What is your attitude towards social media marketing?  Is your enthusiasm waning, because you do not see much activity on your Facebook page?  Is it difficult to manage multiple accounts?  Do you feel like your efforts are failing because of lack of Retweets?

Since it is somewhat difficult for a company to gauge the success of a campaign, negative feelings about social media are fairly common.

However, we’d like to argue that you are, in fact, receiving more attention than you realize.  Turn that frown upside down, social media is effective!

Look at the Big Picture

Don’t focus on the individual likes and shares you are (or aren’t) receiving.  Instead, look at the big picture.  Your company will benefit simply by having an account and sharing in a social community.

Behind the Scenes

A glance at your site’s page views may – or may not – help the situation.  You might be receiving lots of view, but very little activity.  Or, you might not be getting many views at all.

If this is the case, don’t give up just yet.  You have to remember that a lot of things are happening, even if you can’t see them.  For example, a twitter follower mentions your brand in a company meeting.  Someone who was present at the meeting passes the information along to a coworker.  The coworker drops an email to the boss.  Do you see how your social media account is working behind the scenes?

Continue creating content; it is reaching people.

Not-So-Personal Personal Interactions

You may feel like a relationship established in cyber space has no value.  However, you couldn’t be more wrong.

Just because a post you made didn’t immediately get a million comments doesn’t mean the message didn’t resonate with followers.  You might not have been addressing a follower’s exact needs at the time, but they’ll remember what you said.

Imagine this: a distant cousin calls every few months to see how the kids are doing.  One day, the cousin sees some Girl Scouts selling cookies at the mall.  That sparks a memory – your youngest daughter is a Girl Scout.  The cousin calls you to place her order with your daughter.  She didn’t have any need for a connection to a Girl Scout when you mentioned it five months ago, but she remembered the information when cookie time rolled around.

Put Your Best Foot Forward

These personal relationships you are forming via social media should entice you to bring your A-game.  Look at your last ten posts.  Do those posts jive with the reputation you want your brand to have?  Make sure you are sharing only the very best content.  Not only will this build trust with your followers, it will set you apart from your competitors too.

Don’t give up on social media before you really give it a chance.  It is entirely possible that your social media marketing in a social network is reaping way more rewards than you suspect.

Guest blogger Jessica Birkett works for a local marketing firm.  She is a firm believer that there are numerous benefits of social media marketing.  She’s even found success with controversial products – like the HCG diet from Trim Nutrition.