Last month, both Forbes and USAToday ran stories on how social media isnât working for small businesses. The Forbes piece was titled, âWhy Small Businesses Are Losing On Social Media.â The USAToday piece was a bit stronger, âStudy: Social Media a Bust for Small Businesses.â
Both were in response to a survey recently released from Manta revealing that most small businesses (over 60%) donât see any return on investment (ROI) on their social-media activities. That bares repeating - most small businesses donât see any return.
When I came up with the title for this I was not yet aware of any of this. As a business owner myself whoâs done extensive research with years of direct personal experience with social media, I feel the need to share my perspective with fellow business owners trying to decide the best way to spend their marketing money.
The Manta study was not a surprise. Despite the social media hype, I know that many small business owners are having a hard time justifying the expense of a social media marketing effort - and for good reasons. For one, itâs hard to be certain what a social media marketing effort even means. Talk to four social media experts and thereâs a good chance youâll get four answers. Assuming you get an answer you like, itâs then hard to interpret the results.
Not a strong case for investing a ton of money, or time, in social media.
No one likes to be unclear about what theyâre paying for and thatâs especially true with small business owners. Itâs hard to spend hundreds, or thousands, on something you canât show or cleary explain to your spouse. While we know thereâs no guarantee on ROI (Return on Invesment), we like to see what weâre paying for and have a good sense of its value.
Youâd think things would be different from 100 years ago when John Wanamaker famously said, âHalf the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I donât know which half.â If he were commenting today, referencing social media, it wouldnât be, âHalf the money I spend is wastedâ, itâd be â60%.â
Social Media experts will argue that itâs not working for 60% of small business owners because they donât truly understand it, theyâre going about it wrong. Theyâre not working with the right people and theyâre not giving it enough time. All of those things may be true, and all of those things can be said about all marketing.
While some liken social media, and social media experts, to the necessary evil of auto maintenance and auto mechanics, journalist B.J. Mendelson takes it a bit further. He calls social media BS. In his new book, âSocial Media Is Bullshit,â Mendelson examines popular tales of social media âsuccessâ and reveals some unsettling truths behind the surface.
While I appreciate Mr. Mendelsonâs perspective, it seems harsh. Anything that provides a platform to present our product, service or perspective to our target audience and potentially engage them, isnât BS.
Confusing? Yes. Over-hyped? Probably.
However, Mr. Mendelson is right about one big BS aspect of social media: Facebook âFriendsâ and Twitter âFollowers.â As we all now know, most Facebook Friends arenât really friends and most Twitter Followers donât follow. Adds Regina Hartt of Harttâs Pool Plastering: âNo amount of Facebook Likes is going to sway a prospective customer to spend 5 to 40k on a pool plastering job.â
So, thatâs the problem I see with social media.
Even social media rock star, Gary Vaynerchuk, admits itâs a confusing landscape. I just returned from a Digital Summit where Vaynerchuk spoke and stated that âMarketing in 2013 has never been harder.â He then added, âBut you have no choice. You have to do marketing.â
Heâs right, we have to market. There just may be better ways to do it than with social media.
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