Why is social media only a hammer, not a treehouse?

Last year in 2015 I met with more than 40 small business owners to consult with them on their online media practices. The first question I ask them is “What are you currently doing with your marketing?” The answer?

“We have a Facebook Page.”

As much as creating a Facebook Page for your business can be a great idea, it is not, nor was it meant to be your sole form of marketing. The next question I ask is “Do you have a content calendar or marketing plan for your updates?” The answer?

“What do you mean?”

Here’s where I come in. If I handed you a hammer and told you to build a treehouse — you’d have a tough time. That’s because, for one, you don’t have any nails or wood. But also, you don’t have any instructions or a guide to follow.

In most cases, you would first look online at examples of other treehouses. You would likely look for blueprints or plans of similar treehouses that are already built, ensuring that if you use the same plan your treehouse will also be sturdy. You would look at your yard, your trees, decide which tree could support a treehouse, then research how much the materials needed would cost to purchase. THEN you would buy the materials, layout the plans and start building.

Unfortunately, that’s not what happens for businesses and social media. I said it in a presentation recently that…

Social Media has made business owners LAZY.

That’s right. Lazy.

They decide “Hey I love widgets! I’m going to sell widgets now! [makes Facebook Page in 30 seconds] Okay, Widgets R US open for business!”

Seriously, people. What happened to market research? What happened to even checking to see if someone WANTS TO BUY WIDGETS?

News Flash: most of the time no one wants to buy a widget.

EVERY SINGLE BUSINESS NEEDS A MARKETING PLAN. Not just some or just “big companies.” Literally every single business. That means YOUR business needs a strategic marketing plan. You need to sit down with a professional and tackle your pain points. Open your books. See what is actually working and what is not.

You’re likely going to find that what you LIKE doing may NOT be working. What will work BEST to reach YOUR target audience? That’s where your marketing budget should be spent.

Are you doing direct mail if you’re a local business? What about radio? TV? I guess I have to say newspaper. Perhaps there are better social networks to spend your time and money? You might find, that your target customer doesn’t even look at Facebook.

You need to budget for all types of marketing for the year. What about charity solicitations? Yep, there has to be a budget for that too (it’s okay to say no to Scotty’s baseball team).

Once the budget is in place, then you can plug in your marketing plan into your full business plan. And yes, YOUR business actually needs a business PLAN. One that’s written down (or typed) that can be measured for success.

Without measurement of your marketing dollars you are throwing money away.

If you need help to develop a strategic marketing or business plan, let’s talk. Using my experience with over fifty small businesses in the past three years, we will develop a path for your business success.