Hi

When was the last time you followed someone from any service industry on social media, and said, "I will become their client?"

I am assuming, never.

Over the years I have seen agencies miss the point of doing social media marketing. Efforts start with a lot of enthusiasm and fanfare, and dies down after a few months when no leads are generated.

Followers are not Clients

Over the years I have conducted multiple experiments on service business clients' social media accounts. Here are some insights:

1. People follow other experts in services industry to learn from them.
2. Most times they are juniors in the industry who are eager to learn new things.
3. A vast majority of engagement (over 90%) are from peers.

Is social media marketing a waste of time and money for service businesses?

No.

There are second order effects at play here.

Agencies and other service businesses should put efforts to increase their followers.

Followers signal that others in the industry consider you an expert.

Followers signal that you are respected and valued for your knowledge.

And it has the effect of increasing inbound leads, increasing sales conversions, and reducing time taken for conversions.

Collect those followers. Don't expect them to become your clients.

Expect clients to follow because of the followers :)

Best

Anoop Kurup