When we’ve written about social media on this blog before, it’s typically been through the lens of “how to use it most effectively” and not one of “how to make money with it.” Recently, however, a number of sources have taken to calling social media — and Facebook in particular — a waste of time for advertisers. That’s a very different lens than the one we’ve been using but does raise an interesting idea. Before we jump in, here’s a snapshot of some recent stories:

• About Face(book)
• GM Doesn’t “Like” Facebook, Drops Ads
• Mark Cuban Calls Facebook a “Time Waster”
• Facebook: Waste of Time for Most Advertisers
• IBM 2012 Holiday Benchmark Reports

The point of these stories isn’t that you CAN’T make money with Facebook — as the IBM report points out, some companies did get referrals AND revenue from social media — but that you need to evaluate your return on investment and determine for yourself and for your company if you CAN make money with Facebook. We believe that’s a valid point to consider for every advertising option you’re evaluating.

For example, if you’ve never used radio before, you might not know that it provides one of the best return on investment ratios in all of advertising. Radio does this by being relatively low cost and highly effective. Television is very expensive but also highly effective. Outdoor and newspapers are the topic of a whole other blog post but not as effective as radio or television in most cases. Google’s AdWords product is very low cost and very effective, but it reaches audiences in a very different way. As for Facebook, while it is certainly extremely low cost, it is often not effective (as the stories point out).

So how can we help?

As you take time to reflect on the past year and prepare for a brand new one, I’d like to urge you to look at your advertising options and ask yourself these questions: Can I make money with it? And if so, how much? If you already know the answer, contact us to help you improve your ROI. If you don’t know the answer, contact us anyway and we’ll work with you to answer both of those questions. If you’ve never worked with us before, you might not know that we can negotiate advertising rates as much as 40% below metro market averages and also combine your traditional (radio) and digital (banner ads and email marketing) campaigns for an even better return on investment. We love when our clients succeed and promise we won’t waste your time. Let’s talk.

Drew Kondylas is a Marketing Consultant at The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above. Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com