McIntosh Marketing Blog

The world of social media can be so daunting that the task to get motivated and to persist in the first 6 months to a year is the most challenging task for the neophyte. One could comment here on tactics, but the skills of the “How To” in social media will take time to learn, develop and to perfect. I take that back. To be excellent, you will always be learning, if you want to stay ahead, and even then perfection is never truly reached. Social media marketing, like life itself, is a journey, not a destination.

I have often told people, “Just like your business, your efforts in social media will take some time to establish a presence and become a success.” This pithy statement makes sense and they usually see the point.

Ask any person if they expected instant and amazing success in a few weeks or even in a few months. Other than those few who are highly delusional, most business professionals and entrepreneurs know that success takes hard work, persistence and adapting to new elements so as to take advantage of opportunities, self-generated or those that appear as lucky break.

Too many jump into social media usually establishing a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Even fewer blog, and even fewer still go beyond that. When I ask how are their results, I usually hear that they are trying to get it up and running or that they do not see how it will produce a measurable result. They look back confused, yet hoping somehow that meandering within the social media circles will cure their economic ills.

I’m sorry, but social media and your blog is not snake oil, voodoo or black magic. Social media is serious business that represents real opportunities. Given a commitment to excellence, you will learn the knowledge, develop and retain the necessary skills and demand of yourself to persevere until a result is achieved. Hard facts, simple truths.

Green Bay Packer coaching legend, Vince Lombardi, once said, “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

There is no book we could share with you, nor any words or wisdom or technique that someone could teach you to replace your own outright determination to commit to excellence. Either your in and will commit or you will ultimately fail, all self-induced of course.

Here are some statistics from TrendWatching.com illustrating the ever-growing popwer of social media in our world:

• Twitter has more than 100 million users who send 50 million tweets a day.
• Facebook has close to 500 million users with an average of 135 friends each.
• LinkedIn has more than 65 million users, with a new user joining every second.
• Meetup, a social networking engine that creates real world events for members of virtual networks, has 6.1 million members.
• Nearly three quarters (73%) of online teens and (72%) young adults (72%) use social network sites. Seventy-three percent of adult profile owners use Facebook, 48% have a profile on MySpace and 14% use LinkedIn.

The challenges that social marketers and businesses face is the utilization of this massive network of potential clients and converting them into actual marketing ROI. What we are seeing are a face paced growth of social networking, but yet a lack of education at the most basic levels of the brick-and-mortar businesses on how to harness its power and growth.

While the numbers from this market research report are absolutely staggering, so is the disproportionate numbers of how few businesses are using social media correctly and consistently. But when it comes to blogs, according to an article in Bloomberg Businessweek, 71% of bloggers have increased positive visibility for their company. When utilized correctly, a blog can automatically feed its posts into the various social media outlets.

With your blog providing original content that is informative, educational and even entertaining, one now has a voice and a positive means to generate interest, new customers and eventual ROI. Social media can be a powerful means in which to distribute that message to literally millions when you know how.

I look forward to your comments or questions on this new research.