Is social media something I need?
You don’t need more “likes” or followers right now; what you need is more customers and sales.
The truth is, social media is not the advertising panacea it has been sold to you as.
In fact, for most businesses, it seems like a massive waste of time and money.
You don’t have to look far online to find hundreds of business coaches and so-called social media experts who avidly encourage social media campaigns as a cheap and easy way to build brand awareness, increase engagement and generate sales.
Simply put, this has to be the most ridiculous and financially irresponsible marketing strategy ever suggested.
If another entity, such as Facebook or Linkedin, owns or maintains your client list, then they ultimately control when, where, how, and at what cost you are able to communicate with your prospects and customers.
It simply does not make sense to relinquish control and ownership over your most valuable asset. Have you ever considered what would happen if one of these social media companies were to be hacked, taken over or go out of business?
Without a clear strategy, a content plan, a disaster recovery plan and the right resources to manage it day to day, it is very difficult to convert “like” and social activity into sales.
According to a recent survey conducted with over 1000 business owners by Telstra earlier this year, of the 24 per cent who claimed they had embraced social media to promote their business, the large majority also reported that it had no impact on their sales or their business.
As a small business owner you need to ask yourself whether you can really afford to dabble in social media or whether it makes more sense commercially to invest your limited time and budget on activities that have a greater likelihood of producing qualified leads and sales such as search optimising your website for search engines.
