The Social Media Marketer

Marketing your business through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ is the latest craze in the world of marketing. Incredible stories of increased sales and profits that appear to occur almost overnight grace the pages of all the business magazines and websites.

While it's true that social media can increase your SEO results and move your business to the top of the search results page, there are a few key truths that small business owners should keep in mind when venturing into the world of social media marketing.

1. A social media marketing strategy is not a cure-all for your business woes. It won't magically make all of your operational and financial issues go away, and it is unlikely to immediately double or triple sales. Correctly implemented, a marketing plan using social media can help build brand awareness and increase visits to your website to help improve sales and increase profit, but don't expect it to solve all your business problems.
2. Social media marketing is a tool, not a goal for businesses. It is very easy to become consumed by online social activity in the course of posting status updates and sharing useful content with followers. Remember that it is NOT the goal of your business! Some individuals find it very difficult to avoid the "social" aspect of social media marketing, but as a businessperson you are using it as a means to help you sell your products and services to new and existing customers. Call on your inner boss to remind yourself that it is just one of the tools in your marketing toolbox, and exercise some self-discipline on the social media sites, at least during working hours.
3. All social media sites are NOT equally effective for all businesses. It is easy to get excited when reading about the success of other startups using Pinterest or Facebook to get sales leads and grow their businesses. However, unless they are in the very same business and market as you, your business Pinterest or Facebook account is probably not going to generate exactly the same results as theirs did. Instead, begin by identifying the demographic of your target customer when choosing social media sites for your business, and work on creating a following there.
4. Building a business social media presence takes time and hard work. Posting a few random tweets or updating the status on your Facebook merchant page when you have time will do little to build your brand and business through a social media site. An effective social media marketing strategy requires planning, scheduling, and a consistent daily effort. In addition to posting useful content to benefit your readers, businesses must allow time to respond to comments and concerns, as well as to interact with your followers. Social marketing professionals often recommend scheduling at least one to two hours each day to work on your social marketing plans.
5. Marketing your business through social media sites is not free. Many believe that social media marketing doesn't cost anything, and that is far from the case. The cost of using social media for marketing a business is quite simply the time. While there may not be fees charged by the social media sites, someone has to spend the time to maintain the account, post updates and interact with followers. This may be completed either by a paid employee, contract freelancer or a business owner who could be making money actually engaged in the activity of their business.

Social media sites continue to grow at an astounding pace.  As of early 2012, there are almost 850 million Facebook accounts and over 465 million Twitter accounts, with more added by the minute. While there are many opportunities for businesses to use social media as a powerful marketing tool, entrepreneurs should be aware of the truths about this type of marketing and avoid making social media marketing mistakes.