SUMMARY: Myth-busting some social media urban legends.
There are some social media myths I hear stated as truth all the time. Here are some that I hear most often from real estate agents!
MYTH #1: YOU JUST *HAVE* TO BE ON CERTAIN HOT SITES
"Don't you have to be on Pinterest/Instagram/YouTube/Snapchat/Vine?"
"Can you get me on these 10 different social networks I've heard about?"
I've gotten used to these questions. Here's the answer: you need to be where you can do a great job engaging with your target audience in a way that builds your business and your brand.
I would strongly recommend that you be brilliant on one social network before moving on to another. I also wouldn't recommend adding social networks without a good reason to tell people you're branching out.
Quality still matters. Results still matter. Simply existing on this site or that one is not a marketing strategy. If you want to do a good job talking to an adult target audience in a way that helps your biz, the old favorites like Facebook and Pinterest will benefit you in a way that the trendy, new sites won't. Just because a network has buzz doesn't mean there's potential customers there.
Speaking of sites you "have to be on" ...
MYTH #2: BEING ON GOOGLE+ HELPS YOUR SEARCH RANKINGS
As the story goes, Google wants you to be on their social network, Google+ ("Google Plus") so much that they will inflate your search rankings to say "thanks."
Google is a lot of things, but at its heart, it is all about credible, trustworthy search results. Google definitely would like you to be a part of their social network. However, you have to wonder ... are they really going to mess with the core of their business to get you to do so?
C'mon, I wasn't born yesterday.
Doing a good job of building a social network anywhere ... including Google+ ... will help your search rankings. Sure, you could do so on Google+, which is sort of the deserted inner city neighborhood of social networks.
I'd rather go where the potential customers are, and improve my search rankings while getting a return on my investment at the same time.
MYTH #3: YOU CAN'T MEASURE SOCIAL MEDIA'S RETURN ON INVESTMENT
If you're being told this, it's time to find a new social media manager.
I've worked in different forms of media for a quarter century, and this one particularly galls me. There are a lot of social media experts who know a lot about social media ... but don't know anything about marketing strategy or getting results.
Social media is about ...
- finding the right target
- showing them the right content
- and doing so with the right execution.
Every click online is trackable. That means you can test again and again to make sure you are talking to the right target ... showing them the right content ... and executing your plan correctly. Measure those clicks, but also measure what turns into real-world success.
MYTH #4: I GOT A KID HELPING ME WITH SOCIAL MEDIA, AND THAT'S WHAT I NEED!
Okay.
You can do that.
Personally, I'd rather teach smart marketers how to use social media ... rather than rely on a 19-year-old for a comprehensive marketing strategy.
