How Much Time and Effort Social Media Marketing Really Takes

What does it take to run your social media marketing successfully? We’ve learned from experience over the years that there are STILL misconceptions out there as far as the time, budget, and seriousness required to do this stuff properly.

It’s hard to believe, but many organizations and companies struggle to take social media seriously, even in 2021, and even though their social media presence is their direct connection to supporters and customers. A company’s Instagram profile or Facebook advertisement is, in many cases, the very first impression they will make on a new customer. Why wouldn’t they want to make sure that first impression is the absolute best it can be?

You’d be surprised; we’ve heard from many a senior executive that social media seems “silly,” that they “just don’t get it,” and that it’s “a waste of time.” That’s why it’s so hard for a great social media manager to find a great-paying gig; executives like this think “the intern can handle it,” since they’re “on their phones all the time.”

Finding and hiring talented, qualified, and professional people to run your social media marketing is so critical, and we’re not just saying that because we are some of those people. Professionals can go to those senior executives and show them exactly why social media matters so much, with data and evidence to back up every single point. They can mean the difference between a public presence that’s embarrassing and one that’s compelling. They can directly impact your bottom line.

As Hootsuite wrote in a recent post aptly called “Interns Don’t Manage 24% of the Marketing Budget,”

Your average social marketer isn’t typing out dank memes all day—they’re creating content that drives new leads, responding to customer questions, and protecting their brand’s reputation online. They’re copywriters, designers, content strategists, photographers, videographers, and data analysts.

Here are some common assumptions people make about how social media marketing is managed, and what you need to actually be successful:

“It’s so easy that my intern/junior associate can do it.”

We’re addressing this one first because it’s so common. Just because your intern has a smart phone and knows what TikTok is doesn’t mean they know how to manage all of your company’s social media accounts professionally!

Look, your intern might be amazing. They might learn quickly, take direction well, and have a bright and promising future career in digital work based on what they can learn from this experience. (And, if you’ve hired an intern, we sincerely hope you are paying them well, because interns work really hard.)

But is an intern the person you want representing your company and speaking on behalf of your company to the entire world? Are they ready for that responsibility? Will they know what to do in a crisis?

If The New York Times called your company this afternoon and your intern picked up the line, you probably wouldn’t feel comfortable with that intern handling that major media interview, no matter how brilliant they are. Heck, you might not even be comfortable with anyone handling that interview but the most trained and qualified person on staff, since what they say might be seen by millions of people worldwide and might have major repercussions for your company.

The same rule applies to social media. Every social media post is public, and can potentially be seen by your customers, your competitors, the media, and anyone else who cares to take a look, even many years later. (Heck, the new Jeopardy host has already quit his job just a few days after accepting it, thanks to offensive, public-facing content published in 2013!)

If you wouldn’t trust your intern to talk to a reporter or to host Jeopardy, why would you trust them to Tweet on your behalf?

“Social media marketing hardly takes any time.”

Many professionals will tell you that it will take 6-12 months to see results from your efforts on social media; while it’s true that sustainable success won’t happen overnight, how long it might take you to see success depends on variables like these:

Are you posting regularly and consistently, following some sort of schedule? As you’ve heard us preaching time and time again, consistency is the key to success, because it builds trust, shows that you’re a serious company, and ensures your content is seen by lots of people over time. But consistency is also difficult, because creating good content takes time and thought.

Are you creating high-quality, well-branded content? Your content needs to be on point in order to perform well. This means you’re not only crafting posts that are written well and engaging for your ideal audience, but you’re also creating graphics and videos that your audience really likes, and that reflect your brand identity. Someone with excellent writing skills and someone who is an excellent designer or talented video editor is key.

Are you actually measuring the results of your work to see where you can improve? Posting content is one thing; seeing if it’s performing well and helping you meet your goals is another. If you don’t plan to track whether those Tweets are driving traffic to your website or whether those Instagram posts are inspiring customers to buy your products, you will have no idea whether or not the time and energy you’re spending on content is worth it at all. You need to be able to analyze your data, and make strategic decisions using that data.

If you want faster results, you either need to make sure you have actual professionals running your social media channels and/or be willing to spend on things like design and photography, management tools, and advertising. Ideally both!

You may have heard this from a designer before: You can have something done quickly, done cheaply, or done well, but not all three. It’s true for social media content too!

“Social media isn’t worth the effort or the money.”

Why is social media marketing worth the investment?

Like we said, this is the stuff that your audience sees first, before they’re ready to buy from you or make a donation. Great social media content lets you reach a much broader potential audience, converts people into customers and supporters, and allows you to easily provide good customer service.

You can run advertising for a low cost, and use those ads to test out your key messages and your visual branding to see what’s most effective. And you can set up online shops on these social media channels that let you sell products in multiple places, with minimal set-up, so you can be there the moment your customer is ready to buy.

And at this point, if you aren’t using social media effectively, it has a negative impact on your brand perception overall. Not being present on channels like Instagram or Twitter is out of the norm, now; your customers may wonder why they can’t find you easily, or they may wonder about how well your company is doing if your social media is a mess.

Don’t risk it! Take social media seriously, and soon enough you’ll see the benefits.