The 10 bottom line truths around social media marketing

I don’t know about you but I for one am sick and tired of reading about social media marketing.  Social media marketing is beyond it’s growth stage and now is maturing but it’s not a channel or even a tactic: it’s a way of thinking about a new approach to marketing.  Here are my 10 bottom line truths around social media marketing.

1ne: Social media cannot make up for a bad product, company, or organization.

In order to have a conversation with consumers there has to be a level of trust between your brand/company and them. Social media marketing is not going to be effective if you don’t execute on all customer touch points.

2wo:  The quest for a clear defined ROI is akin for the search for the Holy Grail. It exists but it’s a really long quest with no Grail.

Not every conversation has an ROI.  How do you measure a conversation where you respond to a consumers post and then she/he converts to a customer ?  How do you measure a conversion when you recommend complimentary products ? What is the ROI of a conversation with your admin asst ?

3hree:  Social media is not free.

It will take time and/or money to achieve sustained growth. Since it’s free to join Facebook and any social network worth talking about, many marketers think social media is free, or at least cheap.

4our:  Social media marketing is more important for some products than others.

Forget all the bullshit about why someone Likes your brand.  Consumers just don’t have time to spend in a social relationship with a lot of brands.  Marketers need to know which marketing channel provides the best chance to keep and grow their customer base.

5ive: A social media community manager is a full time job if social media is an important channel for your brand

To this day I continue to see a lot of unanswered posts and complaints and opportunities to sell more product to existing customers but brand social media managers seem to only put on their social media hats part time.

6ix: Social media won’t lead to overnight sales success.

Success will take time and will come in increased buzz, referrals, traffic, and, eventually, sales.

7even: Less than 5% of people who like you brand on Facebook see your brands feed in their homepage.

Ask yourself this question “why would someone want to have a relationship with our brand?”

8eight: Taking money away from other digital initiatives to put into social media is online branding suicide.

Research has shown that SEO and your brand website provide a clear defined purpose for consumers and a better ROI than social media.

9ine: Regardless of what the hype machine says there are very few reasons to put your brand on Linked In unless you are trying to recruit talent.

1oen:  If you don’t listen and talk to people as individuals you’re going to loose at social media marketing.

T H I N K  before you do !!