Grow Your Audience. Extend Your Brand.

Social Media Isn’t an Overnight Marketing Solution

There’s a debate growing online about the effectiveness of Facebook’s Mobile Ads.  Facebook touts that their mobile ads are clicked on 13% more than their desktop ads and that they are more profitable.  Critics say these numbers are inflated due to mistaken click-throughs and there is no data available on what the ROI is.  

What does all this mean to your business?

It means that people are trying to use social media marketing like traditional marketing where the purpose is to generate leads now.  Social media marketing works best when a business uses it to engage its’ audience instead of trying to sell them.  It’s about building trust and awareness of your area of expertise.

Let’s say you own a flooring store.  Instead of using your social media platforms to advertise your big sale each week, use social media to inform your clients about your industry and products without trying to sell them.  Link to articles about new trends in floor covering, talk about the importance of using a good installer, show pictures of recent installations, etc.  Become an expert about flooring and let your followers know that when they have questions about anything related to flooring that you’re the person to come to.  Building that awareness as an expert in your field will drive business to you.  But it’s not an overnight solution.  

When used properly, social media marketing is a grow-it-slow-but-steady approach.  If you’re a business looking for lead generation use the tools that work best like Google AdWords and other forms of traditional marketing.  But most importantly, stop trying to turn social media marketing into something it’s not.