Social Media Success Secrets

Social Media [soh-shul mee-dee-uh]
noun
Websites devoted to societal connection by means of communication and information sharing pertaining to the development of personal and professional contacts.

In other words, it’s where the majority of people are spending MOST of their freaking time. Rather than being isolated and uninspired in your corporate cubicle, social networking has allowed you the opportunity to be everywhere, all the time. So why are even the most sophisticated people in business so unevolved when it comes to Social Media? Well, it’s called return on investment or ROI; capital, cash, money, whatever you want to call it, they want to know where their moola is going baby.

I’m here to settle the social media/ROI dispute once and for all! I’m also here to help you explain to your boss that you’re not tweeting Justin Beiber all day and “liking” your friend’s keg party photos on Facebook. If you are, you have even more reason to keep reading because you’re missing out on the biggest opportunity to change your career and or grow your business since American technology was considered the railroad.

Let’s start by reminding ourselves about the REAL problem corporate leaders have with social media and let’s solve it, asap. They don’t think they’re getting an ROI by you sharing and engaging your work on social networks, yet business owners invest in social media experts every day… Don’t believe me? Have them ask their accountant how much they pay in employee salaries each month. Then, have them ask all of their employees how many of them have at least one social network. If they can’t PAY their employees to “like” and share the work that they’re doing everyday, their company strategy needs to change immediately.

For starters, think of social media as a way to measure ROI before you even begin to invest in it. When you first start a company you don’t begin investing in advertising right away, chances are your mom liked your idea or invention first, and you had the confidence from your friends and network to have an official launch. Well, that’s social networking… start there.

Now, measure your return on investment. The best way to do this is by understanding investments in the first place. Money means absolutely nothing if you don’t have the time to spend it, right? That’s how we grow, so invest your time and money where you get the biggest return. Now that you’re thinking of social media as the best way to measure your ROI as opposed to a way to obtain ROI, share your news or idea with your online network. How many people liked it, shared it, re-posted, etc.? Did sharing your content get you new and engaging people who are interested in today’s news or strategies? Regardless if they liked it or not, this is important data. It also allows you to narrow down the top social networks that work the best for you. With social networking, you have a solid platform to track legitimate results and be held accountable for your goals. Ask yourself; did people like that photo of my newborn baby that I posted last week? If so, now you can begin saving for a college fund. (Kidding

This only scratches the surface on the social media debacle because the way we connect with each other is still evolving. If you want to make a difference in the way corporate structures are operating, you need to produce real results and hold them accountable for their core mission and execution. As I discussed in this post, you can’t hide these numbers and results when your website or social network is your online storefront.

Click the pic to “like” The Smartist Blog on Facebook, duh.

Let’s keep this discussion going as we grow in to leading problem solvers of our generation without even having to leave our desks. This way, when we do unplug, we have more time to spend on the things we love to do.