“This social media stuff sounds nice, but is there really a point?”
You’ve heard this before. You tell them about the sea change. You give them an analogy about a flood coming. You tell them they can either build a levee or grab a surfboard. The analogy worked better in your head.
“I want real ROI. I want proof that Facebook will help me sell more widgets.”
You think of case studies. You scramble to think of statistics. You marvel at the demand there must be for widgets. Your mind spins in the million different ways you can answer this question. You think:
It’s not about Facebook. It’s not about Twitter. It’s definitely not about Chatroullete. Or surfboards.
It’s about the risk of missing out.
It’s about the risk of leaving your customer alone with your competitor in a space your customer really, really seems to like.
But they want numbers. They want the business reason. They ask again: “Why social media?”
Tell them because:
- Time spent on social networking sites increased 277% in 2009.
- Web users are 51% more likely to buy from your brand if they follow you on Facebook
- And are 60% more likely to recommend your brand
- Twitter served 10 billion Tweets
- Web users spends 6 hours a month with social media
- “If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more” ( Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki)
- 18% of all new content found online, is found through social media
- 70% of Internet users reported “trusting” consumer opinions posted in social media
- 86% of companies in the largest 100 of the Fortune 500 use social media [PDF]
- Google cares about your social network
Because whether you like it or not, your customers do. And there are a million other reasons.
When people ask you “why social media?” What do you say? Let me know in the comments and I’ll add them to the list.
[image: Bug-a-Lug (",)]
[inspiration: The Mirage of Social Media by @Zacharycohen]
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
And for people like me in the nonprofit world, it is about connecting with like minded individuals who I would never have met without twitter. It is to open my mind to conversations and ideas I never would have been a part of without twitter. It is to learn about amazing work and potential collaboration and visionary mind blowing organizations and people who I never would have heard about without twitter. It is the greatest networking event of all without all of the awkward moments, lousy food or cost. And you don’t have to dress up or even be there at a specific time or longer than you want to be. That’s why!!! Really great post, Andrew…thanks!
@Heidi: I couldn’t agree with you more. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for stopping by. You and I connected via Twitter, which is a living example of what you’re talking about. Social media lets us know others exist!