Is Social Media Keeping You From Growing Your Business?

Social media is keeping you from growing your business. There, I said it!  This morning I decided to do some research on how social media wastes your time and keeps you from growing your business. Here’s the thing – the Big Fat Lie. Social media is not as effective for growing your business as you think.

Everywhere you look you see blog posts, experts, and advertisements telling you how important social media is for businesses.  Everyone stresses the importance of having a social media presence if you own a business. It’s a must-have. But is it really?

Does social media really help you grow your business?

Here are some interesting stats for you to consider. According to DMA, only 48 percent of digital marketers believe that they get any return on investment from social media.  While the remaining 52 percent didn’t say it was a waste of time, 44 percent of CMOs said they really can’t tell if or how much social media affects their business.  The general gist in the marketing community is that you should use social media, but we don’t really know how to measure whether or not it’s actually doing anything for your business.

I did a little more digging, and I found a ton of interesting information on social media. Facebook is the biggest and most used social media platform with 2.7 billion active users.  According to Verizon.com, 73 percent of consumers said they rely on Facebook recommendations to make purchasing decisions. What they didn’t say was 73 percent of consumers use your business Facebook page to make purchasing decisions. When it comes to social media recommendations for products and services are consumer-driven. 

Some marketers believe this is why your business should be all over social media. According to Hubspot, 50 percent of marketers plan to increase their investment in Facebook advertising next year, as well as Tiktok and YouTube.

Before you waste time and money on social media

Here’s some information for you before you jump on the social media bandwagon. Websites get 10 times more traffic from search engines than social media. Ten times!  So if you are putting all of your energy into social media and ZERO energy into SEO, which is what I see most small business owners do, you are not making the best use of your time (or advertising budget). 

I do think social media has its purpose. It is my second biggest source of traffic, and I do get leads from social media. But, most of my leads come from referrals and SEO.

So the question for you small business owner is, do you think social media is bringing you leads, or any return on your investment?

How many sales have you gotten from your social media activities?  And how much time does it take you to generate leads and sales from social media?  

On Badass Web Goddess, I get around 10 percent of my website traffic from social media, and 60-80 percent of my traffic from search engines.  

Do you struggle with getting leads for your business?

This is what I see every day on Facebook groups, business owners asking how do I get more leads for my business?  Here’s the funny thing, as an SEO consultant, I don’t struggle with leads. I started my business in Albuquerque about a year ago. I get leads consistently from Google. 

This weekend, I checked my email and thought to myself please don’t be another lead. I’m not kidding. My business has been taking off and here’s why. I rank well in Google for quite a few keywords. And most of my clients come from Google. 

This is what led me to write this post.

This week I made some decisions about my business and goals for my life. Guess what, none of them were to spend more time on Facebook?

I am pretty good at SEO and I love writing. But, what I am doing with my time?  Not SEO. Not writing. I am wasting my time on social media. And if you’re reading this, you probably are too.

Is this really how you want to grow your business?  Spending hours of your time looking for new friends to make that might just maybe be interested in your services. Spending your whole day promoting yourself on Facebook groups, only to find yourself still struggling to get leads? 

Where are you investing your time? Is it in something that’s improving your business? Are leads coming to you or are you chasing them?  Wouldn’t you rather have people coming to you regularly and consistently?  Wouldn’t you rather have a full schedule and be busy working, instead of constantly looking for work? 

Whether you have a web design business, a social media business, an insurance business, a realtor business, a life coach business, you need your leads to find you, instead of you chasing them.  

You might think I am writing this post to sell you something. Hey, I do provide SEO services. I can help you rank better in Google, but that’s not my motivation.  I want to challenge you today to think long and hard about what you want for your business, and where you’re investing your time. Is social media keeping you from growing your business?

Have you ever thought I spend too much time on social media?  

I know I have, but then thought but I need it. I can’t run my business without Facebook.  Yeah well, that’s bullshit!  It took me a while to see the light. If social media is wasting your time, it is not helping you. It’s keeping you from growing your business.

The average person spends 144 minutes on social media every day.  Are you guilty?  

What could you do with these two hours to grow your business?  

If you are using social media to build your business, my guess is you’re spending even more than 2 hours a day on social media – Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter?  If you’re keeping up with all of these platforms, it’s no wonder you don’t have time to really grow your business.

So here’s my challenge business owner. I want you to take a few minutes to evaluate where you are spending your time and if it is making you money. If you are wasting time on social media, perhaps it’s time to change your strategy.  

I am going to give you a few tips for generating leads from Google and your website that make more sense than wasting time on social media.  

• Hire someone to manage your social media accounts.
  If you really need to have a social media presence – pay someone to run it for you!  It might seem like a waste of money, but you can find someone to manage your social media pages for as little as $200-300 a month.  
• Delete your social media apps from your phone
  Even if you have to use social media, you don’t have to have it on your phone. Get rid of it. One of the best ways to stop wasting time on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest is to delete the apps from your phone.
• Invest the time you’re wasting in generating leads and sales
  If you’re not great at SEO, you can hire someone. But, SEO is not the only way to generate leads.  Networking with the right people, asking for referrals, following up with prospects. If you’re not doing this regularly, turn off your social media or use it more strategically.
• Put some time into content for your website
  If your website isn’t getting traffic, here’s how you change that. You start writing content that people want to read!  I get a lot of my traffic at Badass Web Goddess from my blog posts. Look, there aren’t a million people searching for SEO services in Albuquerque. So, how do I get more clients?  I have blog posts targeting people who might need my services. 
  I tell every business owner I know to have a blog. If you do a search for any business, I encourage you to take a look and see if they have a blog. Blogging not only helps you get traffic, it helps you to rank better in search engines.