6 myths regarding social media and the role it can play in your business

I posted the following question on Linkedin a few weeks ago.  “I am doing some research on tools that can help my clients monitor different social streams and respond in real time. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on what works and what doesn’t.” I love using LinkedIn because I consider the people I am connected to a vital part of my expert network and I value their input.  I received a few responses that recommended tools like Hootsuite and TweetDeck. I received one response in particular that stood out from the rest. It was from a business professional, which I will reefer to as Bob.

Do you monitor the social results of your dinner parties? Do you monitor the social results of the crowds and sports stadiums? Do you monitor the social results of people you meet while commuting? If not, then why waste even more time monitoring social results on the web. Do work you will get paid for. Don’t make work for work sake.

In my opinion Bob raised a few valid points. He also shares the views of other members in the business community regarding social media that I have consulted with. In my opinion many people truly don’t understand what social media is and what social media is not.

Even with the traction that social media has gained over the last few years many people in the business community are either afraid to adapt, or choose not to. There are so many myths surrounding social media and I want to talk about a few of the ones that I have heard in this post.

Keep in mind that when I reefer to social media I am talking about a messaging platform used to facilitate communication between human beings.

Myth #1

All media is social.

I disagree traditional forms of media push their message. Tools like Twitter, Linked in, and Facebook promote active conversation through participation. For example; I asked a question that inspired this post on LinkedIn, and I received 14 responses almost immediately. Some of those responses progressed to e-mail conversations, as was the case with Bob’s response. Had it not been for LinkedIn the chances are that I probably would never have had a conversation with Bob regarding social media.

Traditional forms of media cannot produce the same instantaneous results, as they do on a social network. Social media allows you to connect with people, experts, customers while building brand recognition and identity.

Myth #2

Social media requires special equipment subscriptions and special software to work, it is too complicated to succeed long-term.

Most social sites are free to use and require no special software or hardware. All you have to do is simply log on, find a network, create a user account, post some content, and begin to find people to interact with.

It is a good idea to read the terms of service (TOS) of each site you join before you begin, the TOS will tell you what is and what is not acceptable for that network.

As far as being too complicated to succeed. There are learning curves associated with different social sites, luckily for you there are many third party resources and blogs to help you get started.

As far as long-term growth and success. People have been communicating in some form since the dawn of time and I imagine will continue long after we are gone. The social sites we use today are the precursors for the tools we will use tomorrow. As long as a business has a message to communicate they will need a vehicle to make that happen.

Myth #3

Social marketing is more accurate. Use your connections just to sell them stuff, I don’t think so!

I agree, some people use social channels solely to pimp their products and services and bring no value to their community a.k.a as spam, (i.e. marketing the newest, latest, best of breed gadget over and over and over again.) Instead, I choose to use social media to build relationships, learn from, lead gen, brand management, competitive research, brand awareness, customer support, community out reach, aide my seo efforts, and communicate with people that I may never had the ability to reach using traditional marketing methods.

Yes I do want people to be aware of my product or service but I also want to offer value through sharing other information.

Don’t confuse using social media tools like Linked in, or Facebook as having a social media strategy.

A social media strategy is knowing how to effectively use those tools to communicate your message. Your connections should be used to build relationships with. If someone winds up needing your product or service; bonus!

Myth #4

People that use social media to market have no interested to learn about me, care about me, or help me. They just want to take from me. They want to leverage my years of trusted connections for nothing in kind.

This is not exclusive to social media, unfortunately many businesses operate in this fashion. I wrote a post on this very subject you may find interesting, My name is customer how well do you want to know me.

Most people forget that social media is about engagement and interaction with the people that you are connected with, If you are building relationships it will be impossible not to know and understand about someone’s business, more importantly how you can add value to their lives and business.

Myth #5

You don’t see business embracing this ‘social media’ craze openly because they can’t run the numbers to support it.

Have you heard of Burger King, Starbucks, Sun Microsystems, IBM, Zappos, Comcast, Ford Motor Company, and Dell just to name a few.

These companies invest time money and other resources promoting their brands through social media. How many times do you see companies linking to there social media channels by telling people to “friend us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter?”

Social media levels the playing field in terms of reaching your particular target market.

According to a survey conducted by marketing profs.

• Among social media platforms, social networks are the most commonly used (87%), followed by blogs (58%), multimedia sharing (58%), micro-blogs (e.g., Twitter) (53%), and review sites and forums (22%).
• 69% of business execs say the use of social media in their organization will grow significantly over the next few years, and 32% say social media has been designated a high priority by their organization’s senior executives.
• 46% say social media is an important component of their overall marketing strategy.
• 50% say until they’re able to measure the impact of social media marketing, it will not be taken seriously in their organizations.

Myth # 6

Business is not about popularity contests, it is all about consistently creating revenue through sales of things people value.

There is a difference between popularity and Sustainability. Business/sales is about providing a solution that adds value to the person buying it. Your main objective should not always be focused on generating revenue. Take some time to build relationships and share industry knowledge first, which in turn will result in revenue.

People will buy from people or companies they like and trust. Having a social media strategy can help build trusted relationships on a local and national level.

In order to succeed in business your business needs to be on the minds of people when they are in the decision making progress and when they are ready to make a purchase, if you are not, your competitors will be. Creating a social media strategy designed around relationship building will help you generate revenue while providing added value to your clients.

Regardless of what your thought are, social media is here to stay. Over the next decade it will play a more powerful role in the way people and businesses communicate with each other. As with any new medium there will always be doubts, skeptics, early adapters, and non conformists.

People felt the same about having a website for business and using the internet for commerce.

What are your thoughts.