Many smaller business owners believe that Social Media Marketing is silly or a waste of time. They get discouraged after a few weeks or months of running a campaign with no tangible results or think paying a professional to run a campaign on the Social Networks is a waste of money; they could not be more incorrect. Social Media Marketing is not all about the bottom line of a sale. The new world of marketing has new goals and while making money is the goal of all businesses, marketing today is not that cut-and-dry anymore.
“The Goal of all social marketing is simple: To identify advocates in social media, engage and build relationships with them, and enable them to spread your message virally.” (1goodreason.com)
Many businesses think that after only a few months of running a Social Media Campaign they should have a bunch of new customers and profit. But just because you have not made a sale from Facebook does not mean your campaign is not working and this is not the case.
While it may seem that you are wasting time or money with a Social Media Marketing Campaign, you most definitely are not. If you have chosen the appropriate Social Network and you are posting updates consistently and interacting with your Friends/Followers/Circles you are doing it correctly.
There are so many aspects to each of the Social Networks that contribute to your business message. Visibility, SEO, building trust, becoming the source of information, this is the new world of marketing.
You are no longer talking ‘at’ your potential clients you are speaking ‘with’ them and becoming a trusted referral source. Marketing and Advertising now has a human face and feel to it, the actual person behind the message is seen and people feel more of a connection. That connection is a crucial piece of a good campaign.
So if you are running your own marketing campaign on Social Networks you can’t give up and stop because you get discouraged you have not made a sale. You must maintain a consistent campaign by posting daily and continue to engage, these Friends/Followers/etc. are all potential clients and also your referral source.
If you are paying someone to manage your campaign the money is worth it as these professionals will continue to consistently maintain your account and interact for you, as well as monitor and maintain the campaign, sometimes changing on a dime to keep current with an appropriate strategy.
More importantly maintaining consistency will keep your human side of the business visible and the trust level will grow, this is the heart of the campaign.
Social Media Marketing takes time and patience and can cost some money, but it is still the most effective way to reach a large group of people and still less expensive than traditional marketing efforts. “Inbound Marketing costs 62% LESS than traditional marketing.” (Hubspot.com)
So stop talking AT your customers and start speaking with them and show them the human side of your business, gain that trust and open up some new referral opportunities. Do not get discouraged after a few months of posting; continue to stay consistent, be informative and interesting and keep that campaign running. Know that you are where you need to be to market effectively (though just posting a business account and being there is not enough…)
Engage-Inform-Become the Source! Keep running that campaign.
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