Avoid Unrealistic Expectations of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is NOT an overnight miracle worker.



If your company is starting from ground zero – no social media presence, no email marketing list, no social media friendly website, no blog – you have to commit to effective social media participation for several months before looking for a good return on your time and effort investment.



If, for example, you suddenly realize you need more people to sign on for a project of your business that doesn't offer many (if any) benefits for the actual participants, you cannot hope to attract these people immediately.

You need to spend time online engaging with them, conversing with them, getting them interested in the value of your project.

Perhaps, if you are willing to spend a great deal of money on expensive prizes in a well-executed social media contest or give-away across multiple platforms, you may get a reasonable number of people to immediately say yes to what you need them to do.

But, I suspect, the prizes better be really good and you would need to offer the same prizes to several winners.

The ideal time to start a social media marketing program for your company is BEFORE you need more customers, clients or project participants. And the social media participation should be part of an overall integrated marketing plan that includes efforts in addition to social media.

If you still need more motivation to start harnessing the power of social media, read my guest article "Jumping on the Social Media Bandwagon" for Motivated Magazine.

And if you want to take a first step towards understanding the power of social media, sign up for the how-to training on the basics of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter featured in our upcoming social media 3-part webinar series starting Tuesday, March 29th.

© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic LLC.