As the lead social media marketer at Urban Media I have had the pleasure to work alongside a wide array of business owners and marketers. However, throughout my career I’ve also had the unfortunate task of informing many of these individuals of the myths within the social media marketing industry, many of which have influenced their efforts for a number of years.

Within this Medium post I’m going to bust 5 common social media marketing myths and reveal the truth behind each of them.

1. Social media marketing is free

While the majority of social media platforms (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.) are free to join social media is still an investment and requires resources and time.

“45% of marketers say that social media leads are
below the average cost per conversion.”

However, it should be noted that according to Hubspot’s State of Inbound Marketing report 45% of marketers say social media leads are below the average cost per conversion.

2. Our business isn’t on social media

The large majority of business owners believe that they can avoid being present on social media by not doing social media. However, in my experience the majority of these businesses are already on social media, but they are simply unaware of it. Therefore allowing their disgruntled customers to run their social media marketing for them and ultimately damage their businesses reputation.

In the past I’ve had the unfortunate task of informing businesses who have no official presence on social media of bad comments about their business. Which they have left unanswered and therefore allowed to spread.

“Your business is already on social media,
you just don’t know it yet.”

The reality is that a large portion of your customers will be active across social media and will use it as a platform to complement or negatively review your business at one point or another. Therefore meaning your business is on social media.

3. Our customers are not on social media

With over 1 billion active users on Facebook and an additional 170 million active users on Twitter you can guarantee that you have a handful or possibly hundreds of thousands of potential customers on these platforms. Moreover, when you take other social media platforms (e.g. LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram etc.) into consideration the likelihood of having no customers on social media is extremely unlikely.

It should also be noted that social media is not just for the young. In fact over 40% of Facebook’s active users are over the age of 35 and 52% of 55–64 year old internet users have joined a social media platform.

4. Social media marketing doesn’t work for B2B

With 57% of small businesses using social media it is difficult to argue that it is not a B2B marketing tool. Moreover, with platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter often allowing you to reach the highest authority within a business social media can offer fantastic value to businesses looking to target other businesses.

“57% of small businesses use social media.”

Take a look at the infographic below to explore the number of businesses on social media and how they are using it.

5. Social media is another advertising platform

Whenever business owners contact me claiming to have been using social media for years yet not reaping the results the biggest mistake they often make is using it as an advertising platform.

Unlike billboards or television spots social media is at its best when not being used to advertise. In fact, in order to reap the rewards of your social media marketing efforts you should focus on sharing unique content, engaging with others and ultimately offering value to your community.

So, to conclude. The social media marketing industry is cramped with myths. However, after reading this post I hope to think that you are able to walk away with a new outlook on social media.

Which other social media marketing myths need busting? Leave a note alongside this paragraph and share your own social media marketing myths and I’ll include them in a future post. Finally, if you’ve found this Medium post of value share it with your followers by recommending it.