Many questions have been asked if social media marketing is free.
Today there are still many brands that continue to think that social media marketing is free.
That idea makes them launch into them and open profiles to start publishing what seems important to them, which is usually very similar to traditional Marketing.
They immediately notice the first cost that prevents them from continuing with a rhythm of publications: time.
So, they decide to have someone from the company take care of them.
Generally, this person already has their tasks, and to keep the social profiles active, they need time they do not have.
And there, the online communication of the company dies.
Let’s look at the reality of why social media marketing are not free.
Also Read: Social Media Marketing Vs Digital Marketing
Table of Contents
Opening A Profile & Posting On Social Media Is Free
This is free, at least in terms of money.
You register an e-mail, add a Password, and already have it.
Indeed this is the basis on which that feeling of gratuity is based.
However, their lack of professional evaluation is what leads us to find social profiles of brands that:
- They are abandoned or published without any regularity.
- They publish inbred content, in which they only talk about themselves, in a traditional Marketing style, which does not interest users.
Dedicating efforts, resources, time, and illusions do not obtain results is very expensive.
Is it worth not professionalizing it?
We recommend that you seek specialists to help you with it.
The Community Manager Must Be A Trained Professional
We like to think that the sector is becoming more and more professional.
But the truth is that this profile continues to suffer a lot from labor intrusion.
There are still quite a few “sons of my friend, who are good at computers” or “marketing colleagues who write very well” responsible for boosting social networks and curating or creating content for them.
Sooner or later, the company realizes that this model does not work.
And it doesn’t because the figure of the Community Manager is vital for the company’s Digital Communication.
We all know reputation crises well-known brands face due to inadequate or inappropriate responses from the Community Manager.
If this can happen in the professional field, more so in the profane.
Content For Social Media Is Not Free
The demand of people for brands has been maximum since the arrival of the Internet.
It’s been a while since they were satisfied with a “good morning fans and let’s have a coffee.”
Do you think this adds something to the lives of your fans? Or can you talk to them about the properties of coffee and take the opportunity to say good morning?
The creation or curation of the content does not come from thin air.
Behind there is a Social Media strategy that marks the objectives we seek with each publication.
The digital communication professionals, the Social Media Manager, the copywriter, the designer, etc., have dedicated hours to the study of this profession.
There is also an experience behind it that teaches us what the users of a particular community usually like.
Here we have one more cost to being successful in social media marketing.
The Tools Used To Automate Processes In Social Media Are Not Free
The tools used to automate processes in social networks are not free.
We will say yes if you think we can use the free versions of those tools.
Although, we have to point out that this is only the case in the first phase of your project.
As it grows, you will see that you need more utilities.
The objectives are more demanding, and the optimization of the time of the people who participate in the project is also more significant.
For this reason, there are some minimums that we have to automate.
The most basic of all is to publish.
Digital Analytics Requires Investment.
This is another fundamental aspect forgotten when professionals in the sector do not manage their social networks.
Because do you know what results you have with those actions or are you based on pure intuition?
Do you have a report at the end of the month that tells you if your goals have been met?
What’s more, did you set yourself goals before starting to give your company visibility on social networks?
If you do not advertise on social networks, you will see few results or not at all.
If your company recently had a digital presence, you will see that the reach of your publications is low. And if not present, there are few or no results.
This is the trend of algorithms we do not see and make social networks work.
To give you an idea, only 8 and 10% of your followers or fans see what you post.
Depending on each case, you can take these numbers as generic.
Therefore, if you want all that effort, time, and money you are investing in your Social Media project to make sense, we recommend you reserve part of your budget for ads in Social Ads.
Conclusion
Social networks are not free.
As you have seen, the idea that social media marketing are free is far from reality.
Two variables directly affect it:
- The cost of time.
- The cost of money.
We could not tell you which is more valuable of the two.
This will have to be decided by you based on the company’s resources.
We have seen that it seems evident that your company needs a budget for Digital Marketing and Social Media.
The variables that we have seen that directly affect this cost are:
- Professionals in the sector: Community Manager, Social Media Manager, copywriter, designer, etc.
- The necessary social media tools.
- Investment in Social Ads: Ads.
We hope this has made it clearer to you that entering the digital world without knowing why you are doing it, in them is efficient.