Is marketing through social networks a waste of time?

More and more small business owners spend more and more time online with social networking. Is time spent here wasted or is it useful?

For sure, blogging, twittering and facebooking takes time - a lot of time if you want to post more articles than just one every now and then.

There are some things online that you can automate, such as the update of your twitter account, that you can set up in a way that it will show your latest blog posts or facebook post. However, communication through social networks should stay personal. That means, not everything should or can be automated. If you really want to start interacting with people, you yourself will have to answer their questions or respond to their comments they might leave on your blog or facebook page.

So why do businesses and organizations even have blogs, twitter accounts, a fanpage on facebook, if it is so much work to keep it updated?

They do it to draw attention to themselves, to gain more and more subscribers or 'followers'. Of course, as a company or organization you also want to sell. Either your product or service or your organization’s purpose.
If you do not gain any new subscribers, ‘followers’, customers or clients with all your efforts, then you are probably just wasting your time.

Of course it will take some time (at least several months) until you succeed with your efforts in social networks. If you are not successful, you should reconsider your strategy. It might be better for you to target your audience through other channels.

How much time do you spend with social networking? Do you believe it is a waste of time?

Plan for recreation when planning your marketing activities

Recreation and free time are part of the life of an entrepreneur/freelancer, such as well as work. You do not have time for recreation? That is not possible! Without recreation there is no work.
People who who are just working around the clock, do not nearly do their work as powerful as someone who regularly relaxes.
Recovered and relaxed people can concentrate better and perform their tasks better. This was confirmed by a study of the Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany – even though you probably knew that already a long time ago.
Recreation and leisure go hand in hand with the marketing of a company. Only people who have free time on a regular basis can make good marketing. People who do not compensate work with recreation cannot be creative.
Go out, enjoy the summer and leave your computer and Blackberry at home.