Social Media Infographics: What it REALLY Costs

One of the things those of us who love social media often discuss is unrealistic expectations. Many do not realize how much time it takes to do it well – or even what doing it well might mean. They also expect it to convert like search – and that doesn’t generally happen because social media is more like content advertising than search.

These two infrographics provide a much clearer idea of what the true costs of social media really are – unless you do it yourself:

Did you see the overall median salary in the survey Social Media Examiner included in their Social Media Salaries post?

$114,750 salary for director level social media positions.

Many businesses have the incorrect assumption that social media is an entry level position. They need to remember that the person communicating for their business on social media is their most public interface with their customers.

Do you REALLY want someone without significant business experience
speaking on your behalf online where what they say can live forever?

Taking social media seriously means understanding that you need to do it well because it DOES reflect on your reputation. When you’re deciding who to allow to speak publicly for you, be sure it is someone who clearly understands what is acceptable to your business and your customers.

Young people today have no idea what is appropriate for business and mixed company – and even many consultants and bloggers use words and share images and topics that older business owners might never expect – resulting in some very public and very embarrassing “mistakes”.

Just recently an exceptional Social Media Marketing blog published a post that had the ‘F’ word in the title and blatant sexual content. Some of us debated whether the title or the post were more problematic. I won’t link to the post in question, but you can easily find it a few posts before the follow-up post discussing the objections I raised.

While I would normally just ignore that type of content and the blog it was published on, this is not just any blog – it is a very polished, professional business blog. I have never met Danny in person, so perhaps my impression of him is not accurate and my expectations too high.

I share this in this post because everyone needs to understand how ‘socially acceptable’ words, expressions, images, and content like this are to many bloggers. You have only to read the comments in Danny’s blog to see that my belief that this type of content and that particular word (among others) is inappropriate and disrespectful puts me in the minority – at least among those who are commenting there.

Businesses who hire content creators and social media managers need to have clear, written guidelines as to what they find acceptable and especially what they prohibit. If they don’t, it is highly likely that they will be placed in embarassing positions and apologizing.

On the other hand, if your customers believe dropping the ‘f’ word lends instant credibility as Brian from Gear Box Magazine commented, then you will want to hire people who will fit your target audience.

Swearing does not offend or shock me.  When I worked for IBM I repaired equipment at General Dynamics back in the plant, in railroad yards and truck companies where the men would do their best to get a rise out of me with their off-color jokes and by making their language as colorful as possible.

I simply find it unprofessional and lacking in class. That was why I was surprised that Danny published that post – his blog exudes class. There was a time (showing my age here) when how you acted around your drunken buddies and how you behaved at work and in public – or in front of your Mother, GrandMother or children – was different.

While some are happy with this new-found freedom to act boorishly, others of us choose to set an example for the young people who have been brought up so inundated with sexual imagery and around people of all ages behaving badly in public that they don’t know any better than to put provocative or outright sexual images on their social media profiles.

How could they know what is appropriate and what is not?  Television when I was a child had married couples in separate twin beds (that was silly even back then) while Prime Time TV today makes cops watching pole-dancers and bed-hopping plus serial murderers and blood and gore seem “normal”.

‘Normal is however you’ve been raised.’

I wonder what those directors making a median salary of $114,750 would think about all this? If you know any, send them by to comment.

Image credit: Social Media Examiner / Dachis Group

SOCIAL MEDIA INFOGRAPHICS:

• Pamorama: 35 Social Media Infographics
• Penn Olson: 10 Gorgeous Social Media Infographics

SEO INFOGRAPHICS:

• Hubspot: 12 Amazing SEO Infographics

MARKETING STATS, CHARTS and DATA:

• Hubspot: 100 Awesome Marketing Stats, Charts, & Graphs [Data]

Tagged as: social media, social media consultants, social media costs