The message about social media taking time is starting to get out. I’ve spoken with less people lately that expect miracles from social media, but often people still have fairly large expectations. So, if we accept that social media takes time and is not a magical wand, what can we expect?
What Are You Trying to Accomplish
I always start at the end. What are you trying to accomplish with social media? You have to identify the endpoint in order to know whether you can achieve it, as well as knowing when you’ve achieved it. Understanding your goals will also help you work backwards to reach that goal. Without having a goal, it’s easy to over-inflate your expectations for social media (and then be disappointed).
What You Put In
Like anything, what you get out of social media really depends on what you put in. If you rarely post, or do post regularly, but never have any conversations, you’re likely to get less out of social media than someone who spends a lot of time engaging with other people. If you put in 5 hours per week interacting with people and creating good content, you’ll get a lot more than if you only put in 15 minutes every couple of weeks.
A Cog in the System
Social media is only one tool in a larger marketing system. Even if you’re posting regularly and engaging with people, an inconsistent marketing message or lack of a clear call to action will make your efforts less effective. With whatever you’re doing on social media, you need to think about how it fits into your entire marketing strategy. You need everything working together to get the most bang for the buck.
Keeping Perspective
Unlike other marketing tools, social media does not often give an immediate lift in traffic. It can time to build relationships and get people to want to interact (just like in real life!). The difference is, the time you spend in social media, builds quality relationships and gives you access to people who really are interested in what you’re saying (versus spending $$$ to reach a lot of people, most of which don’t care). Don’t treat social media like other promotional methods, instead, think about it like other networking methods (hence, social networking).
What do you expect from social media?
(photo by sarniebill1, on Flickr)