Everyone talks about being in social media: Facebook, Twitter … and many companies believing in what “everyone says” ventured into these media without strategy, without knowledge of them, even more, without even being convinced of their effectiveness.

Launching the adventure of social media, without a doubt requires a sure conviction and the necessary predisposition to achieve the objectives in a coherent way, but with effort, time and dedication. Without it, it may be better to think if we are really prepared for “our initiation.”

Therefore, we will highlight some factors to take into account before entering and develop any type of marketing strategy in social media.

• Your business is not ready. You do not have a real and tested product or service. You do not have or have not updated your website in years. You do not have marketing goals and objectives. Social media should be at the end of this list, do not start before having your market, product and marketing strategies well defined.
• You look for a short-term solution. This is abundant in SMEs, all want results immediately and social media are not. To obtain results in it requires a lot of work, time and perseverance. Who is selling them immediate results, the truth is that they are being cheated.
• Your boss does not believe in them. As a SME consultant, they do not know how many times I have seen this, and the truth is that 80% of the time it ends badly. If your boss is not aware and convinced of the importance and relevance of these media in your business and brand strategy, the truth is that no matter how much you like them and are good at social media, you will not have the necessary support to achieve results. Start by convincing your boss before.
• You want them to directly impact the ROI (Return on Investment). The reality is that it will impact, but not necessarily directly. Social media, as in personal relationships, requires time and trust. Example: You follow me on Twitter and you enter one of my posts on my blog, you like it and you subscribe. They spend 2 months and you want to use a Facebook strategy in your company, you look for me and you start to follow me on Facebook. A month goes by and you realize that you need help for your company: you are ready to buy. To get to the purchase, there is a time when we know each other virtually and confidence begins to grow. The times differ depending on the brand, the product, its positioning, location, etc. but the reality is that the decision-making process and the factors that influence the final decision can be varied.
• Your employees do not believe in them. The management of social media in a company implies the active participation of them, either contributing value content, creating online reputation or simply helping in the operation of the same, in one way or another as in any marketing strategy is essential that Your staff is agreed on what you are doing. In many companies managers and managers still think that their support in these media is a waste of their valuable time and a whim more than their boss. If this is your case, before starting, convince your staff.
• You do not want to generate content. If you do not like or do not have who generates content: articles, news, searches, recommendations, videos, photos, etc. The truth is that neither to enter social media, as they are channels to share content. First elaborate a content plan and talk with your staff to define very well how to do it, what to publish, how, when, etc. Once you start, it seems fatal that you do not continue, or even worse, that what you post is just advertising your brand.
• You do not like the changes. Forget this!!! Social media changes constantly all the time, applications and platforms too. You must learn to keep up and keep yourself updated permanently. Yesterday the coolest were the Blogs, today is the video marketing and tomorrow is the geolocation and mobile marketing. And in this race you can not get off without looking bad.
• You do not have time . Working in social media requires time … and QUALITY time. I’m not saying it should be yours, but it should be someone’s.
• You have no budget for Social Media. I will not tire of telling you that this is not 100% free, many tools are, but the strategy behind them is not. Besides that there are many applications and platforms that can simplify your work and that have a low cost. Imagine that you deliver to the best master builder of cement, bricks and tools … do you think that only with this can you build a beautiful house? I do not think so either … J
• You do not want to give away your experience. Uppss this is so common, social media leads us to a new way of thinking … “Do you want me to publish in a Blog how to make a marketing plan? FREE? “Many companies still have this mentality, but the reality is that if you do not share an important part of your experience and knowledge (Know How) you will not be sharing valuable content and you will not be able to show people who you are and why they should hire you or buy you, do not you think?

As always I hope that this brief information will serve you. It will give me great pleasure if you can leave your comment right here.