The Reason Social Media Can be Difficult to Sell? It's the Indirect Nature of It

I had two separate interactions about social media today. The first was with a client who has been unwilling to commit to social media because he's seen no significant traffic to their blog. The second came from a former client asking about Twitter in particular.

Look, every client has different needs and capabilities when it comes to social media. There are some where it's a natural fit, and others where a social media campaign doesn't make sense.

What makes it a challenge is helping organizations understand why they need to explore social media.

There's not always a direct link from social media engagement to sales.

If nothing else, participating and engaging on social media can help from a search engine optimization (SEO) angle.

Blogging and tweeting can help boost your SEO rankings.

Here's something that I think people miss, according to David Meerman Scott:

That is, when you create something of value, say a YouTube video or a really interesting e-book or a piece of content on the web or post something on an important industry forum -- those are indexed by the search engines. And when the proverbial 62-year-old man who's a purchasing agent at a bricks-and-mortar company would, no, he probably does not read blogs or be on Twitter. But he needs his Google. And he'll go to Google when he needs to buy something, and he'll type in a phrase that he knows is the most important for the thing he wants to buy, and damn if your company doesn't come up No. 1 if you're creating content.That's why (social media) can be important." That is, when you create something of value, say a YouTube video or a really interesting e-book or a piece of content on the web or post something on an important industry forum -- those are indexed by the search engines. And when the proverbial 62-year-old man who's a purchasing agent at a bricks-and-mortar company would, no, he probably does not read blogs or be on Twitter. But he needs his Google. And he'll go to Google when he needs to buy something, and he'll type in a phrase that he knows is the most important for the thing he wants to buy, and damn if your company doesn't come up No. 1 if you're creating content.That's why (social media) can be important." David Meerman Scott