Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Is there value in a presence on them?

[RobertFisher]

I have a client (professional practice) whose father is a marketing professor. He is pushing the client that he should have a professional page on  social sites. While I believe having FB likes, shares, Tweet links, +1, etc. on the page, I really am ambivalent about building pages specifically for social media sites. 
For some of you who have tracked the efficacy of these it would be great to know your pros and cons.

[stefanok]

Hi Robert

In this day and age, have a social media presence is an absolute must. Yes, social media can take a lot of work to get up and running but allows a great platform to interact with the public, not only potential clients.

Dont try and sell services, but rather sell your mission statement

As for Linkedin...its a must for any professional looking to network. The reason being is that people on Linkedin are specifically looking to do business and make business connevtions.

The key is to be trans[parent, give as much information as possible and have fun while doing it.

Hope this helps.

[ResslerMotors]

The biggest con for me is the anticipated response time on questions.  When people ask a question on a Social Media site they expect an answer in less than 15 minutes.  Sometimes I happen to be sitting at my computer, and that's no problem.  However, most questions happen early in the morning, and late at night (auto industry).  Because of that, I'm typically not conscious or coherent enough to answer questions about towing capacity, cubic feet of space, etc.

However, I've been able to connect with some people on a personal level, and have been able to get them to come in for service and repairs.

Bottom line, it can improve your bottom line, but the chance to lose a customer is there, as well.

[stefanok]

Yes, i totally agree with you. You have to be pro-active but the pro's outweigh the cons.

look for tools like tweet deck to manage multiple accounts or mobile apps for notifications and to interact on the spot.

[ResslerMotors]

Mobile apps are a must if you are doing this, I agree.

[kchandler]

I agree social media is a most... depending on the niche. My normal suggestion for people trying to ease into social media is to use social bookmarking (add this, share this, etc). With social bookmarking you can see what channels your users prefer and based on your analytics you can make educated steps with your social media plan.

[RobertFisher]

Thanks for the response,

While I understand it is a "must," my question is, "why is it a must?" Just because people are on facebook, etc? I am wondering if there is any data around what verticals are able to quantify anything from same? 
The biggest thing I have seen from (FB for example) is that when doing contextual ads on it the leads generated were purely worthless. I can see where a Groupon type ad, etc. would work, but am really ambivalent to spending a client's $ (even though I am making money by doing same) when I cannot see a real return. Even with throwing out the direct response or ROI piece, I do not see where a physician, attorney, manufacturing company, etc benefits from having a specific FB page.

Thoughts

[RobertFisher]

I think this really is helpful. It would appear, that in order to make it work, there must also be someone who is monitoring it to insure a client is responded to? I would wonder about a time/value problem here. 
With our clients, some do and some do not have say a FB page. (For all professional practices we encourage them being on LinkedIn). How do you judge the cost vs. benefit of monitoring this?

[RobertFisher]

Stefano,

Again thanks for the responses, but..... The "social media is a must" and pro's outweigh the con's statements don't really provide depth. Is there anything in your experience that says: this is where it makes a difference. Something more tangible? I know all the arguments around everyone is there, its how people communicate, building buzz, etc. What i am after is more numbers, etc. - Bob's Tire House started an FB page and with no other advertising built a viral community and sold a thousand tires (yes it is an exaggeration, but purely for illustration of what I am looking for).

Or, an FB page when implemented as such will provide X or Y to your business. Just understand I am looking for a prove up on X or Y. Not being a pain on purpose, just bugged by this question.

[RobertFisher]

Thanks Kyle, 
We utilize social bookmarking on almost every client site we have and you are correct. My interest is much more based on just not seeing the efficacy in building site type pages for clients on social media. I want them to spend their money where they get a bang for the buck so that is the reason for the questions.

thanks again.

[stefanok]

Hi Robert

Apologies for the late reply. beena  crazy few days here in South Africa

well lets put this into context. Having a Facebook presence and advertising on facebook using a PPC or CPM campaign are two different entities.

I agree, from my experience, advertising a product for lead generation on Facebook for instance has been a waste of time and doesd not convert well at all to sales.

I feel generally facebook users are there to have fun and pass the time rather than look for great deals and buy things.

However, Facebook and using Facebook advertsfor branding and general brand awereness is pretty powerfull.

Imagine the ripple effect of having 1000 users, who view your status and actually like it or comment or view it a few times. This gets fed into on to their wall and is seen by another 100 friends. So potentially you can reach 100 000 people with minimum effort. Once again, you arent selling anything but you are building your brand awerness. Zero cost, all to gain.

All networks have their pro's and con's. You need to find what is important for the long term benift of your client and then strategise from their. perform your own tettst and start compiling data for that particular client on social media platforms.

I hope that this helps youa  little more