Don’t get caught up in the obsession of social media. There are great marketing opportunities in social but it’s important that you’re not just joining for the sake of being there.

Take the time to learn about your customers. Find out which network is likely to bring the largest return on investment and start planning. A properly executed strategy can lead to incredible brand growth. On the other hand, rushing to the latest trend is likely to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

Stop Doing Things Just to Do Them

By the way this is my first shot at making a video – cut me some slack!

Transcript:

Stop doing things just to do them. Before social media existed, people spent more time and effort evaluating the return on their marketing investments.

So why did this change? Is social media marketing really so different?

New digital advertising channels like Pinterest, Instagram and snapchat are foreign to business owners and managers.

Even traditional marketing professionals aren’t familiar with the latest techniques and trends which can cause them to become uneasy or skeptical. So why do they register?

Generally, somebody is telling them “you really need to sign up for Facebook!” or “why aren’t you on Pinterest, didn’t you see how well New Age Fruit Smoothies is doing?”

It sounds like they’re right doesn’t it? I’m not here to tell you that you shouldn’t be on Facebook or Pinterest, I’m just suggesting that you really evaluate your options first.

So what SHOULD you be doing?

Planning, research and most importantly just taking a look at your target market. If you are in the business of selling sprockets to men over 50 does Instagram still make sense?

Probably not. Does that mean you should stay off of social media all together? nope, That’s not right either.

Take the time to find where your customers really are – research consumer trends, infographics and marketing reports to figure out where you’re likely to find potential customers

You might say: “But I have a boring product- there’s no room for it on social media!”

Not true! Have you seen what Lowes is doing on Vine?

They have taken common home tasks and put them in small, well packaged instructional videos. Sure, changing a lightbulb isn’t exciting but when it’s presented in an entertaining manner people may still be interested.

So, Let’s recap:

Learn about your customer

Be honest… It’s probably been a few years since you’ve really stepped back to think about who your customers are (right?)

You don’t have to start new, just get your focus back and see where social media fits into your strategy. After all, there are MILLIONS of users waiting to consume content. It’s your job to find them and engage!