Social Media Marketing is beginning to take the Business world by storm! Are you on Facebook yet? Are you using LinkedIn yet to truly promote what you do in your business? Let’s take a look at the Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing.

Pros:

1) Most Social Media sites are free to use! (This is a huge factor in why so many people are learning to market using these tools)

2) You can Easily Brand Yourself on sites by using the same image on each site.  Be sure to also use the same About Me section on each site, so that you do stay consistent with your brand and your message.

3) You can network with so many people it is mind boggling. The best part, if used properly, is that you can search and target people in your niche in order to network with the right people. Social Media isn’t about having the most people connected to you it is about having the right people connected to you.

4) You can post events, invitations, files, images, videos, and you can truly interact through messaging and chatting.

Cons:

1) The Set Up can be daunting for some people. You have to determine a few simple things first. What image are you going to use? What are you going to write in your About Me section? What link are you going to provide as your web site? I would recommend writing this all out first into a word document and then, go to each site and enter the same consistent information. The more consistent you are the more reliable  you will appear to your audience.

2) Using Social Media can be time consuming, unless you have the right tools in place. For example, use a service like ping.fm or su.pr to Send your updates to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all at the same time. The great thing about these tools is you can also track your clicks and performance. Su.pr takes it even one step further and gives you recommended posting times based on how many people have clicked your link throughout the day.

3) Social Media is always changing. You do need to stay on top of changes in Social Media in order to truly benefit from them. It is essential that you know how fast things move so that you can keep up. For one, keep your Word Document you made with your About Me and your Link(s) so that you can always use a new site that is gaining popularity, like Foursquare. Be sure to stay in touch with marketers who keep track of changes on Social Media Land. For example, I recently did a video on YouTube about how the new group feature has changed on Facebook.

I would imagine there are so many more Pros and Cons of using Social Media in your business. I do know one thing, for sure, is that Social Media has increased my lead generation by triple fold. I receive more emails now in my business than ever before and I know exactly where they come from (because I can track it with Social Media tools like su.pr).

To you and your Success,

Melissa Ann Mitchell

aka, The Social Media Chick

PS> Be sure to grab a hold of my Ebook while it’s still available, Marketing Success Tricks, as it outlines all the steps you need to set yourself up in Social Media Land.

Tags: facebook marketing tips, pros and cons of social media, social media marketing training