ONLY IDIOTS BELIEVE SOCIAL MEDIA WORKS

Our brand has a Facebook page, we Tweet and we are connected to half the universe on Linked In.

 So how come sales figures aren't up?

 People, welcome to the great social media scam.

 Every day 'gurus' preach the social media word to unsuspecting businesses, they then hand over their ludicrously large invoice and swiftly hightail it out of there before anyone notices that they have been conned.

 Here's the deal folks: social media is useless.

 It will not increase your company's profile or sales one bit.

 Well, not unless you work at it.

 And work damned hard.

 The problem with social media is that it's free and because it's free it's the easy marketing option for brands.

 So every company has a go at blogging/Tweeting/Facebooking and the results, in general, are poor.

 There are hundreds of TV channels, newspapers, books, films, music and the internet.

 Why should anyone want to read your blog about accountancy/pork pies/used cars?

 So should your company abandon social media?

 No they shouldn't.

 But they have to stop thinking about it as an easy, cheap or free way to advertise.

 To create compelling content you either need lots of time or a professional.

 And most companies who use social media appear to have neither.

 If you are going to use social media here are a few tips:

 Keep it short.

 Try and be newsworthy.

 Give things away: information, advice, etc.

 Only the very savvy or the very lucky have managed to crack social media most just give up.

 I'd be very interested to see how many companies are still blogging or Tweeting 12 months after they start.