Why don’t more companies use social media networking?

There are a plethora of reasons why many companies are shying away from social media marketing. First of all there is a big stigma about who is on social media. Many companies believe that social media is just for kids and teens but on the contrary the largest growing demographic on facebook is adults 35+ in age (check out http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics for details & stats for facebook).

There is also a great fear about control. It’s very hard to control social media if you don’t know what you are doing. When you put yourself out there people will talk, both good and bad can come of that. What I think people need to understand is the bad comments are not as bad if you can talk to those people and fix their issues. (by people I mean clients) This turns into a great conversation with hopefully good results thus the purpose of Social Media… It’s all about conversation. Apart from what the outside world is saying about you, you also need to worry about what your employees are saying about you. This is why it is very important to establish some social media polices that all employees adhere too.

The other thing that businesses do not get is that Social Media is not all about selling to people. It’s about building a following, increasing your brand and becoming a resource in your industry. Like I said it’s all about conversation. You can sell a little but if you do it too much people will see you as a spammer and eventually you will not have a following anymore.

Fear really can play into this whole thing too. Many of the decision makers in businesses are not necessarily internet savvy thus they do not always see the value. If you work for a company that does not see the value in social media but you would like to participate then you might have to do some homework to show the decision makers why social media is valuable to the marketing mix. Education is key here.

That being said there are more and more businesses dipping their toes into the ocean of possibilities that Social Media offers. In fact I have had several requests in the past couple of months both from individuals and companies asking me who to talk to about setting up their social media. I think once a company can see the value and once they find someone who can manage the process they are more likely to jump into it.

Just remember that if social media is going to be valuable to you and your company you need to create value for your followers who participate in the conversation you start with your social media marketing.

I hope that you enjoyed this blog. If you would like to learn more about social media marketing please check out my blog at www.thecoloradogirlblog.com where I have several blogs and vlogs on the topic. Also if you would like to learn more about the company I work for, Campbell Homes, who is a local homebuilder in Colorado Springs please check us out online at http://www.campbellhomes.com or follow us on one of our many social media outlets.