We can safely say that social media is no longer a novelty, but rather a common part of our daily activities. Almost every new day starts with your hand reaching for a phone to check an incoming mail, missed calls or answers to messages that you sent the other night. Still, social media marketing remains something of a white spot for many, which gives birth to countless myths across the board. This time we’re going to debunk some of them, armed with our experience and knowledge on the theme.
So, rumor has it that…
1. LinkedIn is the best B2B network
Well, it’s not. Despite the fact that LinkedIn contains the most in-depth information about businesses of all kinds, it’s hardly the best tool for reaching business-people. The most probable cause is they just don’t visit their pages too often – the average LinkedIn user is active once a month. Naturally, the cost of advertising is sky-high here, given the low response rate and lack of inventory to sell. Yet, companies are still pouring the money in, hoping to get in touch with business owners, only to face a wall of silence as a most common result.
2. Twitter is dead. Or dying
It is not completely untrue. While the latest screenings show no signs of the platform’s expanding, it still has an astonishing 300 million monthly active users. In other words, it’s 3 times more likely to reach someone on Twitter than on LinkedIn. And easier as well – Twitter was basically made for exchanging commentaries and opinions, so it’s very hard not to spark at least some kind of conversation here.
3. Facebook is not made for business use
Not true either. Kind of. Well, Facebook may be shaped for personal representation, but you can squeeze some juice out for your business needs as well. With it’s targeting mechanisms you can get your message directly to your audience in no time. It’s subtle, easy and cheap. And, considering the platform’s fairly large amount of users, provides a far greater reach than, say LinkedIn does.
4. You must promote your business on every social platform
Variety is a spice of life, they say. Sure, it is good to have a lot of options – a vast audience, wide coverage, and great reach. But still, it might be a better idea to pick a certain audience and aim your message directly at it without wasting cherished chunks of SM budget in vain. See, social media advisers got bills to pay too. So it’s their bread and butter to make themselves indispensable by sticking your content across each and every platform that has an audience. Seriously, pick two or three platforms and build a strong presence on them. It works.
5. Social media is a free ride
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Even if the tools themselves are free, somebody’s got to use them. And that takes practice, practice takes time and time is money. Sure, Facebook’s most basic promotion tools are free, but if you want to reach your full potential, sooner or later you might need to throw a dime on it. Or two.
6. ROI can’t be predicted in social media
Well, it’s kind of true. But it’s not the problem. Say, you want your startup to have a web site, can you predict the ROI in this case? It surely depends, but one thing is certain – having a web site is important and you should build it anyway. See, the problem arises when you think, that investing only in things that have a 100 % predictable return is a good idea. On the other hand, SM activities along with web traffic and other stuff should be properly monitored in order to have a clearer perspective. If your Facebook page has 2 followers, both being members of your family, you clearly doing something wrong.
7. SM work are not to be outsourced
It’s a tricky one. Let’s put it this way – if your company has budget, personnel and time to plan and carry out SM activities – it totally should. But in case you having trouble putting an SMM department together, or you simply want to get access to professionals with greater expertise – consider full or partial outsourcing. It’s easier than you think, considering a vast market and costs up to 1/3 of a standard SMM department budget.