Social Media Pros And Cons: Tips For Newbies

Social media pros and cons is a very important subject, particularly if you are an online marketer.

Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of social media marketing is HUGE.

Therefore, everyone looking to make money online and give exposure to their brand will have to deal with social media.

Likewise, social media has become an important part of the everyday lives of hundreds of millions worldwide.

Its various platforms are praised on the part of marketing enthusiasts.

Also, when you consider the number of time people spend on these platforms, the results are staggering!

However, there’s still a level of reservation concerning social media by many in the business world.

The plague of employee un-productivity is associated with the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Even in 2018, reluctance on the part of many businesses to adopt social media in their marketing campaigns still exists.

Also, some of you aren’t sure if you need to incorporate social media into your online business?

Outlined below are some advantages and disadvantages to consider before making any decision.

Social Media Pros and Cons: The Disadvantages

Regarding Social Media Pros And Cons, here are some disadvantages of using social media:

Time Exhausting – It is quite possible to spend the whole day online scrolling through feeds, refreshing tweets and posts.
Difficult to promote your brand: you feel obligated to create posts that your followers can relate to.
Takes Time to Yield Profit – It can take a while to see results even from a well-thought-out campaign.
Lack of results: Many times you don’t get the results as fast as you’d like.
Some campaigns may not work: It takes patience and a whole lot of planning before campaigns can translate into profits
Risk of Harmful Comments – Nowadays the most harmless of comments can snowball into an unwanted discussion.
Negative reviews and comments can damage you and your company
Loss of Control – Social media provides a voice to everyone, even people whose opinions are illogical and ignorant.
Time-consuming to monitor: You need to be sure that people are saying the right things about you as a small business owner and your brand.

With every post, there’s bound to be a comment or more one might have to react to.

Similarly, it’s not difficult to see how workplace productivity can suffer.

Lack of workplace productivity is the main reason employers frown on social media.

As careful as you endeavor to be, you cannot control what someone posts or tweets about you personally.

Likewise, neither can you control what someone posts about your business.

You have to monitor comments to some extent to prevent gossip, misinformation, and damage to your brand.

Social Media Pros and Cons: The Advantages

Promotes Brand Loyalty – keeping in touch with your customers regularly via your social media channels promotes loyalty.
- good social media communication will endear you to the hearts of your customers.
Find All Your Customers in One Place – Millions of people have social media accounts.
Various social media platforms cater to different sets of people. Find the one that appeals to your brand and prospective customers.
A Cheap Form of Advertisement – A retweet or a share or a post can get your business in front of thousands of people.
Organic traffic is possible through social media.
Get Response Quickly – People who show interest in your business or brand can get their thoughts on your products fast.
You can set up surveys and polls when you need customer input.
Understand your Customers – interacting with your customers on social media can increase sales.
Gain valuable information on customers, habits, problems, likes, and dislikes.
Getting such valuable information can be of great benefit when it comes to future marketing campaigns.
Inexpensive to Set Up – Setting up profiles on social media platforms is as fast, simple, and as free as it comes.
- Setting up a page for your business can be done free of charge on most social media platforms.

Your Content Will Influence Your Social Media Presence

Also, content plays a huge role in attracting customers.

The quality and writing style of a post can influence people to check out your business.

Good content will attract potential customers.

If you are still unsure of what’s on the mind of your readers, surveys and polls have proven to work.

Surveys and polls can give you a clearer picture of how potential customers think.

Why go for trial and error when you can get it right by asking individuals directly for their viewpoint.

Does Your Business Really Need Social Media

It’s a fact that most businesses can benefit from having an active social media presence.

However, some businesses will not get a return on their investment of time with Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and others.

Most businesses do get increased traffic and sales from a properly executed social media presence.

Therefore, you really have to determine if it’s worth your time and money based on the type of business you have.

Social media gives you the opportunity to answer whatever questions, concerns, and complaints your customers have.

Similarly, Social media presents readers’ concerns instantly as opposed to the traditional ‘long wait’ approach.

Including social media in your marketing campaigns depends wholly on its usefulness for your business.

Social media marketing doesn’t promise to triple your profits overnight.

However, it’s capable of building long-term customer loyalty if executed properly.

Should Social Media Be Your Mainstay for Marketing?

My answer would be an emphatic NO.

Making Social media the ONLY choice for your marketing activities is not a wise decision.

Why not?

Social media is only one option to get people to sign up on your e-mail list and get paying customers.

Social media marketing avails you the opportunity of getting new customers.

Due to the number of people who use it daily, you get eyeballs looking at your brand.

However, it may take some time before these new people can turn into actual paying customers.

If you’re selling stuff, social media platforms are excellent tools to get the word out.

However, the reason for this move should be considered properly.

Social Media Pros And Cons: Are There Other Alternatives

If the goal is to get new customers, it is best if one pays attention to other alternatives, not just social media sites

1. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is recommending products or services to potential customers which allows you, the affiliate, to generate sales and earn commissions in return.

Moreover, if approached correctly, you can get your business established to the point where it’s bringing in a substantial income.

As your business grows, outsourcing routine tasks associated with your blog or website is a real possibility.

2. SEO

Search Engine Optimization is the use of various techniques to improve your ranking on search engines.

Good SEO practices are critical and will attract more new visitors on a regular basis.

If your business reaches local customers, you might want to set up in Google My Business.

3. Email Marketing

Once you start having people checking your website, you need to develop an email list.

An email list allows you to communicate with customers and get your products and services seen.

Also, using an autoresponder allows you to schedule your email messages at a day and time you choose.

4. Online Advertising

Advertising allows you to reel in new customers on a regular basis as well.

Do your goals include getting new customers regularly, and becoming a force to reckon with in your chosen field?

If so, it’s essential that you grab the opportunity online advertising presents.

A recommendation for online marketing would be Google AdWords: useful for all types of businesses.

Similarly, there are multitudes of online classified sites available. Some are paid sites, but many are free.

Remember that online classified sites that are free have less money to promote their site.

Therefore, free classified sites typically have much smaller audiences.

Classified sites that charge a fee usually are better when you’re trying to generate paying customers.

Additional Resources

Nothing Will Replace Good Search Engine Optimization

The term SEO stands for “search engine optimization.”

SEO is the consistent effort of increasing traffic to your blog or website using organic, or non-paid search engine results.

What is the foundation of good SEO?

It’s understanding the answers people are seeking to their problems.

When you help people solve their problems, you’ll know the type of content that appeals to them.

Articulating the answers to the problems people face by means of relevant content is the essence of great SEO.

Unfortunately, many online marketers look for the so-called easy solution.

They would prefer to buy traffic instead of focusing on writing relevant content.

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