How much money should I spend on Social Media?

Social Media is like a restaurant, yes you can cook for yourself but if you don’t have a lot of time or want it done a certain way, you will pay.  Of course there are a wide range of restaurants from the cheap to the expensive and onto the exorbitant.  Expensive does not always mean good and cheap doesn’t always mean bad. And exorbitant is out of the question unless you are a $100 million dollar a year company and know what you are expecting.

There is a lot of competition in Social Media Consulting, Content Management, and Site and Application Development.  A lot of Social Media people are trying to get your attention but they will ultimately charge whatever they feel they can persuade you to pay, really.  If I know that you used to pay $5000 a month on television commercials that only reached an alleged group of 100,000 people per showing, I can then tell you I will charge you $3000 a month ($2000 savings) to reach potentially 150 million people a day between FaceBook and Twitter.

Is that a good deal?  I mean you keep $2000 extra a month.  The issue is making a complete marketing plan and budget that includes Social Media and determining what percentage of that budget is going to Social Media.  More companies of all sorts are spending more on Social Media than ever before.  But I find more Social Media success if the company, business, group, non-profit have a clear vision of what they want to accomplish and it is connected to an overall marketing plan or online purpose.  Which is what Strategic Online Networking does with individuals, business, companies, non-profits, churches every day, we assist them to design a strategic plan and purpose with their online presence.

The question also begins to include the context is it cheaper to hire a social media company or add a new experienced employee or just train a current employee (and does the current employee want to do that extra working for no extra pay)?

Some people don’t want to pay anything and that is fine.   Just let Social Media Consultants know up front the same way you would want a potential client to treat you in your business.  But don’t expect to get something for nothing.  It is easier to do no business than to do business for nothing, trust me.

Whether you hire a Social Media Consultant, hire or train an employee or do it yourself,  know that if employed properly and consistently you can experience true success with Social Media Marketing.

The bottom line:

• Have a real plan for marketing or purpose for your online presence before including Social Media.
• Know in advance how much you want/can afford to spend
• Always get several quotes and references before hiring a Social Media business
• And know that just because someone charges you the most does not mean they are the best