Not Defining Social Media Success is a Mistake

The term social media marketing can make even the most seasoned business owner roll their eyes in shame. They know they need it to connect with their customers and leads but aren’t sure how to start. Did you know that advertising on Facebook increases the number of qualified leads walking in the door? Did you know people are searching – and buying – your products online?

Common social media questions and concerns include: 

What kinds of social media accounts do I need? Facebook? Twitter? Instagram?

What will I post about? Who cares about what I ate for breakfast?

Do my clients really use social media? Is it a big waste of time?

The questions vary but the concern remain the same. How will social media help my business?
The answer is simple: social media will increase your bottom line. Social media marketing, done correctly, will increase brand awareness, keep you connected to your customers and community and will make you more money. That’s what’s really important right? According to Forbes, 80% of executives believe social media engagement leads to increased sales. 

Some marketers will tell you a bunch of fluff as to why you need social media, but I’m here to tell you the cold, hard facts.

You need social media because your competition is using it.

You need social media because your customers are looking for you online.

You need social media to monitor what people are saying about you. People are talking about you and your business online. It’s your choice if you decide to listen. Wouldn’t you want to respond if someone posts a negative review of your products or services? I would.

Let’s say you decide to make the jump and start a social media strategy. The most important step is defining what social media success looks like to you.

Picture yourself a year from now, what has to happen to make you believe social media marketing was a great choice for you?  Maybe it’s 50% more customers in the door, or perhaps you sell 10 times more “X” product. Brainstorm your goals and timelines before creating your first social media account. Afterwards, track your results. If you aren’t meeting your monthly social media goals, re-evaluate your strategy. Do your research. Get some professional help. Social media is a cost effective way to reach your business objectives and increase your bottom line. Stop worrying and get started!

Source: Social Media Today

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Too Many Top Executives Aren’t Taking Social Media Seriously

Does social media have a glass-ceiling problem? Even as companies rush to exploit social media in every conceivable way, a report from The Conference Board and the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University finds that senior executives don’t seem to take the results seriously — if they look at them at all. For example:

• Fewer than 24 percent of companies report that senior management sees reports gleaned from social media metrics; even fewer (14 percent) build it into their KPIs.

• Twenty percent say social media information is too low-level for senior management, and 32 percent say it’s too low-level for board members.

Ironically, senior executives are actually more likely than the population at large to use social media (see table). So if they’re laggards, it’s not because they’re unfamiliar with the platforms. More often, surveys find, companies simply fail to collect social media data, and when they do, they’re unlikely to pass it up the chain of command. In those rare cases in which companies collect it and senior execs see it, they say they find it helpful. The lesson here? To paraphrase a classic “Seinfeld” joke, it’s not enough to read the tweets; you have to analyze the tweets.

#antisocial

THE PLUS

“One key reason the lead decision makers aren’t up to speed,” theorizes consultant Shel Holtz on his blog, “is that, despite any [social media] training given to employees, the board and C-suite rarely undergo any training themselves. When was the last time you took a training course [and saw] an executive VP among the other students? Somehow . . . membership in the upper echelon of the corporate org chart seems to confer special status that assumes you can no longer benefit from a training program.”

Source: Business Insider