Social Media
Okay … I’m just going to say it. This is way over-rated and way over sold. For salespeople this is low hanging fruit. Most customers are familiar with social media thus it makes for an easy sale. The scary message that you “have to be on Facebook” has permeated our business culture. Not true!!!! You don’t have to have social media to be successful on the web. It’s a helpful tool and in some cases may be necessary for a complete marketing plan but if you don’t write on Facebook everyday your company will not go up in flames. Unfortunately, this is a product that has been easy for salespeople to peddle to people that are looking for the magic bullet to the top. Don’t believe the hype.
Also remember that Facebook Ads are Ads; they are not natural social dialogue and therefore are not ranked in the algorithms as valuable user generated content (UGI).
The unique use for social media is that for many companies it promotes branding and reinforces a community around that company’s products and ideas. The content on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter also appears in the current Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).