The document addresses ten common objections clients have regarding the use of social media for business, providing practical counterarguments. These objections include concerns about time management, negativity, and the perceived irrelevance of social media for B2B companies. The text emphasizes the importance of utilizing social media for building relationships, increasing visibility, and enhancing marketing efforts across various platforms.

1. Social Media – How to Overcome 10 Common Objections What to say when your clients say “I can’t use social media because…”

2. Objection 1 – No time I have no time to manage this. You can use tools to update to all at once You can use or hire someone to help A good strategy will take your company and schedule into account Social media activities will help you be more productive Social media analytics will help you to save time guessing

3. Objection 2 – No department There’s no department for social media. You can – and SHOULD – use people in different departments for different points of view Divide up the tasks in different departments for diversity and interesting content Hire someone to help

4. Objection 3 - Negativity I’m afraid people will be negative about us If you’re afraid of this, they already are Disgruntled customers will tweet, blog and post about you whether you are online or not Opportunity to address what’s negative about the business and be up front Developing a loyal following will help to squelch doubt

5. Objection 4 – Personal vs. Professional I only use social media for personal reasons and I don’t want to mix them By doing this, you’re robbing your friends/fam the ability to support you and share what you do You can set privacy settings by list so people can’t see what you don’t want them to see Everyone knows someone who might need what you do Being cautious won’t get you more visibility, more clients, and more money

6. Objection 5 – I’m B2B, not B2C I only sell to companies, not people. Businesses are made up of people. People are the decision makers, the ones recommending you, and they are all online. People are researching for more information about companies, and if you’re not on there, they’ll learn about your competition. Social media is about transparency. It changes the game and makes marketing and PR all about relationships.

7. Objection 6 – It’s for kids. My teenager uses social media. Overall age of internet user – 38 Facebook average user – 35 – 44 YouTube average user - 35 – 49 Twitter average user – 18 – 34 Teenagers aren’t using it for business

8. Age distribution across all social networking sites

9. Objection 7 – Our marketing is fine. Our marketing efforts are doing a fine job. A blog can help drive traffic to your site and increase sales What if people could buy right from your Facebook page? Blog content can help fuel email marketing No other marketing has analytics like social media Social media is more likely cheaper than what you’re currently doing Social media makes you look high tech and smart and foreward thinking

10. Objection 8 – It’s a fad. Social media is just a fad and it’ll go away soon. The tools may change, but the game will stay the same. (Netscape – Yahoo – Google) (MySpace – Friendster – Facebook) Social media has been around for 20 years. (Prodigy and AOL Chatrooms) As mobile tech increases, it’s even easier for people to stay social and create content. People are taking photos and posting immediate content.

11. Objection 9 - Control We can’t control what people will say. You have control over your channels You have control over how you respond You have the ability to participate in the conversation – which gives you more control

12. Objection 10 – I don’t wanna. I don’t need to. It’s too expensive. It’ll take too long. I’m not in a hurry. I have no desire. I’m not tech savvy. I don’t have the resources. My company has too much security. It’s too risky. We don’t want to show too much to the customer. No one here knows how to use it. Our management won’t support it.

13. In that case, you can… Share case studies Show what their competitors are doing Show their customers are online and where Find ways for them to dip their toes in. (Just build the page and share it. Just sign up.) Develop a mock-up plan showing where their ROI would be the most beneficial, who would run it, and what they’d say.

14. Thank you! Jessica Kupferman www.yourdigitalstew.com www.facebook.com/digitalstew www.twitter.com/jesskupferman