Social Media Marketing Consultants & Experts for Hire

5 Truths About Social Media ROI You Don’t Want to Hear

For weeks I’ve been talking to clients and trying to help them understand Social Media. Off the bat most of them want to know when they can start to see a social media ROI. Ideally I would love to be able to tell them that they will see it beginning in the third month, but it isn’t always that easy.

Circumstances usually make it possible to see some return in the third month, and as more time and consistency contribute to the campaign, the ROI should increase. There are a number of variables that contribute, but this is the norm for what I have seen.

With that said, there are so many ways social media CAN affect your business, it is difficult to provide an ROI that is spot on, and in many cases, one that is approximate at all.

Social Media ROI Isn’t That Predictable

For instance, I have a client that has over 10,000 fans on Facebook and during the first month of working with them we were able to guesstimate about 4 bookings for their business. Without exposing too much about their business, that is a return on investment.

It Can Takes Months

Another client that I started at the same time, we are on the second month and their accounts are building slowly, there is still no return on investment. If things continue to climb at the rate they are, I believe in the third month we will be right on target to hit some ROI, with following months improving.

Buying Followers Doesn’t Help

I get that you are excited and ready to start seeing some results immediately, but buying followers does very little to help. They increase your following numbers, but kill your engagement rates, because it is just a bloated statistic.

Another Manager Won’t Be Faster

Assuming they aren’t pulling the wool over your eyes, another social media manager won’t be able to offer faster results. It takes time to build a following, to engage them, and to offer them value. Someone who understands social media will tell you truthfully that it will take time to see real results.

Not Every Business Will See A ROI

I’ve been asked to help a few businesses with social media, that I just don’t think should make the effort. For instance, a company that has just a few affiliate links to small margin products, probably will not see a huge return on investment, if any at all.

I’m actually finishing a short report now, in the sidebar to the right, about whether companies should venture into social media, it covers: