Comments on: Social Media Marketing: There’s No Free Lunch

By: B.L. Ochman

B.L. Ochman — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:19:06 +0000

Nicky - thanks for taking the time to write about my Businessweek piece on social media myths. Like I said, companies spend more and companies spend less. Small businesses, like my own new venture, Pawfun.com have to roll up their sleeves and do the work themselves. But if you hire an expert, with a proven track record, a professional designer, a programmer, and the other experts needed to produce a national campaign of the type and scope I was discussing in the article, $50 - $100K is simply not a lot of money. B.L. Ochman’s last blog post..Forrester Report: Social Media Playtime Is Over

By: How To Create Your Own Social Networking Site On a Shoestring

How To Create Your Own Social Networking Site On a Shoestring — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:29:26 +0000

[...] Social Media Marketing: There’s No Free Lunch. [...]

By: Nicky

Nicky — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:34:36 +0000

@Cheryl

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 04:46:51 +0000

Late to the party…again! Hey Nicky. Thanks for giving us your take on Ochman’s article. I knew you’d have something sassy to say.

By: Nicky

Nicky — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:52:04 +0000

@Mark – one of the wonderful thing about Social Media Marketing, Networking and the whole toolset is that, as long as you are willing to learn and have patience and are realistic you can do it by yourself. If it pays to outsource things it can be economical. But there is a personal aspect to Social Media that requires the person not a proxy.

You don’t need a huge expensive agency, fancy programmers and price tag either. I think that implying that no one can do it for others unless they are “experts” leaves out the smaller businesses who have done just that – unhampered by the corporate set up. I know though that there are huge Social Media campaigns that do carry that price tag and companies that will readily pay it.

@Michele – I totally agree about bootstrapping and heartily suggest companies do a pilot. Right now I outsource major blog upgrades and have done for a couple of years now… I simply don’t have the time to ensure I don’t bork my two blogs. I actually think outsourcing tasks that take away from the value producing ones is a good idea and I plan to outsource things like adminstrative tasks that I simply dislike doing because it frees me to do what I enjoy.

Then again, large companies are used to marketing budgets carved out at budget time for advertising … so perhaps it’s a case of “have money, must spend it.” The biggest overhead will be people – both external consultants and internal resources. Smaller companies don’t have that kind of budget to spend on marketing – agency or not, so they are going to DIY it, partner or pay something a lot smaller. Interestingly, a Warrillow report I read recently said that if large companies are your target market, every one of them is hurting in right now and the smaller businesses who need strategic help are the ones to talk to. And as marketing budgets are being slashed, some form of creative DIY and bootstrapping may be the only option.

Thank you both for commenting.

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:45:35 +0000

I’m the quintessential bootstrapper on this topic. Started on my own. I’ve spent less than a couple hundred dollars and its all me, for better or worse. I could spend $50K easily for access to more research, creative, and web resources, if not more. At the end of the day, it’s me and my brand so I should be right in there doing it. The rest is fluff and will get in the way. IMHO, if larger companies want to do this and can’t figure out the ROI, bootstrap in the organization with a well thought out pilot. Take a new marketing specialist and let them run with it: use out of the box tools/apps, writing, leveraging existing assets, and connecting. Just weave it into an existing campaign for consistency and management. Test with those that don’t have it, measure the ROI.

Ah, but to have a big marketing budget again!

By: mark_hayward

mark_hayward — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:06:02 +0000

Hi Nicky - thanks for pointing out that article! As it pertains to small business, I am not quite sure I agree with one thing that Mr. Ochman claims. I didn't know the first thing...nothing, zip, nada when I got started. And I do everything myself. Total cost = $0.00 (but it does take time, which if we want to get technical certainly has value). mark_hayward’s last blog post..10 Tips for Blogging Your Way to Small Business Success