3 Reasons Your Social Media Isn't Making You Money

3 Reasons Your Social Media Fails to Provoke Money

The digital transformation is such a paradox. Most companies are getting zero return on social media, yet they keep feeding the monster with usage rates growing ridiculously higher every day.

Well, my friends, the truth is that monetizing your social media presence can be done but just like everything else the rewards come to those who make the fewest mistakes. Here’s the three ways I find most companies fail to be provocative.

Social Media Monetization Downfall #1: Lack of Value or Sloppy Presentation

There is no truer test of value than the market. What the market finds valuable, the market pays attention to. If your content is being ignored, ask yourself if 1) what you’re saying is truly going to solve the problems they face (thus rendering value to them) and/or 2) if you know for a fact that it has never been said before.

Other content downfalls include bad introductory text, sloppy graphics, and a slew of other presentation errors that I can tell you about if you email me.

Social Media Monetization Downfall #2: Format of Content Doesn’t Suit Your Style

The naïve user will post content to wherever he or she has the best following but the truth is not every platform is made equal.

If you’re a great business writer, you could make money blogging on LinkedIn.

If you’re a great public speaker, you could make money on YouTube. If you’re camera shy, don’t even try this as it can waste a great deal of time.

If you take great photos, you could make money on Facebook or Instagram. If you don’t have high standards for professional appearances then I would think twice.

Everyone has his or her own unique strengths and knowing this will lead you to the money. Do it wrong and you are just wasting time. Some CEOs fluster in front of a camera. Some companies who don’t get it that in professional photographs people shouldn’t look like they are at the beach party in Cancun and posting company photos does more harm than good.

Social Media Monetization Downfall #3: Talking to People Whose Problems You Can’t Solve

This is the most time consuming one to fix. Most people post to their entire following without considering if anyone in the audience is going to feel motivated enough to take action that goes beyond reading your content. What motivates people to take action beyond reading? When they get so frustrated that they must resort to seeking out experts on social media who can solve the problems that they can not solve.

Here’s my golden rule that the rest of the world doesn’t seem to agree with. But it’s earned me money that it hasn’t earned them so I know that I’m right and they are wrong.

Sara’s Golden Rule of Social Media Monetization

It’s not the quantity of attention that you get that matters. It’s the quality of the interaction that you have with your followers that counts.

To prove the logic behind this theory, consider this scenario. If I post a blog and get 1,000 views and 3 likes, is that a successful post? Or is it more successful if I get 3 views and no likes but one comment from someone asking a question. I then respond to that question, asking for his or her email, send them some follow up information, and eventually end up doing business with that person.

The reason I say this is I have 2k people following me on my YouTube channel and if you visit my channel you’ll see that almost every single day I get questions or comments from someone who watched one of my hundreds of videos. Some of these videos have less than 100 views on them but they are so provocative that usually someone comments. While 2k isn’t the biggest following in the world, I have been able to help hundreds of people, to truly help them, and in doing so create an ancillary business line by offering expert advice to this audience.

You can get in front of the audience of likely buyers if they’re not in your native following by maybe trying a few of the following methods.

Paying to get your content in front of people with a certain job title or interest. You can do this on Facebook or LinkedIn through what is called “sponsored content.”

Following centers of influence, learning what types of content they typically share with their audience, and asking them to share some of your goodies.

Appearing as a guest blogger on someone else’s blog.

Seeking groups or discuss forums where people are complaining about problems that you can solve for them.

This can get really time consuming so you have to ask yourself this question. Who can I provoke the best?