How to sell social media marketing to your boss

What type of marketing messages are you sending out to your customers? If you do not have several different types of marketing messages that are out there, what can you do in order to strengthen your online presence? Your boss is the person you really need to sell on social media in order to really build a reputation for your company and to help you finally get that edge you need with new forms of marketing. So if you are ready to convince your boss of the importance of social media, here are some of the tips you need to follow in order to help you:

1. Sit down with your boss with a plan and clearly lay out to them why social media is better from other marketing needs. Some of the points that you want to lay out to them is to say that it is free to use. Then you want to point out the sheer volume of users that are on social media sites. You have to show them how many sites there are to work with and how you can find your niche users on all of these sites. This is invaluable to your company and it is one of the best selling points as you can find customers for free. Another thing that you want to point out with social media is how the system can be used to help you monitor what your competitors are doing. This can give you a huge edge in your industry and it is a great way for you to be able to send out information ahead of your competitors.
2. Explain to your boss how social media marketing can be used as part of your overall marketing program. Set up your marketing goals and to make sure they see how social media meets all of the marketing goals. This will help you to enhance your reputation online and to brand the company as well as getting out there with your customers. You need to interact with the customers and using social media is the best way for you to build relationships with them.
3. If your boss is apprehensive with the social media program, you should pitch a smaller program to them. Starting small is a great way to convince your boss how social media will be able to help your company. Little by little you will begin to see results that you can turn into your boss. As you start to get more results your boss may start to let you devote more time to it.
4. Research several social media strategies and pitch a couple to your boss. It is a good idea to pick one that you really like and then to start with it. Really research it and really understand what needs to be done in order for you to create the right message with social media marketing. Your boss will be apprehensive so you need to have the right approach to it and have everything clearly laid out in order to make the right type of impression on your boss. Use examples of other companies that have been able to have success with social media as it will be able to help you create the right type of impression on them.
5. Gather a lot of information and get ready for really hard questions from your employer. They will talk to you about things like "our customers aren't found online", "what happens when negative information is posted", "how much time will it take". When you have these questions you need to be prepared with the right type of answers for it in order to really impress your boss and to show them you are ready to take on this challenge.