It’s a good question, and one that not nearly enough entrepreneurs are engaging seriously.
There are many of you out there that are spending a ton of time on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn without tracking the results, so you really have no clue whether it’s helping your business, or taking up time that might be better spent growing your business in other ways.
(Social Media Icons by TheG-Force)
Let’s look at how you can start to determine if social media is good for your business, or bad for it.
First answer these questions, and do it honestly! No one’s going to see the answers but you, and they will only serve you if you are brutally honest:
How much time do you spend on social media each day? (If you don’t know the answer, then pull out a piece of paper and for the next 3-4 days, write down every task you do, the time you start and the time you finish. Account for every moment – this exercise alone could change your whole business.)
How much traffic do you drive to your website from your social media activities?
Do you have a way to capture your website visitor’s information when they come to your site (for them to opt-in and sign up for a free gift, newsletter etc)?
How many people sign up on your website each day (meaning how many people add themselves to your email list each day)
Do you have sales that trace directly back to relationships built on social media?
Are you making offers and promotions on social media?
Do you know if your offers and promotions on social media lead to sales? If the answer is ‘yes’, how much of your income came from social media contacts or promotions last month? This month?
Have you gotten any press coverage through social media? Has that press coverage lead directly or indirectly to sales for your business?
Now that you have answered these questions (which may have been pretty challenging for many of you), you can use your answers to determine if social media is helping you grow your business or not.
The bottom line is, if you are using social media correctly, you will be tracking the answers to these questions, and the ones that have a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer will all be ‘Yes’. If you aren’t and you answered ‘No’ to some of the questions, it’s time to review your social media strategy, get some help making it more effective and make sure you are tracking the results of your efforts.
