Many businesses are turning to social media as a free alternative to costly advertising and PR campaigns. A recent Aberdeen Group research report “found that 63% of the companies in their survey (defined as best-in-class) planned to increase their social media marketing budgets this year.” There are numerous ways these companies will be implementing their Social Media Roadmaps, but one of the most important pieces of the plan is defining short-term and long-term goals and understanding about how much time it will require to get there.
Without much data on how many hours it takes to run a successful social media campaign, it can be a challenge to budget and plan around this new marketing method.
Here’s a rough weekly hour-to-goal guide FastPivot.com social media experts have developed:
1) Zombie sleep talker: 1-10 hours spent on social media per week is enough to establish LinkedIn, Facebook, and twitter accounts and make a few posts per week. This is one of the most dangerous levels “social media experts” can operate at, because many may tend to feel pressured to get a week’s worth of information out during the short time they are online. Instead of putting out creative and captivating posts, they load the queue with dull and redundant corporate marketing language like this real post for example: “Don’t forget to visit us the weekend at XXXX March 19-21. Learn about energy options for your home!”
With only a few hours per week, there’s almost no time to interact. Big mistake! Interaction is what social media is all about. Distraction marketing is out and intuitive/interactive marketing is in.
2) Drowsy conversationalist: 11-20 hours is enough time for a social media expert to start to get a feel for how receptive the audience is to the posts being generated. The marketer will have time to adjust and improve their marketing methods at this level and might begin to forge some long-term relationships, but they won’t be present enough to engage in any meaningful customer service.
3) Buddy live : 21-40 hours equals one or two part-time employees or a full-timer devoting their entire work week to social media; now we’re getting somewhere. While this person might not be generating many more actual posts than what can be done with less hours, the creativity and interaction index is where it needs to be at this level.
There should be plenty of time to write a couple of blogs per week too. It’s ideal if your social media can have a blog anchor to bring people back to. This will help you keep better track of your metrics and provide the opportunity to channel blog visitors back through the other sections of your site. Customers will also begin engaging with your marketer more at this level. No one likes to send messages to a social media friend who isn’t there half the time and takes a couple of days to return the love! Social media is all about real time solutions, and to make that a reality, someone has to be manning the station everyday.
Exceptions
Of course there will always be exceptions to the rule. Extremely talented and popular social-media-lites might be able to yield success in only several hours a week, but for most, the best results take time and dedication.
Diminishing Returns
There naturally comes a point, too, where the marketer will begin experiencing diminishing returns. Everyone’s breaking point is a little different, but the signs are the same: when posts begin coming out dull, misspelled, disconnected, or just plain apathetic, it’s time to take a break to re-fill the creative well. Although social media can be fun, it can also be very emotionally draining, so be quick to do whatever it takes to put the pep back in your posts, even if it means hiring extra help to pick up the slack.
In conclusion
Figuring out how many hours it will take to reach your company’s social media goals will take time. Allow at least 3-6 months for testing. During that time, keep an eye on metrics and industry trends. Keep track of hours spent and goals achieved and build out a following 12 month plan from there.
FastPivot.com offers complete custom ecommerce online store development and design solutions. To get help launching or managing your company’s social media campaigns, contact Fastpivot.com social media experts today.
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