3 Reasons to Stick with Social Media

3 Reasons to Stick with Social Media

The term ‘social media’ gets mixed reviews these days. In the business community leaders sometimes just don’t know exactly what to think. Some of their thinking today include the following:

Should we dive into this? Is this social media stuff really what it’s cracked up to be?
What is our strategy? How do we know if it’s going “to work” for us?
We’ve already spent a fortune and cannot measure whether or not we’re seeing a return on our investment.
Can it even BE measured?
This is the greatest thing since sliced bread – we get tons of leads and new business is being developed because of our social media efforts every month.
Huh? I’m just not sure.
We don’t have the budget. Let’s stick to traditional and conventional marketing.
Blogging? How will that help us?
Should we do our social media in-house? Outsource it?

The list goes on and on and on – most of it being negative.

Before we go any further with this – let’s get a couple of things straight:

This isn’t some little thing we’re testing. Social media will be around and we’ll be using it for business from now until we drop dead. This isn’t a 90-day plan. This isn’t a six month plan. This is forever. Deal with it.
You have to think long-term. We’re not talking about grabbing a couple of new accounts over the next few weeks. We’re talking about developing huge networks of people over the next decade – some of whom become our largest customers and transform our business.

So having said all of that…here are 3 reasons to stick with social media:

Reason Number One

You need people – No matter what you do. I don’t care if you scrub toilets, operate on hearts, fix teeth, insure cars, run for President, or dig ditches…you have to have people. Those who have the most people – win. Over the next few years the companies that build the largest networks of people will find themselves swallowing up their competitors and their tiny little networks of existing customers. Are you going to be the guy with 200 FaceBook Fans or the gal with 10,000 fans obliterating her competitors? Creating massive networks of people is not difficult if you use social media and stick with it.

Reason Number Two

Things change – and they change FAST. Again – it comes down to people. You know exactly what you do right now – what you sell, who you sell to, and how you do it. But what about in six months? What about next year? What about in 2014? Utilizing social media allows you to make the necessary changes in light speed. Real time. if your network is large enough and you have a social media plan in place – you could go from selling just about any product or service to just about any other product or service – in the blink of an eye. That huge network you have created will buy ink cartridges just as well as they will buy tires. Maybe you should think of your network as a “distribution system” —- what you run thru that system is up to you.

Reason Number Three

Customer Service is no longer just a slogan. Customer service must be delivered in real time — LIVE. Gone are the days of returning phone calls or waiting until tomorrow to reply to that email. People are demanding REAL customer service. No more lip service. You cannot deliver it with a phone or an email account. I can hear some of you saying now…”…but we’re doing fine with the phone and email…”. I hear that. I can appreciate that. But understand this…it’s not lasting much longer. Your competitors will seize the opportunity and before you have time to react your customer base is gone.

Obviously there are many other considerations and reasons to stick with social media – maybe that’s another blog post. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this blog – please use the space below to comment.

3 Reasons to Stick with Social Media

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