Stop Being Lazy: Why Social Media is Bad For Your Business

Don’t let the headline fool you. Marketing your business over social media can be an excellent decision. However, it’s easy to put more emphasis on those ‘Like’s and ‘RT’s than actual, money-making sales. Here are five reasons why you need to include other platforms as well into your overall marketing strategy.

1.  Social Media Makes You Anti-social

While establishing your online presence, it’s easy to mistake interaction with customers on social media with conversations with customers. Regardless of how active you are in your online community, it doesn’t take the place of good, old fashioned face-to-face or phone conversations.

2. Online Trends Are Fleeting

There are those that say social media will be around forever. That may be true, but how do you know where your customers will be congregating in 10 years? Facebook and Twitter might still exist. However, ten years ago, AOL and MySpace were major players online. Here’s some free advice: don’t include them today in your marketing plans.

3. Social Media Only Works For Certain Businesses

Depending on your business, social media may not pay dividends for you. For example, generally, if you sell service to other businesses, you could actually hurt your credibility by using social media to market yourself. That time is better used making in-person connections with executives and other decision makers.

4. Lack of Effective Language

Social media is constantly updated and timeliness is key. This leaves no time for businesses to perfect their message before releasing it to the masses. Messages to your followers should value quality over quantity.

5. There Are Better Ways

In marketing, old school is usually most effective. Nothing beats in-person communication with your customers. Social media shouldn’t be viewed as a marketing revolution to forsake all other platforms for. Instead, it is an additional weapon in your arsenal, but one that should be used wisely and with restraint.

For more information, check out Alex Goldfayn’s article on Mashable.