It’s an interesting question … and nobody seems to want to answer it.

A few months ago on LinkedIn, I asked, “What is social media?” and there were dozens of answers posted in just a few days.

But ask a real-world practical question, like the one below which I recently posted to two very active social media groups, and the result is virtual silence:

What do you say to a prospective client who says, “Okay, I get it. Social media is important. I know it’s about planting seeds, it’s about building relationships, it’s about slow organic growth, it’s about quality, not quantity. I can give you $3,000 budget per month to do social media for my company, or I can give you $1,500. If I give you $3,000 how do I know you’re not giving me the same thing you’d be giving me anyway for $1,500?”

My question has received a total of one response, from a gentleman named Ken Grimsley:

Intellectual property for the strategic planning and skilled labor for implementation and tracking are cost components with which any business person can identify.

For twice the budget, the strategy will reflect twice the outreach and require twice the time. Social media is labor-intensive and can be delineated as such in the Scope of Work. The number of networks, channels, blogs, blog comments, Tweets, Diggs, identifying and working alpha influencers, responding to trends and attitudes, and dozens of other tactics can require huge time investments.

Depending on the client’s target market, competitors, and market conditions, twice the budget may yield quadruple results, but in most cases it can’t be quantified until it’s tracked. It’s a gamble. (If advertising were guaranteed, the Fortune 500 would be changing ad agencies more often than a tween tweets in a day.) I normally work within the client’s budget comfort zone in phase one to demonstrate some results, then you can push for more budget. Depends on the client and their pocketbook.

One response. But it was a thoughtful one. Thanks, Ken.

I guess the lesson here is that far, far more people believe they know what social media is than know how to sell it to a client.

Social Media Examiner is one of the better blogs about social media. They’ve just released their 2010 Social Media Marketing Report, a 33-page .pdf you can get for free on their site. It’s the sort of thing I wish I had the time to put together, but I don’t and fortunately Michael Stelzner does. Or maybe he doesn’t either, and he just sleeps even less than I do. As the saying goes: “You want something done, give it to a busy person.”

We’ve all been reading and hearing a lot these last few days about how the volcano in Iceland is making life miserable for European air travelers. Here’s a nice little animation that offers a pretty vivid illustration as to why.

… while I continue to deal with the aftermath of a plethora — nay, a veritable cornucopia — of tech issues.

“Love is what you’ve been through with somebody.”
—James Thurber