Social media takes work. Let's get this out there right from the beginning. I need to say this because there are companies and individuals who would like you to believe otherwise. Case in point: today a client forwarded me an email from a company trying to sell social media marketing training. The email he received said the following:
How To Use Blogging, Podcasting, Social Media, Auto-Responders, And More!
Are you a small business owner or sales professional who feels so overwhelmed with just getting through the day putting out fires, that you just don't have the time to "do marketing"? Maybe you feel like technology is passing you by, and you really wish you knew how to take advantage of all these new marketing techniques. If this sounds like you, don't be scared. Our "Turn Key Marketing System" was created to teach you how to set your marketing up on autopilot so it does the work for you.
I could probably spend an hour breaking down a series of arguments from this email but I'm not going to do that. Instead, I just want to say this: social media marketing takes work. I've been doing social media marketing professionally for just over two years now and if there's anything I've discovered it's that there is not a single "turnkey" solution and certainly nothing of worth I'd consider doing that you can put on "autopilot" as this ad says. It takes work to do it well and work to figure out what's best for the people you want to reach.
I'm thankful I have the chance to help my client understand the wheat from the chaff. I hate knowing that there will be people who will fall for the lie that they don't have time to do marketing and opt for a short-term, quick fix strategy instead. Those will be the people who will eventually say that social media marketing doesn't work...and they'll be right. It didn't work for them, but not because there is a problem with the tools, rather their strategy and decisions were flawed from the beginning. It was destined to fail for them.
Social media marketing requires thinking differently and acting differently. There's no easy button.