AKA:  Allowing Your Social Media to Grow

One of the questions (or concerns) that I sometimes get from my clients is, “How long will this take?”  Like most people, when I want something, I pretty much want it NOW.  The reality is, social media takes time to grow and reach it’s full efficacy.  It just does.  We ALL wish it would happen lightening fast, and in a matter of weeks we’d have thousands of new followers and hundreds of new sales.

The GREAT news is that it DOES work.  It’s been proven again and again that a huge piece of today’s marketing IS social media marketing.  The primary benefits are:  Increased exposure, increased traffic, marketplace insight, lead generation, developing loyal fans, improved search rankings (SEO), business partnership growth, reduced marketing expenses and increased sales.

I found an interesting quote by Tom Martin after interviewing several top social media experts: “So, how long do the leading digital thought leaders think it should take before your new social effort begins to show results?  Drumroll please……. well, on average… about six months.”

I personally have found this to be true.  Most people start to see results in about 6 months, and start to meet their larger goals in 12 – 24 months.  So, this is my “please remember to be patient” love note for you.

  But wait…Isn’t there a way to speed this up??  

Pour some gasoline on this baby??

1.  No…and YES!!!  There is nothing as proven as time to let things grow.  But there is also nothing like well-crafted social media ads to light a fire under it!  Social media ads can be run on almost any platform, for almost any budget. In addition to official ads, there are also less expensive “post boosts” on Facebook.

2.  Measurement, analysis and improvement.  I also recommend consistently looking at all your KPI’s (key performance indicators) to see what you can do to get better results.  Look at the optimal days for your posts, the optimal times of day to post, which of your posts get the most engagement, etc.

3.  Consistency.  Part of this social media game is just PLAYING.  Well-crafted, keyword-rich posts, put out across multiple platforms every week DO get results. When you’re consistent with your social media and using best-practices, success is inevitable.

~ Bridget Brady, Small Biz Amplifier