Part Four in a Four-Part Series: Common Objections to Social Media

Be Patient. Results Will Be There

At the end of my previous post in this series I hinted that the biblical figure Job would have been very successful with social media. Did you get the reference? Let me explain: Job had in abundance the quality that many of us lack but need more of to successfully manage a social marketing campaign. Patience. Social media marketing has to be understood as a long-term commitment. Unfortunately, this is not a comfortable outlook for today’s  business leaders who are expected to produce results quickly. That’s why we find so many marketers today complaining that they tried social marketing and it doesn’t work. Really? How long did you give it? Two weeks? Three weeks. Here’s the answer: you didn’t give it long enough.

Okay, Then. How Long is Long Enough?

Let me share a true story quickly. In my younger days my friends and I became interested in eastern religions. It was New York in the sixties. Enough said. We were enthralled with the notion of spiritual enlightenment, this place of perfect peace and equilibrium. To get there we were told, we needed to meditate twice daily. Once first thing in the morning and again before going to bed. One of our crew was particularly disciplined with his daily meditation. After a month or so I asked him how it was going. I was surprised by his answer. “I quit. I meditated for thirty minutes every morning and every night for three weeks and I’m still not enlightened. This meditation stuff just doesn’t work”. See where I’m going with this? Did he give it enough time? Was the time he gave it appropriate given the goal?

Define Your Social Media Marketing Goals First

Break your larger marketing goals into smaller, easier to manage  pieces. Your first goal might be to get people to sign up for your newsletter. In that case you can use your social media tools to point people to your newsletter sign up page. Next you may want to get people to sign up for your webinar. After that you may want people to download a white paper. Once you’ve clearly defined you goals you can come back after a month or so into your social marketing campaign and see how you are doing. Soon you will have a good feel for how long is long enough.

Summary

• Be patient. I know it’s hard but it pays off
• Make sure you understand the social tools you are using. If you don’t, get help
• Break your larger marketing objective into smaller goals that can be tracked and monitored

Have you abandoned social media because you thought you gave it enough time and it just wasn’t working? Can you be persuaded to try again?

Photo Credit: The Inspiration Room