Looking One by One at the Top 8 Excuses for Not Using the Power of Social Media Marketing

I wrote a guest post for the site FastGush.com on the "Top 8 Excuses for Not Using the Power of Social Media Marketing."

Now for the Miller Mosaic Social Media Marketing blog I'm planning to write a separate post on each excuse.

Let's take the first excuse in the guest post:

1. I don't have time to do social media

Now this is often said by someone who is not active on social media already and doesn't really understand how to use it as a business tool. Thus the person has no idea how much time would be needed to be effective.

Yes, in the beginning it takes time to learn how to utilize social media effectively. But once the learning curve is gotten over and you have a specific strategy for your own company, you can participate effectively in about a total of 30 minutes per day five days a week.

Do you make time to brush your teeth every day? (Okay, flossing is another thing.) And do you periodically go to the dentist for a cleaning and a checkup?

Taking care of our teeth is a productive habit we've learned in order to hopefully prevent the need to have all false teeth when we're older.

Using social media to promote (NOT sell) our business is something we can learn to do in order to hopefully prevent our business from falling so far behind our competitors that we may never catch up.

If you don't yet believe that NOT adapting to social media can put your business at a huge disadvantage, spring for buying the new book THE THANK YOU ECONOMY by Gary Vaynerchuk.

Read the book and you should be convinced to jerk your head out of the sand where you may have been hiding until now.

Just like any other important personal or business activity, you learn how to do the activity well (or you learn its importance and then hire someone to do it well for you). Then you figure out how to strategically work the activity into your daily schedule.

If you are worried about getting addicted and having social media become a time drainer, then set an alarm clock for a specific set of minutes when you carry out your social media activity strategy. When the bell rings you're out of there – until the next timed session.

Or schedule your social media session as part of your morning coffee break. Instead of watching the latest joke videos on YouTube, drink your coffee while participating in social media conversations.

Yes, you may be giving up a few laughs. But you could be saving yourself from crying when your business goes down the tubes because you weren't paying attention to what is happening on social media sites.

It's like anything else that is worth doing. Once you understand the mechanics of the social media tools and have come up with a strategy for using the tools for your own business, you can get into the groove of effectively participating on social media.

Okay, so we've gotten rid of this excuse. Stay tuned for more excuse-banishing blog posts.

(You can read all 8 excuses now on FastGush.com.)

© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic LLC.



Get the free information "8 Social Media Marketing Mistakes" and "Social Media Marketing Does Not Magically Work; You Have to Work It" at www.facebook.com/millermosaicsocialmedia