Effective marketing is all about meeting your people where they’re at. Increasingly, that’s on social media sites like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. And while social is all the rage, it’s important to know just what you’re getting into before throwing all your eggs in one basket.
As you consider your marketing goals and opportunities for growing your small business, it’s important to be focused, strategic, and… realistic. Here are three social media realities you need to be aware of before investing time and money into your marketing campaigns.
3 Things You Need to Know About Social Media Marketing
- It doesn’t drive a high ROI (for everyone) – Some people talk about social media marketing like its gold. They say if you just do a few simple things, you can strike it rich in no time. Not so much… Instead, the reality is that your social strategy may not result in a huge return on your investment, but does that mean you shouldn’t do it? Of course not!
There are several important reasons why your business should maintain an active social media presence. A big one in terms of cost is that it can be done relatively inexpensively. You don’t have to spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on marketing and advertising to see results. Consistently posting content and engaging on your social channels is enough to demonstrate your credibility and offer useful information to followers (which will translate into results over time).
- It will not solve all your marketing woes – Some people turn to social media for instant gratification. From news to entertainment, we can track what’s happening in real-time. The challenge with marketing, however, is that it’s not instant. It requires you to be steady and consistent for the long-haul.
Entering a social media channel with the hopes of it suddenly driving up your business 10-fold will leave you sorely disappointed. It takes time to build your followers and establish your reputation. The best way to speed along the process and grow your business is to use social media in conjunction with the other two components of the marketing trifecta – 1) blogs, 2) newsletters and 3) social.
- It isn’t just a numbers game on followers – it’s engagement you’re after – Having hundreds or thousands of followers sure sounds appealing, but how many people do you “follow” that you could really care less about? Simply having followers isn’t worth much if they’re not engaging with your content, products, and services.
By actively engaging with your target clients (rather than trying to reach the millions of people on the Twitter-sphere), your marketing efforts will be much more effective and impactful.
Social media is an important marketing tool your business absolutely needs to be using – as long as your eyes are open to the realities of what the various platforms can offer. Which channel(s) you should use will depend on your line of business and where your will-be customers are most likely to linger.
For help getting your social media strategy off the ground or taking your business to the next level, get in touch with us at The Found Gen.