Dentists – Are You Pretending Social Media Is Free?
This week’s featured social media mistake is “Pretending that social media is free” …
It’s often said that time is money. Whether you, your team, or a trusted service 
provider manages your social media efforts, it’s important to understand that social media does require time, effort, and therefore money. Be prepared to set aside a budget before diving into social media. Many practices have already made the decision to transfer their yellow page advertising budgets to social media.
Consider the time involved and whether you want to maintain a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube or if it makes more sense to begin with just one account.
There will be time involved to plan “what to post” on your behalf and “how to maximize the benefits” of your social programs. You’ll also want to think about how often you’d like to post. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can “wing it” or “it’s free”… unless you or your team have free time to spare on a regular basis.
Have you read the article 10 common social media mistakes? The article is written by Patricio Robles, tech reporter at Econsultancy. Several points in the article are so important, I’ve decided to review several key “mistakes”, one at a time, and recommend solutions. Excerpt:
“Signing up for a Twitter account and Facebook Page, for instance, may not cost any money, but managing them (and managing them well) doesn’t magically happen without an investment that can be quantified in dollars and cents. Social media will always require somebody’s time and may require that certain corporate resources be allocated differently. Businesses can’t ignore these costs when planning their social media strategies and evaluating what they’re delivering..”
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Hi Rita, I agree it's a mistake to pretend social media is free, however when you consider the massive amount of money most dentist's have spent on traditional marketing -yellow page ads, direct mail out's that reach about 3% at best 5% of the market mailed to (what happened to the other 90% of their investment). and magazine ads, then you factor in how many, or should we say how few, people are actually reached with tradional advertising, the cost of budgeting money for a ongoing social media presence pales in comparison. As with anything we build, social media takes time and as noted “time is money”, but whether social media is handled “in-house” by a (paid) employee or “outsourced” to a social media specialist, social media is word of mouth advertising at it's (targeted) best.
Hi Livvie, Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I love that phrase, “social media is word of mouth advertising at it's (targeted) best”. So true!