In three languages in different countries. From push to dialogue. And this without spending day and night on it but in 1-2 hours per day. Thank you.
My problem at the moment is that I dont have a functional website that I can administer myself to get out of the starting blocks. I’ve spoken to various service providers and received different opinions from each one. I’d like to have an integrated approach which will allow me to reach my customers via my website(e-mail campaigns) as well as other social media and be able to measure the effectiveness of what I’m doing. In addition, I’d like to attract new customers to the site and push out information via mobile technology. Suggestions on how to achieve this would be most welcome.
My biggest challenge is trying to tap into a specific audience and convincing them to sign up to my site when I am just starting out and they know nothing about me or my company.
Many thanks
Nadia
We have grown our customer linkedin group to 110. But we are having difficulties getting conversations going. Without activity, there is no value
Optimization of the funnel conversion (Download – Install – Usage – Sale)
@Richard – Sometimes the keywords in your industry are so competitive, that you have to sink serious money into ranking on page 1 or 2 on Google. Instead focus on keywords that aren’t as competitive, and use these in your SEO efforts. A Google PPC campaign is also a good idea, but try running 2 or 3 at the same time to test their efficiency.
@Bob – Brand recognition is tricky, but if you find that you have a uniform brand on your website, blog and social media pages, and they STILL aren’t working – look at redesign. Businesses that struggle with brand traction often overlook the fact that their brand design isn’t good enough! Your goal is for your brand to be memorable! Top businesses online do redesigns every year to update their ‘look.’ Never become complacent about basics – without them you’re making everything harder for yourself.
@Teri – Do you have a fan gateway, or welcome page that prompts visitors to ‘like’ you on Facebook? If not, then try the wildfire app, it’s easy to use – and all you have to do is upload a jpeg for it to work. As for the comments, you need to take a hard look at your tone. Are you reaching out to your community? Are you engaging people personally, or just leaving general messages? People won’t comment if there’s nothing to comment on, or respond too.
@Michelle – Converting visitors into buyers can be tough, especially if you’re selling ‘luxury’ items and not things people need. My advice would be to drive traffic to your website squeeze pages, where people can opt-in to your list. Then over time, you can nurture this list, by sending them educational content and marketing messages. You should also take a look at your calls to action. Are you outlining benefits on your products page? Perhaps you should hire a copywriter to check your marketing messages, to see if they are doing their job properly!
@Micky – Lack of ideas, usually means you’re not focussing on building authority for your business, which is key if you want your business to thrive. At the beginning of every month, pick a broad topic – and model blogs, tweets and updates around this topic. Outline a plan at the beginning of every month, and stick to it. You can also include news posts, or write about other niche blogs on your site. Planning is important if you want to save time, and have a goal to work towards. Set aside an hour or two each day for this, or create your posts at the beginning of the month.
@Camino – Unfortunately customers choose to connect with your business, when they are ready to buy – not when you want them to buy. All you can do is continue to interact with and stimulate your community. Develop your social media pages, especially LinkedIn. Have you thought of an affiliate program for your business to boost sales? If you alone can’t do enough promotion, then its time to expand your net and look for help.
@Jeff – If you don’t like working on social media, or you just can’t find the time then don’t do it. Forcing yourself to work in the social sphere when you’re not interested won’t help your business one but. Instead save, and hire someone to do it for you. I say this a lot, but a poorly managed social media campaign isn’t going to have the desired results. It’s better to invest early in a great strategy.
@Kevin – You make a good point – but, Social media isn’t hype anymore – the numbers have been proven by industry leaders that have pulled in millions of dollars from social media promotion. The real problem, is that people don’t have time, or the know-how to successfully implement a social media strategy for their businesses. I’ve seen many small Facebook businesses do very well, with nothing but a shopping cart on their fanpage. It’s all down to your niche, your skills and your time investment. There are many businesses trying to find their way on Facebook – but their successes are illusive because you can’t measure conversation marketing on a small scale. Don’t focus too much on results, or you could end up alienating your community. In the meantime focus on quality content, interaction and entertainment. Eventually the relationships you make will result in sales. It won’t happen overnight!
@Gladys – Time is the most common problem with social media marketing. If you don’t have enough, then you need to outsource your social media. Start small and stick to a limited budget. If you can’t afford a limited budget (another common problem) then draw up a schedule. Even if it’s only for 20mins a day, at least you’re working on it!
@Bastiaan – Don’t reach out to your community as a business, do it as a person. Spend time working on your relationships and people will naturally become interested in what you do. Don’t launch in with sales or marketing speak. For 1-2 hours a day you can do a lot with social media. If you’re spreading yourself too thin, take a few weeks to focus on one specific platform, like Twitter. Building trust begins with a no-obligation friendship. If people feel that you are pushing your services on them, they won’t want to talk to you! Like I said before, this will take time. Stick with it, the results will come on their own.
