Nowadays everybody is in a rush. A rush to see instant results from anything they invest in, and social media marketing is no exception.
But let’s get real, it’s not realistic to expect returns from social media marketing right away, because new businesses first need to introduce themselves to their audience by creating brand awareness and then move on to cultivating relationships once they’ve found their tribe. The results come later, but are well worth the wait.
3 reasons you won’t see instant results from social media marketing
1. You need to be consistent in order to make an impression
There is an old saying that dates all the way back to print advertising: “It’s not the size, it’s the frequency”. In print advertising, running a smaller ad more frequently proved more effective when compared to running a large ad just once. Why? Because people need to see your ad multiple times before they remember it, much less act on it.
And it’s much the same with social media marketing. Whether it’s paid advertising or organic social media posts, you need to make a consistent effort. This means consistently tweaking your social media campaigns to see what works and keeping up a consistent posting schedule which is absolutely vital to getting results.
2. New leads are not the same as new sales
If your social media marketing campaign doesn’t seem to be getting you results, you may need to redefine what “results” means to you. For example, if your social media marketing campaign is geared towards bringing in lots of new leads, but those leads aren’t converting into sales because you not following up quickly enough, maybe it’s time to look into getting a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system to keep track of everything.
3. You’ve got competition
Keep in mind that, unless you own an exotic orchid plant shop or manage a bunch of berry farms, your business probably has a lot of competitors in your local area. Social media marketing can make you more visible to your audience but it won’t immediately pay off in sales or even leads. For that, you’ll need a strong, large following, some social media ads, and at least a year of organic social media posts that add a lot of value.
Social media marketing takes time to pay off
Unfortunately trying to do it all yourself may just be prolonging the process. Chances are, you’re not a social media marketing expert and will need some professional help in order to make your social media marketing efforts effective.
And even if you are an expert, finding the time as a busy business owner to come up with an effective social media marketing campaign can be a challenge. Hiring social media marketing experts can definitely help speed up the process and give you more time to focus on your business.
How much time does it take to see results?
According to most experts, it takes about six to nine months to start seeing results from social media marketing campaigns.
Depending on where you are in terms of social media presence, it may take more or less time to start to see results. If your business is brand new to social media, you’ll need to focus on attracting a new audience from scratch. You’ll also need to create and properly set up social media accounts and this will also take some time.
Initially, you need to concentrate on getting followers through brand awareness and engagement. Expect this to take at least around three months to build up a sizable following and reach a point where you’ll be able to push for engagement.
Make sure that all of your posts are consistent with your brand voice and image to effectively reach your target audience and give them content that they look forward to engaging with.
Conclusion
As mentioned above, we believe that social media should take between six to nine months to start producing genuine results. If your business has only been using it for a few months, and you feel like you aren’t making any headway, don’t give up.
We understand that it may be discouraging to learn that these sorts of things take time, but perseverance is key if you want to grow your pages with a strong following, quality content, and a distinct brand image and voice.
If you want to see some results early on in the process, look at adding social media ads to the mix. This will help to hasten the growth and engagement of your social media pages. But be warned, ads are not a quick fix for anything, as lasting growth and loyal customers take time.
