The Cost (and Payoff) of Investing in Social Media

By Lydia Dishman of Entrepreneur.com

Twitter grew 3,000% in April. Facebook hosted 61.2 million visitors in March. LinkedIn counts 20 million users worldwide.

With a potential audience that big, it's no wonder savvy entrepreneurs are looking to unlock the secrets of social media as another way to get the word out about their businesses. Free access to many social media accounts (and potential clients) just adds to the allure.

But is social media right for your business? Could it be a free substitute for a traditional (read: expensive) advertising plan? How much time should be spent in the care and feeding of all those profiles? The answers may surprise you.

"Traditional advertising and marketing is not dead," says Olivier Blanchard, business strategist and principal of The Brand Builder Marketing. Blanchard advocates integrating social media into a more traditional marketing and advertising plan, "so you can have a healthy mix, much like a diversified investment portfolio."

Though the platforms will differ based on the type of business, Sarah Granger, founder of a technology communications strategy firm Public Edge, encourages small organizations to have a solid Web site, email list and a contact database before venturing into social media.

Blogs: Write Your Way to Success
If you want to build customer loyalty, Kristi Colvin says start blogging now. "Many platforms allow you to blog comfortably," says the chief creative officer at We Heart and Twitterface. She recommends Tumblr for smaller businesses, "because it is customizable, extremely easy to learn to use, and has an additional component that allows you to follow people and re-blog their content easily."