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<\/a>If you\u2019ve read my previous blogs you\u2019re aware of the fact that there are 7 billion people in the world and 2 billion of them have active social media accounts. 1.35 billion people worldwide have Facebook accounts. Even more staggering is the fact that almost 1.7 billion of the globe\u2019s entire population are active mobile social media users!<\/span><\/p>\nRuminate on that for a moment. Do you know of another marketing vehicle where you can reach almost one third of the world\u2019s population so efficiently, inexpensively and so closely targeted? This, my friends, is a marketer’s dream and a golden opportunity for your company to dominate your market segment.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet, regardless of the opportunity, marketers are often told by prospective clients that they\u2019ve tried social media and that \u201csocial media is not working for my company.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Read on for\u00a0the 5 obstacles that stand in the way of explosive revenue growth\u00a0so that your company can have social media work wonders for your brand and business.<\/span><\/p>\n 1. Facebook forces you to pay to play.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n With 1.35 billion users overall and 890 million daily users, Facebook is the largest social media platform. Once its CEO Mr. Zuckerberg took the company public, there was immediate pressure to generate significant revenue and there were shareholders to answer to. When company execs go to their business\u00a0Facebook page, they may notice that while they may have built a large fan base, any\u00a0outbound messaging\u00a0only reaches a very small percentage of their actual following. The way Facebook makes money ($12.5 billion in 2014, almost exclusively from ad revenue) is by\u00a0charging businesses\u00a0to reach\u00a0their existing & prospective fans.\u00a0The “secret sauce\u201d to successfully using\u00a0Facebook is\u00a0to invest by\u00a0deploying programs and strategic content that will\u00a0drive traffic to your page and generate new fans that ultimately result in new customer acquisition and sales revenues. The good news is that you don\u2019t need a large budget to achieve results. There is no media known to be as cost efficient as Facebook advertising, if used correctly. And for a modest investment in consultative services\u00a0to\u00a0benefit from\u00a0a wealth of\u00a0knowledge on how to best leverage some of the many hidden opportunities with social media, your return on investment can be truly remarkable.<\/span><\/p>\n 2. It\u2019s not all about you!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Many businesses make the mistake of talking, post after post, about their products and urging consumers to BUY NOW! If your target demographic is following your page, they know who you are, like what you do and are interested in keeping in touch. It\u2019s called\u00a0social<\/em>\u00a0media for a reason. At that point you\u2019ll be far more successful behaving as a \u201clifestyle\u201d magazine to your followers where 80% of the time your content is about areas of interest to your followers and 20% of the time about your products and driving revenue. Any business must understand that once someone has decided to follow you, you own their interest and loyalty\u2026unless you give them a reason to stop following.<\/span><\/p>\n 3. Pull, don\u2019t push.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Appeal to your customers, don’t scream at them. Offering valuable content such as an informative e-book that would be of interest to your demographic is a great way to reinforce your brand while not being pushy. It gets a conversation started with your customer as they can ask questions. You will also be perceived as helpful and a thought leader to your valued client base and you\u2019ll be surprised to find that consumers who\u2019ve read your e-book will then hire you to execute the service you\u2019ve described in your e-book or buy the products mentioned.<\/span><\/p>\n 4. Do one thing right.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Too often businesses see the many social media platforms and want to be on all of them. Soon thereafter they realize they don’t have the time to properly maintain them. Through consultation with your favourite social media strategist, they can create a proposal specifically to meet your business needs and properly leverage the sites your customers frequent. They will also create killer content that will highlight your business in a positive way by offering information of interest to your community. Do it right or don\u2019t do it at all!<\/span><\/p>\n 5. Get real!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Authenticity is a key component when building a social media community. Building a relationship with your community is an integral element of your company’s success when leveraging social media. Consumers do business with those whom they trust, know and like. Take the time to think about information that will be of interest to your followers. Informative content based on the interests of your followers that is also within your sector will increase interactive engagement and allow you to maintain an ongoing relationship throughout the purchasing lifecycle.<\/span><\/p>\n