Is a social media campaign worth the time?

[Derrel]

John, you mentioned earlier this week that your work draws an older crowd; for those people, people who barely use social media, I honestly think a social media campaign would be a waste of time. But there ARE a lot of people, younger people, and middle-aged people whop have grown up with computers, the web, the 'net, and later on Myspace, then Facebook, and now Twitter...people who simply CAN NOT GO A DAY, or even an hour, without cruising social media on their phone, phablet, tablet, laptop, PC, or Mac.

I honestly think also that you are greatly over-estimatrng the time needed for a social media campaign; it's not THAT demanding....and one message can be sent out and may reach a lot of people, and unless you are paying for Facebook placement, the messages are free.

Who was it that said, "You only get out of something what you put into it!" Was that...Tim Horton?

 

[tirediron]

Just to clarify, I'm not asking if I should be stepping up my social media campaign, I was just curious if all of the work that someone like Susan puts into it actually yields a measurable result. She made a big deal of having 18,000 followers on one of the 'sites, but what does that mean in terms of money in the bank?

 

[tirediron]

John, you mentioned earlier this week that your work draws an older crowd; for those people, people who barely use social media, I honestly think a social media campaign would be a waste of time. But there ARE a lot of people, younger people, and middle-aged people whop have grown up with computers, the web, the 'net, and later on Myspace, then Facebook, and now Twitter...people who simply CAN NOT GO A DAY, or even an hour, without cruising social media on their phone, phablet, tablet, laptop, PC, or Mac.

Absolutely spot-on Derrel, and this isn't about me, just a general, 'I wonder...'

I honestly think also that you are greatly over-estimatrng the time needed for a social media campaign; it's not THAT demanding....and one message can be sent out and may reach a lot of people, and unless you are paying for Facebook placement, the messages are free.

That may be; I don't know enough about it, but from her description, it sounded like a fair number of hours were required, perhaps not.

Who was it that said, "You only get out of something what you put into it!" Was that...Tim Horton?

Touche!

 

[sm4him]

I do have a FB photography page, and have even advertised to get more followers, but I'm not in business, so it's not terribly important to me that I do it "just right." In fact, I advertised my personal page more to get an understanding of it for if/when we use it at work.

At work, in addition to so many other hats, I'm the social media manager. I started and maintain our FB and Twitter pages as well as flickr, and I research the advisability of joining other social media--within the next year, we'll probably join Pinterest and Instagram. MOST of the social media I'm on personally is really just to learn it for work.

Since I work for public transit, the question is still valid; is it really WORTH the time and effort for the ROI? I seriously doubt we've ever had a single person decide to START riding the bus because we were on FB.

However, I've also been to a number of social media conferences and workshops and while I can't address everything useful I've learned from those, I'd say this in relation to a photography business and social media:

It's not ALL about ROI, strictly. With many of the younger generation, and as Derrel mentioned, even up through middle age, there is a *perception* that if you have no social media presence, your business is out of touch.
It's also a Customer Service tool. While we don't allow people to post customer service issues on our FB page, we DO allow a good deal of customer interaction, plus they can always message us or "tweet" us with questions. It's just another tool to give the customer at least the perception that they are "involved" with us, and that they matter.

The time it takes to create a social media campaign is a valid question--but don't mention that to my boss, mmkay?
But the time is really mostly on the front end, deciding what the main campaign message will be, which platforms you'll put it on and when. Actually doing it takes maybe 30 minutes of my day, if I am putting something fairly involved on FB, Twitter and our website (and for me, that also means I have to contact the city and get it on THEIR website, and the University of Tennessee if it's a route that involves their campus). Instagram and Pinterest will add only a minute or two each to the equation, once we start using them.

Personally, I think a presence on social media is important these days more just for customer perception than anything else.

 

[sm4him]

...Oh, also wanted to ask you if you happened to have a map of the inside of tiredirons head. My gps cant get a signal in here.. lol

Meh... shouldn't need a map; it's just one big, open space!

Ya but its dark as hell in here, plus I stubbed my toe tripping over this box marked "plans for world domination"

I'm pretty sure you've stumbled into the wrong brain there, robbins. John's box is likely clearly marked, "plans to get all the bacon."

 

[runnah]

It is very worth it. Marketing is a *****. You have to spend time and money on something that isn't tangible. There is no good way to measure ROI on non-goods based advertising. But it's not about selling a widget its about getting your name out there into the game. You can't be at the table unless you get in the seat.

Social media is free, easy to use, easy to integrate into your website and can reach far more people than any other form of advertising.

Check out places like hootsuite to save you time posting to your various outlets. I use it for my job and can post to 7 different social networks from one page.

 

[astroNikon]

The entire key is you Return on Investment of the time and effort you put into it.

First, your market is localized. I don't think "advertising" in Boston, Massachusetts is going to get you much business.

So your social networking is more localized. (unless you do alot of traveling photo jobs)
Then you have to think of each genre of photography and where you get most of your business.

for instance:
Weddings. If you get most of your business from bridal/wedding showcases as a vendor, then social media may only provide a little exposure.

that versus
Family/Portrait Photography- which I think the marketing aspect is more diverse and wide spread than weddings. This can actually be good for Social Media.

In the end it is about spreading the word and getting people to call you for business.

I would look at your business sales too and determine which genre you get more business or alternatively, which genre gains you most profit. And then target that particular genre for marketing / social media.

With Social Media you have to give it time to spread and to gain exposure.
Then only after some extended period of time can you actually start seeing it's benefits, if any.

I see photographers put something out there once a week, or once every other week. It is more about keeping fresh content to keep people looking at your "best" photos. Social Media will require more content than a website which is, say 10 best wedding photos and of other genres. People in social media like to see a wide variety of items. The key is keeping the content fresh so people can see the work that you do throughout the year. Not just a stale content that loses peoples interest over time.

It's also good to talk about what makes good photos (or other photo techniques, etc that you can do) .. such as comparing a "snapshot" to a nice photo. Or talking about your studio and how it helps in various photo sessions, experience, etc etc etc) I've seen this info on photogs social media too. With tack it can help bring new business.