No More Arguing: You should use Social Media for Selling your Stuff. Period.

Stop spending thousands or millions of dollars of your advertising budget on the wrong thing. Here’s the thing: Many companies out there are spending too much on something that offer you questionable returns on your invested money.

Please tell me – when is the last time you pay attention to billboards? How about TV commercial – did you watch any in the past few weeks? How about ads in magazines, newspaper or other print publications? I don’t know what about you, but if you asked me, I’d say that I rarely see those.

Perhaps it’s because I’m driving. Or falling asleep when a taxi take me to my destination. Or perhaps it’s because I put my attention on what’s displayed on my smartphone’s screen. Or perhaps… I have ad blindness?

For whatever reason I have, I’m sure there are others who are just like me. The bottom line is, the world has changed, and that includes the marketing world.

So, where is people’s attention right now at this time? The answer is: Social media.

People hang out on social media more than ever

People are on social media, and they spend more of their time on social media than ever. How’s 3 hours per day sound to you? And that’s 2013 stats!

So, as a marketer, seller, business person, business owner, etc. who need to get your words out for your products/services and find more clients/buyers for them, social media is the place to go, because, today, social media sells stuff.

And social media platforms help you do so at a fraction of traditional advertising media’s costs.

Social media advertising costs less – much less

Let’s take my (former) business as an example.

10 years ago I used newspaper ad to promote my business service shop. I spend thousands-of-dollar-worth of advertising budget. The result: No conversion, minimal branding impact.

Now, compare that to the advertising campaign I’ve done on Facebook and Twitter for my online magazine. I spend a total of $250, and I get tons of exposure, more website traffic, plenty of likes and followers, and a positive overall result, branding-wise.

I wish I use social media advertising back in 2005 – along with AdWords. The return must be way, way much better than today.

If you asked me why I would focus on social media marketing and advertising, my answer would be simply this: Because it’s where the attention goes. ‘Nuff said.

If you are doubtful, let my man Gary Vaynerchuk explains it to you in a segment of his recent’s keynote:

Raw. Informative. The truth. He knows what he’s talking about.

Takeaway

Here’s one takeway: Stop spending your dollars on old, ineffective marketing platform and start budgeting for social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Social media is where people hang out, and the time spent on social platforms are increasing steadily.

Now over to you: Are you using social media to promote and sell your stuff? If so, which platforms do you use, and how?