The answer will be disappointing I'm afraid. The ones who make money with social media, are the "social media gurus" who hype and rave about the "magic" of social media, so they can sell their "must-download" e-books about "How to make money" with Twitter , LinkedIn and Facebook.
The truth is that most online shops (for example) only get 2% of their fiduciary sales through social media channels. Their best marketing investments normally are still advertising and SEO in Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines, so their websites are easily found. Marketing budget is best spent here because it gives the highest return on investment (time and money), since you only pay for what you really get: clicks on your website and do not have to spend much time to realize this.
Is investing social media in a total loss? The answer is NO. Most (potential) customers and any future employers look you up and the number of LIKES on your Facebook page and followers on Twitter and LinkedIn do increasefontsize credibility and consumer trust. Investing in social media is therefore necessary for small, medium and large business owners. Another bonus is that other social media is a very dynamic environment and a perfect place to keep up to date, measure sentiment about topics and products and engage with (potential) customers. Social media is a perfect place to find out what you customers needs - wants and likes: market research.
Some reasons to invest in social media are:
- Connect to Existing communities and create new ones
- Stay current with industry trends
- Build long-term relationships
- Promote awareness of your brand
- Engage and empower your customers
- Engage with your detractors
- Sales (Should not be your primary objective to participate in social media as I mentioned): meet new customers, increasefontsize frequency of transactions and product penetration
- Customer Support: Immediate feedback and response, positive impact on public forum and cost reduction
- Human Resources: more effective recruiting and online monitoring employee behavior (risk management)
- Public Relations: online reputation management and improved brand image through social web
- Customer Loyalty: Increase interactions, deeper relationship with fire, Increased trust in fire Increased mindshare or fire, greater values alignment
In case you are only participating on social media to increase your number of leads or sales, you may want to rethink your objectives in order not to get disappointed and invested too much time and / or money. An hour a day (preferably at most times you do not actually have to work) is just about enough. Always make sure you have a your strategy (actions) and objectives set for every (marketing) activity and measure what works for you and what does not. Most of the time "less is more". Social media is a communication channel or marketing tool, which could be part of your marketing activities, but should never be the strategy itself and since it is social: you have to give, before you get!
Anne-Marie owner or Brand Connexion health marketing solutions , The Leading Injectable Centers of the World, The Leading Fertility Clinics of the World and Lily - Leading Instant Eye Lift