Date
May 04
Hooray! You've joined social media, you have a smart phone and your social media apps. You look at the numbers and see that 40 bajillion people are on Twitter and 100 gazillion are on Facebook. You order your web design firm or your fun-loving social media marketing manager to set up some profiles and start "getting in on the conversation".
You then search Google for terms like "social media marketing tips" or "social media marketing strategies". What you get in return are sites that start to all blend together. You then spend an hour of your time reading these experts and you walk away without a real plan.
So, as a public service to busy business owners who are looking for results and not 140 characters of micro-wisdom, here are the top 5 Social Media Myths you need to be aware of.
1: Your Brand Needs to Be Social
If someone says this with a straight face, you have our permission to play Tetris on your mobile phone. The idea behind this is that people are going to talk about your company and have conversations about the products or services you deliver. However, as a statement, this says nothing. What they're really saying is you should join Twitter, set up a search feed and @reply to anyone who mentions you or your products. This is NOT joining the conversation, at best, it's butting into an existing conversation without knowing the context. At worst, it's spam. If you want your brand to be a part of the conversation, be interesting, be relevant and let the conversation flow naturally. Being social is all about giving people a reason for connecting to you.
2: It's Free to Join Social Media
While it's technically true, you don't have to pay to join Twitter, if any social media expert tells you this, let them know that they need to take a business for dummies program. Anyone who does real work for real business knows that your time is valuable. The time it takes to set up a profile, find and add friends and of course, you have to start posting. This takes time, energy and real thought. However, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it. Companies as large as Dell & Microsoft are creating massive communities, generating revenue and reducing spend by smartly utilizing social media. ThinkGeek.com has built a massive and loyal fan base on their profile eager to hear about news, contests, promos and more. So, if anyone tells you that it's free, they're missing the point.
3: You've GOTTA Be on Facebook!
Again, this is partly true. Facebook is a good way to build a community and interact with people. However, there has to be a point. That point is not about your business. Facebook is not a channel for your to spam your friends with requests. It's a place to let your community interact with you, to get honest feedback, to run promotions and to share information. If you build a fan page and do nothing with it, don't be surprised if your numbers dwindle, your interactions fade and the time you spent results in a waste. If you don't have the time to dedicate to building a community, hold off on creating a Facebook page until there's a plan and enough time.
4: Your Social Media Value is the Number of Friends/ Followers
It's tempting to look at your numbers and want them to be higher. Your followers range from spam-bots, to companies who found you (but failed to interact with you) because you mentioned their name, people wanting you to follow them back and lastly, real people who care about what you have to say. The value of your social media should be defined. For some, it's conversations that turn into business. For others it's web-traffic and conversions. You should track on your analytics traffic and conversion sourced from your social media efforts. Here's a great tool to structure your link to get the most information possible.
5: There's No Clear ROI In Social Media
This myth is a zombie. You can shoot it, burn it, chainsaw it and blast it into space. By the time that myth's miserable existence ends, its infected a dozen other good ideas and turned them into the walking undead. Using social media you can:
- Gather valuable feedback and criticism from users and industry professionals
- Use analytics to source conversions from social media
- Recruit top notch talent
- Recruit brand loyalists and evangelists
- Collect user data & demographics
- Spread a poll or questionnaire quickly
- Distribute content for traffic
And that's just the short list.
So, with all of that said, social media marketing should be a part of your marketing efforts, just have a plan, track your data, expand your definition of ROI, collect information, network and make connections.
