Does participating in social media get you more customers?

[Red Flower]

I've been doing the social media posts for a museum for about 9 months as a volunteer.
I recently went to a job interview to do freelance social media for a non-profit. The non-profit employer asked me if the social media at the museum resulted in more visitors, customers etc..
I didn't know the answer but to the best of my knowledge the social media has not resulted in more customers. What can I tell a potential employer about how social media will increase his business? Is it a falsehood that social media increases your business?
I can tell a employer that social media will increase awareness of his business but nothing more. How to you handle this question at an interview? How can I convince them that it's worth paying a social media person?

[Tyler]

I believe it does if you actually have someone on the account talking and giving information post a few cute observations and talk to people about their experience, if you hire someone make them WORK

[Alec]

It's all about relationships and trust, and that is the benefit of social media (if done correctly). The days of interruption marketing (TV, Radio, Newspaper, etc.) are pretty much behind us and permission marketing (Opt-in Email Marketing, Social Media, etc) is what will most likely prevail going forward. Results of your social media marketing can take up to a year to be seen, so don't give up...

I highly recommend sticking with Social Media marketing, and also implementing email marketing to further spread message and gain even more loyal followers and customers.

You can try RedCappi Email Marketing for free and hopefully it can help you. Good luck...

Alec
Founder, RedCappi

[Willard Chapman]

Social media strategy allows you to tell your clients about your business, future plans and special offers and more. You become engaged with your customers,and your customers will want to know more about you, your products or services and will want to share this with their friends and contacts.

[Tom B]

It may be helpful to run a social media event or promotion so that you can track social influence. If your customer has any type of budget, then targeted PPC may be a good option as well.

You can create all sorts of contests on social media to create a buzz:
* Top Fans
* Coupons
* Click 'Like' if they agree with a comment

These interactions create a buzz and get sets of eyeballs looking at your FB page and message.