I often speak with small business owners about the value in using social media and some of them respond with social media myths, stories that are just not true. These myths are an unnecessary obstruction that prevents them from implementing the power of social media in their business. The common myths I hear are that social media is too time-consuming, that it’s just a distraction from doing business. The myth that I hear most often, and which I want to address today – is that it’s hard to justify the ROI.
How to get a good ROI from your social media activity
Social media use in business should always be tied to specific targets and objectives. Doing good business means getting a good return on your investment of time and energy. If you’re spending time on social media sites without a clear goal, then you may very well be wasting time and creating a distraction. Some people seem to have a hard time justifying the use of social media, just as some people found it difficult to justify having a business website ten years ago.
But you CAN set goals and measure results to justify the ROI.
Let’s start here: What is your goal? Do you want to increase your number of follows? Increase sales for a particular item? Increase the number of comments left on your blog? You can measure and quantify how your social media activity impacts those goals. Put in place some measures, take some action using social media and see what happens. If nothing happens, it’s probably not ‘social media’ at fault. Perhaps there’s more for you to learn about how to use it effectively.
Two more social media myths
Here are two more myths I often hear.
MYTH: Social media is time consuming.
Social media doesn’t have to be time-consuming. It’s wonderful to offer free, valuable content to your audience, but you don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel. You can save time by repurposing your existing content and disseminating it through different channels. For example, we repost our top newsletter articles on our blog and link to them from social media sites. Our newsletter is like the backbone of our social media activity for the week. Once the newsletter is complete, our blog posts and tweets for the rest of the week are already scheduled. Because we’re organised and efficient in repurposing content, we don’t have to spend a lot of time creating fresh content for social media.
MYTH: Social media is a distraction from doing real business.
If your social media activity is tied to specific business goals, it makes sense to spend the time required to get the results. You don’t have use every social media tool. You may be able to use just one tool and create all the results you want. But FIRST you need to know what the tool does so that you know if it will get you the result you need. If you come to see social media as the way you interface with customers and prospects, you’ll never see it as a distraction – you’ll see it as the never-before-available-and-wonderfully-effective opportunity that it is. Of course, all of these myths could be true – but not if you’re using social media wisely. Social media is the way people communicate. If your business is not using social media, then you’re missing out on the conversation, and you’re missing out on multiple opportunities to engage customers. Are there other myths that you hear about that you think should be debunked? Let us know by adding a comment. If you’re looking to improve your social media prowess, you may find our Social Media for Small Business podcast series helpful. Each 30-minute episode gives you tips and tricks for using social media. Available on our website and also on iTunes so that you can enjoy it anytime, anywhere. Best Wishes, Suzi
