5 Truths the Boss Needs to Know About Social Media Marketing

Written by Dave Thomas - View Comments
Categories: Social Media, Social Media Marketing


For those of us who eat and breathe social media for a living, it is a no-brainer.

What about the skeptical company head who just doesn’t quite get social media? Can he or she be swayed to adopting a social media campaign for their business, a program that could lead to both increased brand exposure and better return on investment (ROI)?5 Truths the Boss Needs to Know About Social Media Marketing

As many social media professionals and those employees who are in-house and wish their company was more social can point out, selling the top individual at the business can be challenging at times.

The biggest snafu in instituting a social media campaign is oftentimes that the person in charge of the company reports they can’t see any clear ROI with such efforts, therefore, why waste the time in the first place?

If you have found resistance to getting a social media campaign off the ground either at your company or with businesses you have reached out to in order to provide such services, there are some things in your favor.

Be sure to note:

Truth #1. Social Media is Here to Stay

Although some will claim that social media is a fad that will go the way of Beanie Babies and New Coke, all indications are SM is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Given that today’s world revolves around the Internet for countless people, not having a social media game plan at one’s business is like starting a touchdown behind in a football game before the kickoff.

The old adage of those who snooze lose couldn’t be truer when it comes to social media;

Truth #2. We Have a Game Plan

Another area of resistance from some regarding social media is they do not know how to go about instituting a SM game plan.

Should I use Twitter? Facebook? Google+? LinkedIn? Should I do social media on a daily basis, a few days a week or every other week?

If you go to a company leader with a plan to employ social media in their daily business dealings, be sure you know what the goals are and how you can measure the goals (see below);

Truth #3. Social Media Can be Measured

One of the biggest areas of reluctance to social media by those in charge is that they feel they cannot see qualitative social media metrics.

Are we deploying social media correctly? Are we getting any ROI back for our efforts? Is social media bringing me new customer leads?

With the right analytical plan in place, you or the person in charge of a social media campaign at their respective business can successfully measure who is taking part in the social media campaign;

Truth #4. Time is of the Essence

Most individuals in charge of companies revolve around two things – time spent on doing a project and how much it will cost.

The cool thing with your social media campaigns, especially those done in-house, is that they cost relatively little other than time and effort. In many cases, the marketing team or Public relations head or staff will oversee social media efforts.

If you’re outsourcing such campaigns, while you will obviously pay an expense for such services, you are turning the program over to someone who hopefully is well versed in this area, thereby taking it off of your hands and that of your in-house team;

Truth #5. Numbers Don’t Lie

Facebook and Twitter are two of the top social media mediums and the numbers prove it. The two combined have in the area of 1 billion users.

Now imagine if you were getting your company name out in front of even just a few millions of those folks. Can you say big-time exposure?

Just having a company account/presence on those two sites alone can open the door to a ton of new customers. Even if the head of the company thinks social media is a waste of time, he or she can’t deny that exposing the business to millions of eyes can only help.

Whether you are a social media expert or you’re just an employee in-house who works for a company that has little or no social media exposure, pointing out the benefits of SM to those in charge of the business is a no-brainer.

At the end of the day, companies who prove not to be social stand a good chance of also being companies who end up being labeled anti-social by consumers.

Guest Author: Dave Thomas, who covers among other items starting a small business, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

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  • Ming Shao

    Good points Jeff. Thanks for sharing. 

  • http://twitter.com/MorganBarnhart Morgan Barnhart

    These are great arguments and ones I have given to quite a few old bosses (when I still had bosses). These arguments are rock solid and anyone with any business sense can clearly see the benefit of getting involved in social media. 

    But there are still those older generations that absolutely refuse to use anything but email marketing. I worked for a Scuba Diving shop once where the older gentleman than ran it just REFUSED to let me do anything to help his social presence, even though there was a huge demand for it. 

    I guess all we can do is propose the best strategy we can and hope for the best!

    Thanks for the post. :)

  • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

    Thanks for the comment Ming!

  • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

    Thanks for your comment and insights Morgan. The generational challenge is the biggest barrier to adoption and not every battle can be won!

  • Flabbergasted

    social media mediums?

  • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

    Yes, It is best to focus first rather than try and do too much especially if resources are limited, which is true for most companies.

  • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

    Thanks for the comment and the question. That sounds like the holy grail and I am sure that about 50 companies are working on it right now!

  • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

    Thanks for the insight and yes the opportunity cost is also a “real” factor!

  • http://www.teamphones.com/tag/redsnow redsnow

    Pretty good post, this is one of the best articles that I have ever seen! This is a great site and I have to Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up  and congratulate you on the content.

  • http://www.teamphones.com/tag/redsnow redsnow

    Pretty good post, this is one of the best articles that I have ever seen! This is a great site and I have to Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up  and congratulate you on the content.

  • http://www.teamphones.com/tag/redsnow redsnow

    Pretty good post, this is one of the best articles that I have ever seen! This is a great site and I have to Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up  and congratulate you on the content.

  • http://www.teamphones.com/tag/redsnow redsnow

    Pretty good post, this is one of the best articles that I have ever seen! This is a great site and I have to Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up  and congratulate you on the content.

  • http://www.newsflap.com/category/google/ Google

    It is really nice for me to see you and your great hard work again.Every piece of your work look excellent.Looking forward to learning more from you!

  • http://www.newsflap.com/category/google/ Google

    It is really nice for me to see you and your great hard work again.Every piece of your work look excellent.Looking forward to learning more from you!

  • http://www.newsflap.com/category/google/ Google

    It is really nice for me to see you and your great hard work again.Every piece of your work look excellent.Looking forward to learning more from you!

  • http://www.newsflap.com/category/google/ Google

    It is really nice for me to see you and your great hard work again.Every piece of your work look excellent.Looking forward to learning more from you!

  • http://www.newsflap.com/category/google/ Google

    It is really nice for me to see you and your great hard work again.Every piece of your work look excellent.Looking forward to learning more from you!

  • http://twitter.com/wwginger GingerWench

    I sure hope so! :) I think I just inspired my own new blog post lol! Thanks for responding, Jeff!

  • Gregwells1964

    Great posting.

    One thing I might add to this is a common theme amongst small and medium business execs that SM opens a company to a public “airing” of their dirty laundry. I have met countless business leaders that feel SM creates a public forum for unhappy customers to complain.

    My response to each one is simple –

    1. the conversation about customer dissatisfaction is going to go on with your input or without it. As the old saying goes, “a dissatisfied customer is likely to tell at least 7 others about their experience”….you know the rest of the story.

    2. the idea of SM is for you to embrace the dissatisfied customer, engage their concern publicly, address it privately, resolve it to a mutual satisfaction and then ask the now satisfied customer for a public testamonial via SM.

    In this new world of social media, as it relates to commerce, its not so much about extending the reach of the brand as it is about building the trustworthiness of the brand. This is as important to small and medium size businesses as it is to the national and global brands.

    My two cents…

    Greg Wells
    Twitter: GregWellsNYC

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  • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

    Thanks for the comment and always happy to provide some inspiration :)

  • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

    Thanks for the comment and insights Greg. Combining trust with large reach provides a brand with real power!

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