Everyone tells me I need to use Social Media and I guess they’re right – but I find it confusing and it takes a lot of time which is the one thing I don’t have.
James Burchill, one of the city’s most shameless self-promoters, which is what has made him the success he is explains that “one of the main reasons this important task doesn’t get done is simply because it takes time. Let’s let him tell his story.
By James Burchill
August 31, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Social Media is time sensitive – if you’re going to do it – you have to do it right. Social media updates, these micro messages (while short) still require time to plan, to write, to consider the overall strategy (more on that later) and time to publish.
Time management and performance studies show an interruption costs us about 15 minutes of lost time before we are able to regain our former productivity. Assuming you had to stop 3 times a day and tweet, and 2 times a day to update your Facebook page, that’s 1 ¼ hrs just there — 17% of your day.
Think about it, add a little buffer to this and you’ll easily spend 20% of your time on this task … that’s easily ONE DAY PER WEEK spent on social media!
We can all write, they teach us this basic skill from a very early age but documenting your required groceries, or penning a letter to Aunt Maggy is not the same as crafting compelling copy for business use.
And being able to perform when required and ‘get creative’ takes practice and training. You’ve heard of writer’s block, – it’s a real phenomenon and professional writers have techniques to combat this wasteful problem.
Then there’s the issue that all professional writing is not created equal. I’ll let you in on a secret, within the hallowed halls of writers there exists a snobbery; a class system of sorts. At the risk of having ink spilled on me at the next writers ball, some writers craft content to inform, others to compel. Persuading your prospects and client to engage and interact with you is key.
If all you needed is time and the ability to write well then you are good to go – but it isn’t that simple. In fact it is quite complex. You need to know about the technology too. You need to know how to leverage the various platforms properly and ensure you don’t goof or post to early or too late. You need skills to make these byzantine platforms turn chaos into a symphony of concordant content.
Simply put, you need to know how to use the tools. And to keep things interesting, the programmers behind these tools keep changing the game! Blink and you’ll miss an update or some other neat new function.
It requires an overall integrated marketing strategy; working in a vacuum sucks – literally.
Creating any marketing messages and syndicating them at random is a recipe for failure. And if you imagine social media is all hip, cool and “off the cuff” then you are dancing with disaster.
Better to think of your marketing messages as sled dogs, they all need to be pulling in the same direction to gain traction and make head way.
It does yields results, if you do it right. And outsourcing the task gets it done on time and as agreed. You get results – guaranteed.
And further to this, the actual efforts yield, SEO lift, increased exposure and legitimate back-links to your target URL are huge values. SEO means Search engine optimization.
You also get additional results in the SERPS (Search Engines Results Page) listings – and any time you can secure another top 10 slot, it’s a space your competition cannot.
Google’s mandate has always been to provide the best answer (content) to those searching. Google is always updating its algorithms to single out and better reward unique content. So if you thought re-hashed, spun, or scraped content would work … Think again.
It becomes clear that making social media work for you means getting help. OK I’m biased because this is service my team and I offer our clients, so I’m not going to get into magical numbers that “prove” how much of a good deal it is to outsource. But if you sit down and really look at all the twiddly bits & pieces that go into this task each day/week/month … it adds up quickly and outsourcing costs a fraction of the typical annual salary equivalent.
Leads generated from social media content marketing are more likely to convert into business. The science behind this is solid and speaks to millions of years of behaviour. Think crowd sourcing, social proof, ‘monkey see, monkey do’ and a myriad of other psychological precepts.
Social Marketing content gets found – the first part of a successful online marketing strategy.
Social Marketing content gets shared – necessary for your message to move through the market.
Social Marketing content works 24/7/365. You pay once for its creation and syndication and it just keeps on working. The same can be said about articles too, the Return in Investment (ROI) is amazing!
James Burchill is the founder of the Social Fusion Network that sponsores a monthly get together where people network and do some great business. SFN is about connecting, promoting and supporting local business using social media and in-person networking events. It’s FREE to join your local SFN and membership includes all our chapters. He also sponsors the semi annual mini-trade show at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre. Learn more
