Don’t Miss The Point: Social Media Isn’t Just About Getting More Sales

October 18, 2010 / in Social Media / by Mic Johnson

We spend time every week talking to clients and prospects about social media. Inevitably when the question comes up “Why does your company want to engage in social media?”, people answer “To get more sales.”

Well, yes, of course every business wants that, but if you enter the social media world with that narrow focus, you are missing out on all of the other things that effective social media execution does for you, your employees, your customers, and your business.

So let’s first take a look at WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA ISN’T and then we’ll take a look at WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA IS.

SOCIAL MEDIA ISN’T…….

• Just about getting sales.
• Just something your company needs to do “on the side” because everyone is talking about it.
• Something that you simply assign one employee to “manage”.
• Not worth your time just because you don’t understand it.
• Just for people to tell you what they ate for lunch.
• Just for the younger generation.
• Something that people that have nothing better to do waste their time on.
• A fad that is going to go away like email or the internet. (Were you one of those people?)
• Something that takes your employees and company away from the “real work” that needs to get done.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS……

• An opportunity to engage your customers and prospects in an entirely new and meaningful way.
• A powerful medium that opens doors that many companies don’t even realize exist. Ignoring it doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
• Something that separates authentic companies from the pretenders.
• An opportunity to completely re-energize your company and re-engage the creativity that is inside every one of your employees.
• A vehicle that provides the opportunity for a MASSIVE cultural shift for your company.
• An entirely new way to stay top of mind with your customers and prospects.
• A chance to share the amazing stories that happen each week in your company.
• An opportunity for you to look closely at your corporate culture and then share it with the rest of the world.
• A forum that lets you share how your company and employees give back to the community you live and work in.

There are numerous benefits to social media, but the bottom line is this: If your company commits to a social media strategy that focuses on engaging people and creating consistent, authentic, relevant content, then you will see an increase in sales. It won’t happen overnight…but it will happen.

Business is about relationships. Social media is about relationships.

Put the two together and….well….you get the POINT.