Business and private individuals alike need social media to build their brand today, but how much should they do and how can they measure the relative success of their endeavors? First of all, any social media activity is not free: it takes people to implement it, which means individuals who have the knowledge to know what to do and when to do it.
You can’t avoid having an understanding of what it takes because, even if you outsource it, most of the content and the strategical decisions will have to come from you. You simply can’t have somebody else tell your story or the story of your company and at the same time you will need help along the way because you can’t possibly do everything it takes to have a prominent position on the Web and still manage your business.
How well are your spending your resources on social media?
I have found that the selection of the right assistant, as in any other business activity, is the most critical part. You will have to spend a fair amount of time defining and explaining what you want ant checking her understanding, before you can safely outsource some of your social media activity. And again the content will have to come from you or you will have to select it from some other source, ahead of time.
It also takes technology, in terms of computing power, plus specialized software and services that you can either get for free or through a paid subscription. This is an area where you can get help from the outside: I have discovered the majority of the tools I am using today either through the direct advice of an expert I had been networking with, or through the suggestion of a blog post by some other expert.
What it’s usually missing is a true explanation on how to use these tools and that takes training on your part and the training of the resources you will employ for the project.
And it finally takes time, either yours or that of an assistant or contractor. All these three elements are limited resources and therefore have a cost associated to it and can yield a very definable result. At the beginning you will have to start your social media presence knowing it will not contribute immediately to your business or personal activity.
As a matter of fact, from real life statistics, it usually takes at least three months to start building enough confidence so that you are breaking even in your social media efforts. For an actual increase in your business it will usually take 9 months.
So it is going to be a long journey, and how do you measure your progress? And more importantly, what other area of activity will be cut down in order to develop this one? Remember that initially, at least in the first 90 days, you will have to put in extra time and effort in developing your brand and that time will have to be taken away from your regular job and you private life.
If you were to break down your Internet marketing activity into functions, you will probably find that the following would be involved: marketing, advertising, sales, public relations, information technology and accounting. So where do you start measuring your results so that you are getting somewhere?
How do you motivate yourself and how do you measure your success? There can be very complex and thorough systems for measuring the return of investment on your social media activity and I refer you to the a presentation by Oliver Blanchard to have an idea of what is involved.
But if you are a small company you will not have the time to learn and implement the system all by yourself. So a good way to start is simply check the traffic on your blog, if you have one, on the number of interactions you have on your Facebook page. Comments are a key tool to stay in touch with people in addition to e-mail, so they should be increasing. Also check how much more your personal name or your company name is visible on Google as you move along. These two indicators will tell you that you are on the right track, then as your skill grows and your business rolls better, you will have the resources to add more precise measurements.
Roberto Mazzoni
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Hi Robert,
Oliver Blanchard’s presentation is among the best I’ve seen that really addresses strategy around social media. Without clear goals (ROI), then it’s hard to justify any expenses for social media. Harder still is to convince a business that it really does take at least three months of consistent social media presence to begin to see results. One thing I always point out to clients: if you use social media as a tool to support business goals, then the ROI is always right in front of you. Thanks for the great post.
@askdebra
imagine any other ref in there and what they would’ve done?
LOL at Rashad trying to fight like Randy.
Can GSP say that? How much has he moved around in weigh.
Interesting info, considering…
Once again, Roberto, well said and something that I needed to hear today! Keep up your posts!
I’m interested in this whole thing at moment. Need to read up on it big style!
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Hi Robert.
Nice post. Totally agree with you: realizing the value of social media comes at a price. I recently posted on this very subject if you are interested. http://tinyurl.com/ycks5f9 Cheers.
For many small businesses, marketing of any kind is seen as a necessary evil when things get slow. When they need customers, people are willing to spend money on advertising when they have less of it to spend. The good news about social media is that the out of pocket costs are minimal, but you have to organize your time so that you sustain the effort day in and day out.
In addition to emphasizing the patience needed to build a valuable program, it’s equally important to warn than all your traction can be lost very quickly if you stop engaging.
http://media-proinc.com
Many thanks for the post. I liked it. You have a very nice website.
I started using Twitter back in November, since then I’ve begun to love it. What started out as a love hate relationship it’s allowed me to network with people in my industry alot easier. News and updates happen in real time which makes for a great only app.
Can I ask a question, I’m very interested in finding out peoples thoughts on whether they’re finding pay per click is becoming noticably more expensive and whether natural seo is the best way to go.Thank you,Rebecca
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