Since launching ME Consulting last month, I’ve been reading and talking a lot about social media, and the impact it’s having on how businesses communicate, market and sell their products and services.
There are a few things that have been particularly striking. One is there’s a tremendous amount of talk and enthusiasm about social media. It’s the online world’s new “It Girl” – sexy, attractive and fascinating even if many peopled don’t have a strong grasp of what it involves beyond a bunch of well-known tools.

Second, most companies want to embrace social media or think they need to embrace it because it seems that everyone else is doing it.

When I talk to companies interested in social media, I ask them three questions: Why do you want to do social media? What do you want to get out of it – e.g. traffic, branding, sales? How much time/money are you committed to make social media happen? If they have good answers or, at least, solid thoughts about each question, then they’ve taken an important first strategic step.

The third – and perhaps most interesting – issue from talking to people are the myths surrounding social media. If you look at the list, it goes a long way in explaining why so many people are so excited but need insight and strategic/tactical help in doing social media.

1. Social media is free. This is based on the fact many of the tools available to implement social media are, in fact, free such as WordPress, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, del.icio.us, Digg. The reality, however, is while the tools are free to use, it takes time, effort and resources (aka a dedicated employee such as a community manager) to implement and operate social media programs. It’s not just a matter of setting up a few accounts, and trying to automate as much as possible. To do it well and properly, social media takes time and money.

2. Social media is easy. Among the leading social media myths, this is perhaps the biggest one. To be honest, doing social media well is far from glamorous. It takes a lot of time and involves a tremendous amount of blocking and tackling on a daily basis. Unless you hit the social media lottery (e.g. Zappos), a successful social media campaign consists of working it every day and making small, but constant, gains. It means hours of effort to monitor, track and engage with people on dozens of platforms.

3. Social media is about the tools. As mentioned above, the tools mean nothing if you don’t have someone to leverage them. The tools are cool but even the best tools are worthless without a clear goal of what and how they should be used.

4. Social media is a standalone activity from a company’s marketing, communications and sales activities. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Social media is a not an add-on or an accessory but it surprising to see companies suggest they need to add some social media to the mix. In other words, it’s not a widget that can easily be plugged in when needed. To be successful, social media needs to be part of and aligned with a company’s brand, messaging and strategic goals.

5. Social measure is difficult to measure or get a handle on return on investment. There’s no lack of tools available to track, monitor and measure social media activity, many of them free. At the same time, increasingly more sophisticated and value social media measurement and analytics tools are being created that will provide companies with amazing insight about what’s happening within the social media universe and who’s doing it.

The myths about social media aren’t necessarily a bad thing because it illustrates how the social market is still in the early stages of its development and maturity. Over time, these myths will start to disappear as companies and people get a better appreciation of what’s really involved and how social media fits into the strategic schemes of things.

More: B.L. Ochman has a story in BusinessWeek that debunks six social media myths.

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