Social media is free!

I hear it and read it a lot. I also hear social media saves time. Those are the biggest lies ever.

It’s very easy and fast (and free!!) to set up a Facebook page, and a Twitter account, and a YouTube channel, but…

…have you thought about having a strategy…?

…Have you thought about producing the content…?

…Have you thought about the ongoing execution - the “community manager” part…?

…Have you thought of getting your company internally ready (legal, guidelines for employees, initial training)…?

…Have you thought about measuring your online presence?

Getting the answers is going to take man hours. Lots of man hours. Multiply that by the pay scale of the person/people doing that research and your costs are already starting to go up.

None of these come cheap unless you already have someone in your company with the right skills and experience, and then again, you’d need more than one person to do all that.

Also, yes Facebook is free, but if you’d like a great page or a unique application you’ll need to invest a little $$$$. Not to mention that if you’re looking at having a YouTube channel you’ll need to invest in a camera and crew.

Compare that to a print ad and yes it’s clear that social media offers a cost-effective solution.

So, is social media marketing really free? Don’t take this as a reason not to hit the social media world to market your company, though. When you start putting together your social media marketing initiative, take a realistic look at the expenses involved. Identify the results you’ll need to generate a sufficient return on your marketing investment.

Social media marketing doesn’t have to be free to be effective; it just has to be well-planned.

Any help you know where to find me…;)