I’m a little tired of the hype around social media because its use seems so widely misunderstood.  Not surprisingly, the number one question I am asked when people hear I grow businesses for a living is, “How can we make money from our social media?” I’m also worried that other marketing professionals and small business owners are getting caught up in the hype and plowing precious marketing dollars into social media thinking it is the magic silver bullet that will fix their problems.  It isn’t.

Using social media won’t make your customers happier. Great customer service will.

Social media won’t fix your lead generation problem. A well-written, multi-media marketing campaign will.

Social media won’t fix your sales conversion rate. Choreographing your entire sales process will.

Social media won’t make you retain customers. Product innovation and consistent customer communications will.

And hiring an intern to manage your social media? Well, that won’t transform your company either.

There is a lot of hype, and too little realism around social media.  Social media is not a marketing strategy or technique, it’s a technology, a tool.  Social media can be ONE powerful tool among many in your marketing toolbox, but for many small businesses it’s an extremely costly and time-consuming tool that can be very slow to deliver returns.

Yes, there are ways to monetize social media.  But for the majority of businesses, using this tool as a reliable method of lead generation will grow their company at snail’s pace.  It simply doesn’t make sense for all businesses.  And it requires a ton of resources to upkeep. Instead there are far better ways to get quicker, and larger bangs for your marketing buck that involve a mix of cleverly executed online and offline advertising.  This is where you really should be focusing your attention.