Want to know if the “social media expert” managing all of your social media accounts is the one for the job? Ask him/or her one simple question: What is the return on investment of Social Media? If they can’t tell you the value of Social Media then you have the wrong person for the job. Well, there’s probably a good chance that they still are the wrong person for the job even if they do come up with an answer. The problem is that we’re listening to people who claim to be social media experts and gurus, but have degrees in traditional marketing with 10 years of experience in throwing Yellowbooks at your doorsteps.
Some will say Social Media helps “to build your audience”. Corporate Marketing Managers and Social Media Enthusiasts will set out to try to get the most Fans, Likes, and Followers on Social Networks, as if thousands of people who decided to click a Like button will automatically transition into your biggest customer. To make matters worse, some “experts” even think that purchasing thousands of artificial followers and fans is the best way to represent their brand’s image and actually lead to an increase in revenue. Or maybe they’ll say Social Media is a great way to “engage with your audience” so they’ll recommend you to spend $100,000 in Facebook Ads (that aren’t even visible to the 40% of America’s population who primarily uses mobile) in attempt to generate traffic to their website. Then after a few months, you may find yourself with an exhausted marketing budget with no return on your investment. But wait, Social Media is supposed to be the best marketing tool right?
That is correct; Social Media is the best marketing tool in this decade. However, you are either going to execute it exceptionally well or horribly depending on how you market yourselves on these platforms. Yes, the return on investment of Social Media is having direct access to your targeted audience, allowing you to build your customer base (not fan base), strengthen relationships, provide online customer service, and generate awareness for your products, services, and special offers. But the most effective way to achieve these results is often misinterpreted and misunderstood by the enormous amount of social media idiots.
What good is 100 million followers or likes if you are never engaging with them? What good is engaging with your fans, if your fans aren’t even interested in your product or apart of your targeted audience? In order to generate the return on investment you want you must conduct a campaign to drive your targeted audience into your brand, feed that audience daily, and direct them into your store. The first step you must take to achieve your goal is to invest into a social media marketing agency or marketer who really understands this industry; otherwise you will be running around like a chicken without a head, exhausting your budget and shredding your funds.
