3 Things Social Simply Can’t Do For You
Social media marketing can do a lot of things for you and your business. That’s the party line, and it works. Social can help you with things like:
Building trust and authority
Social media puts you right in the thick of things with the consumer. When they ask questions, you’re there to answer. The more often you answer questions – and leave the sales out of it -, the more likely people are to think of a question, remember you, and go directly to you for the answer. They begin to trust you to answer, which, in turn, builds a sense of authority when they think of you and/or your business.
Bringing publicity
If you’re a small business owner, and especially if you’re first starting out, it’s hard to be noticed. You’re one small fish in a huge ocean full of monstrosities – the Walmarts, Targets, and Amazons of the world. Social media can help bring you the publicity you wouldn’t otherwise get, because it brings you immediately into the consumer’s eyesight.
Bringing traffic
Yes, you will get traffic using social media. Without a plan, you can’t guarantee the quality; more traffic doesn’t guarantee sales; you may not get a lot of traffic. All those things aside, however, social does bring traffic.
Ranking
Back in December 2010, Matt Cutts (head of Google’s Webspam Team, if you don’t recognize the name) spilled the beans to the public at large. Yes, Google uses social signals as ranking factors. Of course, he was quick to point out it was a new development that hadn’t been the case a few months before. Hmmm….
Anyway, Google conspiracy theories and potential cover-ups aside, this means social really can help your site rank. What it doesn’t mean is that you should go out and post links all over the place. You can’t just have all your friends retweet you. It doesn’t work like that. In fact, it works much like site votes do:
Person A posts links
![clip_image002[1]](http://www.searchenginepeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/clip_image0021.gif "clip_image002[1]"){kind=small}
Important People retweet and talk about these links
![clip_image002[2]](http://www.searchenginepeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/clip_image0022.gif "clip_image002[2]"){kind=small}
Person A becomes an Authority
![clip_image002[3]](http://www.searchenginepeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/clip_image0023.gif "clip_image002[3]"){kind=small}
You post links
![clip_image002[4]](http://www.searchenginepeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/clip_image0024.gif "clip_image002[4]"){kind=small}
Person A, with Authority, retweets your link and talks about it, giving it more weight
![clip_image002[5]](http://www.searchenginepeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/clip_image0025.gif "clip_image002[5]"){kind=small}
Wash, rinse, repeat
The list is a simplified version, of course, but you get the gist; social, with all its conversations, retweets, links and so on, can help boost your site’s authority (and thus, its rank).
Why, social is the end all and be all of online marketing
Social media is the saving grace of businesses everywhere. If your business is dying, just jump on the social media bandwagon and all your dreams come true… ish.
Okay, so there was a heavy dose of sarcasm there, mixed with the truth. Social media marketing really can do many things, but there are a few it can’t do – and those few things are doozies.
Social Media Can’t Save You From Yourself
It doesn’t take very much communication to get an idea of a person. Social media can’t change the innate qualities that make you who you are. For example, if the majority of people in the “real world” think you’re a douche bag, chances are the majority of your social connections will, too.
On the other hand, you can’t pretend to be something you’re not. A persona can’t be kept up for long without holes appearing in the façade. Be yourself – save the role-playing for things like Dungeons and Dragons.
Social Media Can’t Turn Coal Into Diamonds
If you’re using social media marketing to bring people to your site, the content has to stand up to the original promise. In other words, if you’re good at writing interesting one-liners and your tweets get a lot of traffic, the content had better be interesting, as well. If your content is crap, social can’t turn it into starlet quality.
As well, social media can’t turn a poor site into a fantastic one, and it can’t sell products or services people aren’t interested in. It can’t give sex appeal to hemorrhoid products; it can’t turn “making custom banana peel shoes” into a high-demand service.
What it can do is give great feedback to help you improve these things; however, you have to be willing to listen. –And, once you listen, you have to be willing to take constructive criticism and make a change. For instance, you can’t take criticism and respond negatively on a social platform; people are watching.
Social Media Can’t Be A Quick Fix
You can’t hop onto a social media because you have a reputation problem and expect that problem to go away. You can’t start tweeting because sales are plummeting and see sales flourish once more. To have any kind of affect in the case of bad PR or plummeting sales, your social media accounts have to already be established. You have to have the connections in place before they can do any good.
Social media marketing isn’t quick. It’s time consuming and can’t be completely automated. In fact, the only companies who see “instant” success on social networks are companies like Google or Ford. In other words, companies that are already well loved and have a loyal following. They had the connections in place through brand trust long before social media came along.
Social Isn’t Your Honey Pot
A lot of people hop on social media platforms expecting great things – and great things can happen. However, it takes time, patience and dedication to the cause to even begin to see movement. It’s not your honey pot of “all things good for my business”. You can’t just reach in and grab up success.
With all that in mind, knowing what social can and can’t do for you, don’t get discouraged just because it’s been a month and you only have 100 followers. That’s good for small business owners just starting out. Just like it takes time to build real world relationships, it takes time to build online connections. Be realistic about what you expect and have a plan in action; these two things can make all the difference on how well your social experience turns out.
For the past twenty years Gabriella has held positions as a consultant, web developer and creative director until she decided it was time to open Level 343, an SEO and copywriting company. She fancies herself an Italian rocker, rebel and SEO geek. She loves singing in the shower and keeps a notepad next to her bed.
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Thanks,
great post.
=)
steveplunkett recently posted: Pushing the edge of digital
Steve, you are too sweet! xo
Gabriella Sannino recently posted: Is Your Blog’s Comment System Inviting or Pushing Away?
You are so right about reputation management, Gabriella. Some think that just by saying "it is not true" people will immediately believe it. What escapes most social media joiners is that you have to have your reputation *first*, your social media presence and followers established before you can start defending your brand reputation online.
Lyena Solomon recently posted: PPC or SEO?
I cannot tell you how many referrals I get simply on our reputation. It's been awesome, in my world it's simply an extension of who I am and how I do business. Period. End of story.
Gabriella Sannino recently posted: SEO Definitions: Gaining a Deeper Understanding of SEO Terminology