5 lies about social media

I gave up my full-time job at a national law firm to pursue my passion, and it’s pretty incredible to do what you love (and get paid for it).

But it’s not all rainbows and unicorns, as some portray it. Like any other job, it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and consistent engagement. Social media marketers are a dime a billion these days, so you must set yourself apart—or die trying!

Here are my top five lies about social media:

1. Social media is free.

This is one of the biggest misconceptions of them all. Social media is not free. It takes time, and the last I checked, time equals money. Even if you decide to keep your social media marketing in-house, you will always be paying someone to monitor your accounts.

Social media management tools such as Hootsuite and TweetDeck are free (unless you have premium accounts), but you need to quantify the time invested in learning about these tools and how to use them properly.

If you use an outside digital marketing company for your social media endeavors, be leery of anyone who gives you a quote up front without a conversation first. In this business, you get what you pay for.

2. You need influencers.