I now firmly believe that social media is often a waste of time and energy and not something to be advised for the average small to medium enterprise in Ireland. I speak with the experience of having put in a reasonable effort to run a social media campaign and I have implemented them on behalf of clients. Social media is no longer a novelty and because of that it is no longer something that can be done on the cheap. Therefore it is now time to re-evaluate it and consider the worth.
So what is the true cost of a Facebook page – work out how much your Facebook page is costing you at http://www.kro.ie/facebook.aspx.
Smir Balwani has wrote an excellent blog post which asks the next logical question – “Is Social Media Worth It?”
All comments appreciated, and in the spirit of true social media I have a €50 “one for all” voucher which I will post to the author of the best or most entertaining comment on this post over the next 2 weeks.
I think your post may well illustrate that social media isn’t for everyone and it certainly isn’t for you! Social media done properly requires strategy and can be implemented in 2 1/2 hours a week, less if you choose to use just one channel (anyone who is spending 5 hours a week on Facebook as suggested in your post is a fool!). Having seen your social media campaign in action I would suggest that there was no strategy and you didn’t really know how to use it to your advantage. If you were using these techniques for your customers this would also be why they didn’t benefit from it.
Looking at costs… how much does it cost to hire one good salesperson? The whole point of social media is to encourage others to sell your brand for you, giving them ownership through discussion and polls gives them the tools and the motivation to ‘evangelise’ about you and your brand. It’s pure marketing and it works, it works for me and I’ve examples of it working for all kinds of businesses big and small. It didn’t work for you because although you tried you didn’t understand what you were doing or how it worked.
At it’s bare minimum, by feeding your blog out to your social media channels you are improving your SEO because of the inbound links so it is never pointless.
P.S. Blogging and encouraging interaction through comments is social media… are you wasting your time??
I didn’t suggest 5 hours per week – you can choose any amount of hours in the dropdown. 2 hours at €400 per day would equate to €5546 per annum as the cost of maintaining a Facebook page.
A good salesperson in IT is about €40k per year, but they do sales not social media! Direct cost to benefit analysis can be calculated in seconds for a salesperson using a simple CRM tool.
I think you have hit on the problem I have with social media – you expect others to sell your brand for you. That is exactly why most companies Facebook page is “liked” by friends, family, business colleagues from their networking groups, and a few randomers. Nobody wants to sell your company for you. I have no interest in selling for anyone other than me.
Social media today is the equivalent of advertising in the 1950’s – it thinks people are stupid and that by entering their private world with your message they will run out and buy your product. That worked for a short period but I think it is over now. Social Media is the new SEO – mostly snake oil peddlers with a handful of genuine practitioners.
The one difference between blogging and Facebook is that a blog is not forced on anyone (except through Facebook and Twitter feeds). People choose to go and read a blog and if it is tacky or simple self promotion they will walk away. Companies on Facebook are encroaching on people’s privacy and good will. Just my 2c.