A Single Fix to Five Problems in the Social Media Craze!

To some small businesses, Social Media can seem like an infinite maze. To others, it can be a road to incredible success.  If you prefer the second option, and I am assuming you do, you need to overcome five major social media hurdles. 

If you ask a small business owner about the aspect s/he finds most challenging about social media, I believe the answer will be one (or some or all!) of the following:

Social Media is …

1. Overwhelming
2. Competitive
3. Immeasurable
4. Time Consuming
5. Unpredictable

My bold claim is that these so-called challenges are BIAS! These are just symptoms to a bigger problem that I will reveal later.

For now, I will shake your belief about each of them and offer “Quick fixes”   (But hang in there as the real fix is coming up later)

1. Is Social Media Really Overwhelming?

“You can’t swim without getting your feet wet.”  The same applies to social media since you have to start somewhere.

When confronted with the social media avalanche, some businesses do NOT jump at all for fear of drowning, while others jump throwing themselves carelessly in the middle of a stormy sea!

It goes without saying that both of them will fail miserably. So, if you want to succeed, you must…

Quick Fix 1: Pick a only few social networks  to start with and keep expanding them slowly,  but surely.

2. Is Social Media Really Competitive?

Yes and No! At a first glance, the social scene can seem fiercely competitive. It is a fact that businesses of all types and sizes have some kind of a social presence.
Would your competition even matter if you raised the bar and differentiated yourself from everyone?

Quick Fix 2: Learn timeless brand authenticity lessons from GaryVee, Charlie Sheen !

3. Is Social Media Really Immeasurable?

Yes, if by “measurable” you are talking ROI! Here is the deal: SMM and ROI don’t rhyme!

Still doubtful? Then, allow me to ask you: What's the ROI of your mother?

What if you can set yourself free from the ROI prison? Here is a major paradigm shift that you need to experience…

Quick Fix 3: Goodbye ROI and Hello KPIs (key performance indicators)!

4. Is Social Media Really Time Consuming?

Yes, if you are spending so many hours doing monotonous work and only few hours engaging with your network!

Can you make all the Social media automation hype work for you? Of course…

Quick Fix 4: Use social automation tools to help you with brand monitoring, analytics, scheduling social updates and more!

5. Is Social Media Really Unpredictable?

Again, yes and no! Back in the day, I recall that I came across an eBook, “How to Make MySpace Your Space?”. I don’t think anyone is buying this book today!

The point I am making here is that social media is unpredictable in 3 different ways:

• Any site can lose its popularity or even shut down in a heartbeat
• You have to put up with any sudden changes. For example, when Twitter changed its design last year, some people who had customized profile background images had to redesign their pages. This is just a small example but it shows that, since you are not the owner of your favorite social network, you have to adapt to any surprises. When it comes to unwanted surprises, Facebook is the king! In fact, sometimes FB deletes users pages without a warning!
• What if you are used to a free feature in social site, then it suddenly became fee based? You’ve got the drill!

In spite of all that, you can still workaround social media’s unpredictability by focusing on your own one and only social asset…

Quick Fix 5:Focus on driving targeted traffic to your blog and turn it into a social hub. Check out Steve Job’s recipe for niche blogging success

So Far So Good! What’s The Real Problem?

After proving to you that every BS social media challenge has a quick fix, let’s get down to the root cause of the problem: NOT having a solid vision and predefined target market!

When you kick off your social media journey without a vision or target market, you can be easily swept away by all the beautiful distractions social media has to offer.

Having a clear vision of your target market, on the other hand, will force you to focus on reaching out to them. All the distractions will disappear and the cost will be clear for you to start a smooth sailing.

Let me back up my point with an example. Let’s say your target market is 30-40 years old stay at home moms.

When you use social sites with the goal of reaching this niche in mind, your vision will give you a framework and a set of actions to take. Here are some examples:

• You will create a Facebook Ad targeted to this group of people
• You will Google all Twitter users who have the words “stay at home mom” in their Twitter bios
• You will run LinkedIn surveys tailored to them

How long does it take to create a Facebook Ad? Few Seconds! No longer will social media become a time and energy drainer.

Your vision will clear all the so-called challenges from your way and you will be on your way to massive success.