Value of a Social Media Marketer

Whether you are working for a company handling all of their social media marketing, or own your own consulting practice offering the same to your clients, we all at one time or another have come up against those that still do not believe in the power of social media marketing.

I can't blame them really.  Especially those that have been brought up in the trenches of traditional marketing.  Give me a really great email marketing list and press release service, a think-tank of creative minds that put together an incredible marketing plan and you've got all you need, right?

Not anymore.  If you have a business today and aren't online, you are missing the boat.

How do you prove your worth as a social media marketer?  How do you convince your company to participate in (and budget for) social media marketing?

Gather your data and create a cohesive presentation before you march into their office to prove your worth.  Research current statistics that will give you information about return-on-investment for your company.  Conduct searches specific to your industry and how social media has benefited other companies.

Decide what the marketing goals of the company are.  Do they want to increase revenues?  Are they more interested in creating buzz about their products?   Are they open to having contests and giveaways?  How much flexibility will they give you to market their company?  Once you find out what their goals are, start outlining how you are going to achieve those goals through your social media efforts.

Most companies want to see a return on their investment.  Some will ask for a guarantee in numbers of followers or increased sales.  This is not something we do and will address this in another post.  To prove your worth, you are going to have to measure your effectiveness in other terms, such as visibility across the internet, increased followers, increased engagement with potential customers, etc. 

Keep in mind that for every company that doesn't see the value in hiring a social media consultant, there is another one waiting in the wings to utilize the power of social media to grow their business.  

Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our

 talents and abilities

 were used in a way that served others. 

~ Marianne Williamson