How to Know if Social Media Marketing Will Work for Your Business

Will social media marketing work for your business?

It’s a question that I’m asked often.

More often than not, business owners could use social media for marketing, yet they don’t have what they need to support this type of marketing platform.

In this article, I’m going to discuss the six components required to more easily succeed at social media:

1. Content
2. Budget
3. Time
4. Fans
5. Expertise
6. Personality/Brand

Take a look at this list below to determine whether social media marketing is a tool that will work for your business. (There’s also an infographic near the end of the article.)

Let’s get started!

The Six Components You’ll Need for Social Media Marketing to Work for Your Business

Review this list to see if social media marketing is an effort that makes sense for you.

1) Content

Social media platforms require the consistent, frequent posting of attractive, engaging content. In the most basic of definitions, social media is tool for publishing content.

Your content not only needs to get noticed but also be relevant to your audience’s needs and desires. Some people believe you need a lot of content—and you might, but it depends on your goals.

What’s so important about content? Content has the ability to:

• highlight your knowledge;
• increase your authority;
• bring people to your website;
• get discovered in search engine searches;
• boost your search engine rankings;
• attract your ideal clients;
• engage with your audience;
• differentiate you from your competitors;
• communicate your value;
• sell your offers;
• promote your brand; and,
• increase your sales.

In today’s digital age, consumers can easily search the Internet for information about products, services, businesses, and people. They get the luxury of research long before they make a purchase.

While that’s awesome for consumers, it’s more work for marketers. Consumers’ access to information and choices means that we, as marketers and business owners, must produce valuable, lead-generating content on a regular basis.

Consumers’ access to information and choices means that we, as marketers and business owners, have to produce valuable, lead-generating content on a regular basis.

Before you even consider social media as a marketing tool, think about how much (or how little!) content you have to share and how you’re going to support ongoing production of more content.

2) Budget

You need money and resources for social media marketing. A budget allows you to invest in the right resources to ensure that your social media marketing efforts are worthwhile, targeted, and effective. If you don’t have a budget—even a small one—social media is not necessarily the right tool for you.

Social media marketing requires a monetary investment at some point. You’ll need to spend some money and time on content creation, tools, online training, and advertising (especially if you’re using Facebook).

And why wouldn’t you WANT to invest money in your business? These paid tools and services allow you to:

• streamline your processes;
• organize your efforts;
• improve your results;
• maximize your time; and,
• simplify your life.

I watch small business owners believe they are saving money by doing social media on a shoestring budget by themselves. However, for every moment you give to social media, you’re taking away from another task. This may be a necessity when you’re in startup mode.

If you’re going to do it yourself, make sure you have a proven process and plan in place so that you don’t waste your time. Speaking of time…

3) Time

No matter what, social media marketing takes time. Even if you hire out most of the tasks, you’ll need to be a part of content creation, strategy, and engagement—especially if you’re the face of your brand.

There is a misconception that social media is a fast-track to instant success in the form of sales. It’s not. If you want a quick win with little commitment, then social media marketing is not for you.

While social media advertising can produce results (and remember you need a budget for this), there is an investment in time somewhere in the process.

You’ll need to:

• Research your audience;
• Identify a goal for each platform;
• Determine your strategy;
• Outline your plan;
• Create content and whatever else you need to do to support your plan;
• Schedule your content to be posted;
• Dedicate time to daily engagement efforts;
• Measure your results; and,
• Incorporate these tasks into your routine.

Although time is an important requirement for social media marketing, you can develop processes to streamline these tasks. Be prepared to spend time on social media, and factor it into your marketing plan.

4) Fans

If you don’t have an interested, engaged audience of fans, then there won’t be anyone to listen or care. No fans = no sales. (By the way, if your ideal customer/client is not on social media, don’t waste your time!)

If your avatar is on social media, choose the right platform then build your following. Usually, you need content, a budget, and time to attract fans.

When you’re first starting out on social media, you probably won’t have a lot of fans. Over time, you’ll accumulate followers through your content, ad spend, and strategy.

If you’re investing in the first three components above, then you can usually tell in three to six months whether social media marketing is a tool that works for your particular business.

5) Expertise

A common thread with entrepreneurs and small business owners is the desire or financial need to take all business tasks and DIY (do-it-yourself).

As a seasoned marketing professional, I’ve watched hundreds of business owners do everything. But just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should!

Furthermore, succeeding in social media marketing is not only about taking action but also the right action, at the right time, with the right strategy.

Unless marketing is your niche/business, you’ll eventually find out that you’ll get better results 1) hiring an expert or 2) educating yourself and eventually becoming an expert (after experience and time).

Do not underestimate the value of knowing how to do a task versus winging it.

6) Personality/Brand

Last but certainly not least, if you’re going to try out social media marketing, you need a personality and brand that is social, outgoing, and communicative. After all, that’s the beauty of social media for business: to be social in your selling.

Social media is about forming relationships online with your fans. It’s about ongoing conversations. I’ve learned that often it feels as if I’m having a conversation with myself! But you find out, over time, that people are listening and you’re growing your audience through your content and posts.

Your conversations and postings are what create your brand and how your fans will connect and buy from you.

If you want to dominate the conversation with information about your products and sales, then social media marketing is not for you.

Social media fans want (and have come to expect) large amounts of quality freebies and relationship building before purchasing from you. (Which leads us back to content…)

Be certain that social media is a platform where you want to share, communicate, bond, and relate to others. If it’s not, forget about it!

Let’s Review

The truth is: social media isn’t the right marketing tool for every business.

You may not be ready to do what’s necessary to make social media marketing work for your business. Some people have better luck with other marketing tools, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

If you want social media to work for your business, you’re going to need these things first:

1. Content
2. Budget
3. Time
4. Fans
5. Expertise
6. Personality/Brand

Otherwise, you might want to stick with other marketing tools to promote your business.