By Diane Conklin and Gail Saseen
One of the biggest questions business owners ask about social media, especially those who aren’t actively using it yet, is “do I really need to be involved in Social Media today?” One of the reasons this question gets asked so often is people are concerned about how much time adding this media will take. As so often is the case, that’s really the wrong question.
The better question is what kind of Return on Investment (ROI) can I expect with my Social Media efforts. Of course, the answer will vary depending on your goals for social media, what you are measuring, how much time you want to spend, and a range of other factors.
There are basically three reasons for any business owner to be involved in Social Media. Those reasons are (in no particular order):
1. To Increase Your Visibility
2. To Gain Credibility
3. To Make Money
Let’s look at each of these in a little more detail. First, Social Media has the ability to increase visibility for you and your business in a couple of ways. The most obvious way is through your Social Media posts. When you post a great tip, or some relevant content people see it, and it’s important to note that not only do your friends and followers see it, but when people comment on your posts and you create what we call “stickiness” then those people’s friends and followers also see your post.
The big advantage to this is that you now have the ability to grow your friends and followers without doing any other work. People will ask to friend you simply because they like the content you provided. You are now growing your list size.
The second way you increase your visibility with Social Media is that as you post and use your keywords in your posts the search engines will pick up your posts – they love Social Media. (Bonus Tip: setting a Google Alert with your name as the keyword will allow you to track your social media posts very easily).
Second, using Social Media to gain credibility is an easy way to put yourself in the position of being an expert and the go to person for your topic. Keep in mind that you only want to post and talk about topics you know something about. That said, you don’t have to be the world’s number one, most renowned expert in the field to talk about a topic or to share information about it.
This is a major hang-up for some people. The way to think about this is that if you know 10% more than somebody else about a topic then you’re an expert to somebody. If you are still doubtful try this as a test – post what you know, share your knowledge and see what kind of feedback you get.
So, by increasing your credibility and visibility you are now staying more top of mind in your clients and prospects minds. All of which now gives you the ability to make more money.
It’s important to note too that Social Media is a media that typically takes some time to produce impressive monetary results, so you have to be patient. As you build your friends and followers, your visibility and credibility will increase as will your bank account.
For answers to all your social media questions visit www.SocialNetworkLeadsSystem.com and get your complimentary copy of “How To Get Social Media Working In Your Business.”
It’s good that you mention the need for patience. I remember hearing Dr Stephen Covey years ago talking about, as I recall, thinking like a farmer. Some things need planting, care and time to grow. A social media presence is one of those.
From tales I hear from other social media specialists, there is a lot of unrealistic and counter-productive expectation by companies for quick results on investment in social media.
I believe it is better for a lot of companies to just start slow, develop an initial strategy, register for one or two social media platforms and do some serious listening, taking the view that while the term “social media” and some of the platforms may/will disappear in due course, the nature of the way business is done has changed forever and the savvy business folk will start learning the new language, the new way of doing things, then practise systematically, reflect, revise the strategy and build an online presence they are happy with and which will attract new business. It’s a cliche but a good one that we are talking not sprints but marathons (but without the stress of marathons hopefully).
Des –
You are absolutely right, because social media is relationship media it takes a little more time to develop the know, like and trust factor than with some other forms of media.
Having been raised on a farm I love the analogy and it is very true.
It seems there is a new “guru” popping up in social media almost everyday, unfortunately so many of them aren’t actually making money with this media themselves. If you stick with direct response marketing methods and remember to do 80-90% social posts and 10-20% business posts, you’ll grow your list and find that you’ll be making sales before you know it.
Diane