Want to acquire new customers with social media? Prepare to be disappointed.

“Why doesn’t social media work?”  It was a question posed to me by a very bright business owner who had invested time, money and hope into a social media effort.  His goal: Use social to acquire new customers. 

He began with Facebook.  Surely, he reasoned, out of 900 million Facebook users, he could get his business noticed and drive customers to his door.  His goal was to land 100 new customers over three months.  So if he could get 0.000000111 of the world’s Facebook users to give his product a shot, he would be happy. 

He did his research, developed a plan and launched a Facebook campaign.  He freshened up his company’s Facebook page, loaded lots of company and employee photos and reached out to other Facebook users to get as many “likes” as he could.  Then, he waited on those 100 new customers to come calling. 

Nine months later and he’s still waiting.

He got a few page likes and reconnected with a handful of customers he had not seen in a while, but as far as he knew Facebook brought not one new customer to his business.    

Those results appear to be the rule, not the exception.  Here’s why. 

Social media, and Facebook in particular, must connect and engage the user.  If you have information to share—photos, opinions, ideas, suggestions—that I want, that I need or that I like, then I’m ready to connect and engage.  I will read what you write, I will likely get involved with input and feedback, and I will regularly visit your Facebook page.  I’ll probably read your blog, too.  And I may follow you on Twitter.    

Think about where that works best.  The connection is made and the engagement follows in groups of people who share something in common and important to them—something they are drawn to do.  It’s the church group.  Or parents of kindergartners in a local school.  Or organic gardeners.  Or a national club of motorcycle riders.  Or a group of private pilots.  Or bonsai enthusiasts. 

In other words, it’s those millions of small, “social” groups out there.

What if you are a Chevy dealer?  Or if you run a plumbing company?  What if you sell custom furniture?  You want new customers, so you post useful information on your Facebook page.  You intentionally avoid anything even resembling a sales pitch.  You offer automobile repair tips. Or info on how to keep a home’s pipes from freezing. But nothing happens.

Do you see what’s missing?  It’s the connection and engagement.  That Facebook user you’re after is not interested in you like he is with his hobby.  Or with his club.  Or with that special interest he has. 

Acquiring new customers can be done effectively with any number of strategies.  But you will likely save yourself some frustration and disappointment if you don’t depend on social being one of them.