Social media marketing has a shorter shelf-life then search engine marketing, but it can sometimes generate traffic more quickly, with the opportunity for viral exposure.
One of the big challenges with social media marketing is that you rarely get residual and compounding returns on your energy like you do with search engine marketing.
When you are first starting out growing your audience, social media may or may not be beneficial to you, as it can tend to be distracting. With that said, younger entrepreneurs and younger audiences can often experience faster growth through Social Media Marketing because they are more comfortable using these platforms.
For me, in the first year with my YouTube channel, I did zero social media marketing and focused 100% of my energy on YouTube and my core pages to grow a list.
Still, there are people in the world who have been able to build large Instagram followings because they simply get that platform and they love engaging with users on it.
And everyone has heard of the viral marketing campaigns that start off with a post and end up reaching millions of people.
The challenge with viral marketing is that marketers can spend years and never experience anything going viral. I believe that the “small steps taken consistently over long periods of time,” approach offers you the highest return on investment, long-term.
Should you jump in with social media marketing? Again, it comes down to the “know yourself” idea.
Do you have some sort of unfair advantage when it comes to social media?
Do you have hundreds of hours of experience on a specific platform like Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter you can build upon?
Do you feel like social media is a confusing waste of time?
Your answer to the question “Is social media marketing for me” lies within your answers to the above questions and knowing where your target audience spends their time.
Social media marketing is not required for success but it is a potential avenue that can lead to success for some entrepreneurs and marketers.