@Merle – You have the right idea – without a website your marketing attempts are futile. Think of your website as an intricate business card, your blog as a telephone conversation, and your social media pages as an extended, relaxed business meeting. The best advice I can give you is to invest in good content. Without it, none of your marketing attempts will work!
@Nadia – The goal of your website is to outline what your business does, not to give your prospects every last detail about your products or services. If they aren’t signing up to your opt-in list, then you need to reassess your squeeze pages and content. Once they have signed-up, then you can educate them about your company bit by bit via your list. Does your website communicate a unique value proposition? Is it crammed with benefits? Building authority from scratch is never easy, but jump-start your efforts with 50 articles for online distribution, daily blog posts and plenty of interaction on other authority sites. Soon people will know who you are!
@Lori – Sometimes its better to participate than initiate a conversation. Find people on LinkedIn in your groups that you want to connect with. Source the areas they comment on, and join in. You don’t always have to start the conversation! If there are certain people you can’t find, then they don’t comment on LinkedIn. Find where they do participate and catch them there. Either that, or send them an email.
@Sarit – The best advice here is to invest in quality copywriting. Without excellent content to support the conversion funnel on your e-commerce page, many potential buyers will click away, never to be seen again. It’s also important to make the process quick and simple. An 8 step buying process is not going to help your business.
Thanks for your comments guys!
- John
The challenge: Maximizing both short term and long term ROI on our online marketing spend… both ROI in terms of cash and in terms of time spent.
@Ihab – Every business has to face this challenge. The truth is, you can only learn this through trial and error. No-one knows your business better than you do. It also helps to learn as much as you can about new technologies online. If you’re ever stuck between a rock and a hard place – post a question here and we’ll help you as best we can!
- John
My biggest challenge is that I don’t know how I get my online marketing initiation kicked off.
@Connie – Begin at the beginning, by setting up your core content network. Your website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube pages. Work on each of them as much as you can – adding content, features and marketing messages. Once you get the basics up and running, you can look at integrating a small social media strategy or you could contact us, and we’ll take a look at it for you.
Getting fans on Facebook to interact – knowing what to post and how to consistently increase the number of relevant fans
@Majella – People need something to react to, so your goal should be to create as much interesting content as you can, so that they can do this. You can center your Facebook posts around your blog topics. Ask people what they want to read about, and accommodate them. Add other media to your page – videos, podcasts, images – they all help stimulate interaction. Remember that providing information isn’t enough, you have to genuinely interest your readers to prompt them to reply.
I’m interested to see how you help some of the branding challenges. But is it really necessary to be so gym-icy to marketer with this “big secret”? I appreciate knowledge share, but not the obvious gymics as a sales avenue. How about a straight forward honest sales approach instead?
@Jay – Marketers do tend to use hardcore sales language, and in the past (amazingly) it worked like a charm! Now with social media we’re seeing a more honest approach, where conversation and interaction promotes transparency for the business involved – and they sell by establishing real relationships with their clients. The straight forward sales approach was pioneered by marketers like Dan Kennedy, who spend more time and effort on the benefits of the product than on cheesy sales talk. Keep reading, there might be a post on branding coming soon!
My biggest online marketing challenge is to increase my on-site conversions.
@WingYing – Thats a common problem. As always, begin with the basics. Go through your branding, graphics and content. Are your marketing messages good enough? If not, its time to invest in a professional copywriter. Why not publish your website link on LinkedIn and ask your fellow marketers what they think the problem might be? You can get a lot of great feedback from your community there.
The biggest challenege is managing your efforts towards all of these. It becomes overwhelming. There are days when I go to bed and I ask myself whether or not I actually got anything worthy done today pertaining to my online business.
You just have to persevere and keep at it. Content is the key.
@FromThisSeat – and delegation! Don’t try and get everything done yourself. If you spread yourself too thin, you’ll find making cash online a never ending battle!
Hello
Мy biggest challenge is to bring along my side to be among the world’s first 10 thousand pages of all categories, and to be among the top 10 sides in the world in the category for food. But first I will try to have quality information on the site that I hope people will like it. At the same time I will try to advertise the page with comments on blogs, advertising on social networks, etc.
Best Regards
Borce Velkovski
@Borce – that will be a challenge! But you’re on the right track – the content will make or break your site. Just make sure that your on-page seo is sound, and that your Google Adwords campaigns are solid, and you can do it – John