In the world of business, marketing strategies and techniques are riddled with myths, just to discourage people from using them. When social media became a popular marketing avenue or option for business owners, it had its own myths that discouraged traditional and old-school business owners from using them. Before the advent of Twitter and Facebook, it was considered a leap of faith for business owners to abandon traditional forms of marketing and use Internet marketing as a viable marketing option. So, what are these myths?
1.) Everybody’s on social media – Internet marketers will perpetuate these myths to business owners who think sites like Facebook can rake in millions of visitors. Internet marketers will do anything to hook business owners in, which is why this is the most prevalent myth. Facebook and Twitter may have millions of visitors, but it won’t guarantee that you’ll earn the same amount of visitors for your account or page. This is due to the fact that not everyone on social media is looking for you. If you’re using them, you need to set a realistic expectation on the kind of traffic you want to generate, like hundreds or a thousand a month.
2.) Social media requires special companies – Yes and no. Social media management is something that can be done in-house or you can hire companies to do it for you. The latter is often perpetuated as a myth to generate customers. Social media management is not that difficult. The concepts are easy to learn and the theories are easy to understand. There is no need for a specialized degree or graduate program to be considered as a social media guru.
3.)It generates traffic overnight – Again, yes and no. While they will boost traffic to your company website or office, it won’t be in the hundreds or thousands overnight. Traffic generation with social media is gradual. You’ll increase your traffic the more you work on your efforts, which will bring us to the next myth.
4.) It requires 8 hours of work and attention – This is not true. You’d only have to spend at least a couple of hours to update your Facebook or any other account. This is to ensure customers that the page or account is being managed and they can expect fresh updates from you. This also gives them an idea that your business’s account is an avenue for customer interaction, which is a huge bonus.
Social media may have its myths, but it shouldn’t stop business owners from taking advantage of using sites like Facebook and Twitter.
