Who’s Watching You? Waseem Saddique Investigates How Businesses Use Social Media

Social media usage for business is often perceived to involve promoting products or services in a bid to generate as much consumer attention as possible in order to drive traffic to a particular website and improve sales. However, did you know that businesses also use social media for gathering Intel?

Waseem Saddique comments: “ In a recent survey conducted by jobs board ‘CareerBuilder’, it was discovered that 37% of businesses use social media to pre-screen potential employees. Suddenly that Facebook photo of you roaming around the streets with a cone on your head may not seem as funny.”

Within that 37%, a further 65% refer to Facebook as their primary source of information for assessing the suitability of a prospective job candidate for a vacancy within their business.

Social media has opened so many doors for business leaders, not just in terms of online marketing in order to promote the products and/or services of their company, but social media also allows businesses to gather vital information on consumers, effectively spy on business rivals and determine the employability of potential job candidates.

The Social Selection Process

What do employers look for on social media sites when pre-assessing job candidates?

Waseem Saddique comments: “The survey conducted by CareerBuilder reveals a number of interesting facts.”

·         12% of HR Managers use social networking sites to identify reasons NOT to hire an individual

·         34% of business leaders stated that they had discovered something on a social media site that influenced them not to employ someone

·         Hiring managers are put off potential job candidates who refer badly to a previous employer

·         A minority of business leaders also said they would not consider a candidate if an individual does not ‘write’ well on a social media page

What do businesses look for on social media sites when promoting a product or service?

Waseem Saddique states: “In short everything. The plan is to get into your life and social media offers them that opportunity. The majority of social media users are far from cautious when posting information. This allows businesses to gather all the Intel they need in order to construct a successful online marketing campaign that targets the desired audience.”

Spending habits, hobbies, interests, daily activities and a whole host of other topics are commented upon by consumers in their billions as they share life interactively on a worldwide platform. For businesses the world is made a smaller place in terms of gathering essential information that allows them to understand their consumers.

Business Wars and Social Media   

However, it’s not just consumers that are targeted by businesses,  such a thing exists, known in the corporate world, as the Social War of business. Waseem Saddique states: “This is effectively a business head-to-head where rivals track what their competitors are up to, via social media.”

Sometimes it’s not pretty, whilst the majority of businesses ‘play fair’ in sharing ideas and recommending services, there are a small minority of companies that use social networking to slander rival organisations.

In conclusion it’s worth noting then that social media has more of an impact on your life than you may realise. So before you post that that comment or picture that you’re probably thinking about posting as you’re reading this, ask yourself, who’s watching and is it appropriate? It could define your future!

Waseem Saddique Marketing Services – Samba Nation on the Brink of Social Media Milestone

Following research conducted by comScore, identifying that social media penetration in Brazil has reached almost 100%, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services provides a review of the Brazilian population’s embrace of social media.

Social media has become a craze in Brazil and interaction across social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social networking sites, is positively booming. At present 97% of Brazil’s Internet users have a presence on a social networking site, putting the samba nation on the threshold of achieving a monumental milestone.

Why Brazil?

This may strike many as surprising, but the internet and social media are relatively new concepts in Brazil and it’s only in very recent years that the nation has truly embraced both the web and social media on such a wide-scale.

The change in attitude towards social networking sites in Brazil has been rapid and dramatic, with the number of Brazilians using social media surging in recent times. Social media platforms have become incredibly popular among Brazilian people for a number of reasons.

Here are the facts:

1. The majority of Brazilians take to social media sites in order to research products and services before committing to a purchase – Waseem Saddique states “In a study conducted by ‘Oh! Panel’ they uncovered that approximately  61.4% of the Brazilian population will turn to social media in order to access information about products or services before deciding to buy.”

The study that Waseem Saddique refers to also unveiled that approximately 81% of Brazilian people use social media to find new products and/or services and a further 75% use it to track down special discounts.

2. The Brazilian population is heavily engaged with Facebook – On average, recent figures show, a Brazilian visitor to Facebook will interact on the site, in a variety of ways, for around 4.8 hours. Compared to 2010 this is a staggering increase, when a visitor would only spend an average of 37 minutes on Facebook.

As recently as 2011, Brazil was recognised as the number 4 country in the world in terms of its Facebook users with 36.1 million taking to the site. Furthermore, Facebook’s marketing share of display advertising in Brazil exceeded that of media giant, Google.

3. The decision making process of the majority of Brazilians will be influenced by posts they have viewed on social media – Waseem Saddique comments: “The ‘Oh! Panel’ survey uncovered that a staggering 79% of Brazilians put more trust in posts on social media sites about products than they do in the endorsement of a product expert.

Brazil is now recognised as one of the fastest growing social media markets on the planet. The use of the internet in Brazil has grown from virtually nothing to a stage where about 88% of Brazil’s urban  population are now online.

A number of marketing experts predict that the trend will continue, as Brazil looks to make sure that internet technology does not merely benefit the rich, but that less affluent members of Brazilian society will also have access to the social media craze.

Waseem Saddique concludes: “Work is ongoing to ensure that all sectors of Brazilian society are given the opportunity to embrace social media and it won’t be long before 100% social media penetration in Brazil becomes a reality.”  

Google PPC & Online Click Fraud

Google Display Network makes advertising on websites easy and effective.

“I can take control of your company’s online advertising not only by running display ad campaigns but also by running successful and accountable PPC campaigns,” says Waseem Saddique, an online marketing expert.

By creating engaging display ads will result in a high click-through rate that leads to more conversions on the Google content network, improving ROI.

Text and display can deliver additional conversions for less. The median advertiser gets 20% of their conversions from display and text on the content network. This median advertiser has a content Cost per Action that’s 2% lower than search.

“Display can compliment your text and sometimes out perform it. I will continue to run reports to determine which works best,” says Waseem.

PPC is an advertising form that works. It can help your business. But, as with any aspect of business, you need to be very aware of what's happening.

Click fraud, also known as Invalid Clicks happens in Pay Per Click online advertising and is considered a type of internet crime.

Since the dawn of PPC in the early 2000s click fraud has been an issue for many online advertisers.

Click fraud occurs when a person, automated script or computer program imitates a continuous number of clicks. It can be for the financial gain of the clicker, or to deplete the funds of the advertiser.

Waseem ensures that click fraud is monitored carefully with the help of Google filters: “Click fraud is a serious online crime and can cause online businesses a considerable amount of unnecessary expenses.”

PPC is a great way to increase a company’s popularity within the marketplace. With click fraud monitored carefully you can be rest assured you won’t suffer unnecessary expenses.