Is Social Media Free?

By: Joseph Kiefer

It is hard to read any marketing publication these days without getting another heavy dose of social media information. This is to be expected with such a new medium and with a large group of people trying to "figure it out".

The information I have gained from my marketing news sources has quickened the learning curve for me, but I think there is a misrepresentation being spread about social media at the same time. Before testing the social media waters I was under the impression that social media would be an addition to my marketing mix that was inexpensive or even free. What Marketing Director doesn't like that type of additional marketing? The problem, however, is that the more I have researched social media I have found this to be innaccurate.

The out of pocket cost for having a twitter account, starting a blog or creating a facebook page may be $0, but the real expense comes in the form of opportunity cost and time. The key to social media is relevancy and timeliness. If you are adding relevant information and adding to the community you will exponentially increase your chance of success in social media. If you join communities just to market or join communities, but don't interact, you will not get anything out of the experience.

That being said, you can't add to the community without committing your time to the experience. I joined twitter and started this blog thinking that I should be able to handle that along with my normal marketing responsibilities. I quickly realized that social media is much more time consuming then I had originally anticipated.

My experience has been great, but it comes at the cost of time I could have been analyzing direct mail data, changing marketing copy, designing e-mail creative... Where is my time best spent? I think they are all important activies, so the appropriate solution would be to hire more help. Now I am looking at social media costs in the form of additional labor costs. For many of us in the marketing world or just the business world in general a new hire is hard to justify in the current economic mess we find ourselves in.

Will the hire be worth it, can you handle the additional tasks yourself, is social media going to benefit your bottom line? These are all questions you will have to answer for you and your company, but know going in that free social media is a myth. Only looking at the true costs of the experience will you be able to determine if it is a success for your company. I hope you decide to take part in the social media blitz going on and I look forward to reading your contributions.