Why Social Media is NOT Good For Business

As a digital marketing consultant I hear all the time about how companies tried social media and it didn't work. This is disheartening to me because digital and social media does work as long as you have followed protocol and implemented processes and procedures to track results. Many times I see none of these things done with companies that aren't successful on social media. Social media is a tactic as part of the marketing plan and should be treated as such.

In a recent study done by Statista 78 percent of U.S. Americans have a social network profile and according to estimates, the number of worldwide social media users reached 1.96 billion. The company goes on to quote a Pew Research study stating that users are more often in suburban areas and earn over $75,000 annually. Potential customers are absolutely on social media.

Here are some questions to ask before you start doing social media for your company:

1. Has the company marketing plan been developed? If so, how does social media play into that plan? Social media is a great lead generation tool. If your company creates content such as whitepapers, blogs and email newsletters, using social media to push these items out to the masses is a great way to gain interest in your company.

2. What are your goals for social media? Are you using social media for branding, lead generation or as an employee retention and engagement tool? Each channel can serve multiple purposes but each channel and tactic should have a measurable goal.

3. What is your plan for tracking results and how often are you doing it? Each channel has analytics that can be pulled individually or you can use a tool such as Hootsuite, Rignite or Sprout Social among others. Hubspot has some great comprehensive analytics for your content marketing plan. Either way monthly, quarterly and annual reports should be pulled and results should be measured to make sure you're on target. You can read my blog here about analytics and what each channel has to offer and its importance.

In closing, without a plan, goals and tracking, no, social media will not work for any business. Actually, the same can be said for any marketing tactic. Just posting and expecting results will lead to disappointment and a belief that social media is not successful for business. Let me know if I can help you develop and implement your digital marketing plan

Originally published April 27, 2016.