Social media is important.
I’m not sure if there’s a more obvious statement out there for those involved
with communications. Companies can directly reach consumers and provide direct
access for consumers to the companies.
In 2014, it’s estimated
there will be 1.82 social media users around the world. This is almost double
the total amount from four years ago (Statista, 2014). A study done by IBM reports social media will
become the most important channel used to engage with its various publics in
three to five years. Last year, only 16 percent used it as a primary method,
but within the aforementioned time frame it will increase to 57 percent (Sass,
2013).
This will place social
media in front of call centers, websites and traditional media (Sass, 2013). With
more than a third of the world’s population using social media (with numbers
continually increasing), your company needs to be there, too. Where the people
are.
This is obvious enough. Few
will argue the importance of social media for most businesses, but selecting
where to be proves the more difficult challenge.
A good social media
strategy can boost business, but not every platform is where you need to be. To
find out where to go, you need to look at the demographics of your desired
audience and determine what is the site they frequent most. Next, you need to
determine how you want to reach them. Is it through blog posts? Videos? These
considerations help you narrow down where to focus your plan (Levy, 2013).
Another consideration?
Using one channel as the main platform to funnel all relevant content through
or using multiple to the same effect.
In my opinion, this is a situation-by-situation
decision. What works for one company probably isn’t the same strategy that will
work for another. It’s all about the audience and where they are.
If your audience almost
primarily uses one site, it might be advisable to focus your efforts where they
are. Why waste gour time in an area where research shows your targeted users
aren’t?
The flipside of that is
every audience is different even if they have similar demographics. There could
be value in putting your social toe in the water and seeing if you get any
bites in unexpected areas.
If aren’t sure or if you
have a smaller staff and can’t maintain multiple presences to the extent they
deserve, you can start equally across a few, selected platforms and see where
you receive the best response. This can have drawbacks, like stretching a
department too thin or not tailoring content enough, which may skew the
results.
Let’s examine this using a
specific (and fictitious company) with different scenarios. You work for
Suburban Filth (brand name from One Tree Hill), a store specializing in grunge
and punk clothes serving the misunderstood and emo teens trapped in the suburbs.
Relatively new, Suburban
Filth is successful but there’s still room to grow. One of the employees is a
public relations major at the local university and volunteered to assist the
owners with the social media presence. After completing a SWOT analysis and
doing some research on the target audience of females ages 13 to 25 with
alternative tastes and interests, she presents three options:
Option 1:
Focus the efforts on tumblr, a microblogging site favored by the audience
(Gavin). This allows interaction and reblogging with potential customers and
places them in a unique platform.
Option 2:
Establish a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and tumblr. Monitor where
the most response is received after a few months and narrow down the efforts to
one primary site.
Option 3:
Commit to a strategy that leverages Facebook, Twitter and tumblr in an equal
manner and reaches a larger audience
The nuances in social media
can make or break what you’re trying to accomplish as a company or
organization. It’s important to carefully consider the best option before
haphazardly creating sites and expecting results.
Another important
consideration when choosing a strategy is content. Content drives social media
strategy and without it you cannot expect results (Greenberg, 2009).
Conversation is the point of social media, to reach your audience and have them
respond to you – provide feedback, insight, opinion, etc. Without conversation,
your other efforts are worthless (Novak, 2010).
In his book Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky used
this phrase to describe content and conversation:
“Conversation is King,
content is just something to talk about.” (Novak, 2010).
Let’s dissect that. Content
is something that sparks the conversation. If you don’t have anything
compelling, chances are people won’t want to engage. It can’t be said enough.
Without content, you have social media accounts no one is interested in liking.
Beyond having content is
maintaining the cadence. Once you create a presence, leaving it go for days or
weeks at a time can hurt credibility. If you check out a brand’s Facebook page
and see it hasn’t had any updates since weeks ago, wouldn’t you be confused or
suspicious? If you can’t create enough content, you will never gain the rhythm
and it will show to visitors (Greenberg, 2009).
Determining what type of
content you intend to produce will help narrow down your social media options.
In an article for Inc.,
Michelle Manafy uses a great analogy about selecting where
to invest your time on social media. Like mothers tell you when you’re growing
up, be careful how you choose your friends. Rather than follow the latest
trends trying to be popular, choose the group that best fits who your
organization is. It’s part of the process of growing up – we learn where we
should be instead of trying to be someone we’re not (Manafy, 2014).
Manafy continues to
describe the benefits of the different platforms:
Facebook
Facebook is most frequently
used and most populated social media site. There is a drop off with younger
audiences, but more than 70 percent of adults use Facebook regularly. The
downside is how people use it to connect with family and friends. You can reach
a broad network, but it’s not always the most effective for business (Manafy,
2014).
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the
professional network, where users go to bond with like minded professionals and
expand their connection base. With the right message, it’s worth using
considering the industry-specific information and higher education levels of
users (Manafy, 2014).
Pinterest
If you can use images to
engage with your audience and you want to target women, Pinterest is an
excellent option. Even if you have to be creative with your images, it might be
worth pursuing (Manafy, 2014).
Twitter
Twitter is most effective
when engagement and response is at the forefront of the strategy. Younger men
and women flock to the microblogging site for the rapid and large amount of
timely information as well as specific accounts dedicated to an incredible
variety of topics and specialties (Manafy, 2014).
Instagram
Again with the visual
appeals and Twitter tie ins, Instagram has its perks especially with urbanites
and specific ethnic markets (Manafy, 2014).
This isn’t a comprehensive
list. Social media platforms continue to burst on the scene and take hold of
different segments. It’s important to monitor the different sites to see if
they have any longevity and will work well with your what your organization is
trying to do online.
In conclusion…
Talk about a loaded topic!
The most important thing to remember is do not decide one day to enter the
world of social media and create the accounts in the same moment. There are a
lot of variables, like whether you want a primary site or the strategy to
spread across multiple platforms. Next, how do you choose where to place your
efforts? You can follow your audience or choose based on the type of content
you intend to create. Finally, and most importantly, you need great and
engaging to create conversation, the most important part of social media.
References
Gavin. (2014). Tumblr
favored over Facebook for 13 to 25 year olds. United Methodist Communications.
Retrieved from http://www.umcom.org/learn/tumblr-favored-over-facebook-for-13-to-25-year-olds
Greenberg, M. (2009).
Content is king of social marketing. Multichannel Merchant.
Levy, S. (2013). How to
choose the best social media platform for your business. Entrepreneur.
Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230020
Manafy, M. (2014). How to
choose the best social media site for your business. Inc. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/michelle-manafy/how-to-choose-the-best-social-media-sites-to-market-your-business.html
Novak, C. (2010). Why
conversation, not content, is key. Social Media Today.
Sass, E. (2013). Social
media will be primary channel for engaging customers, CEOs predict. MediaPost.
Retrieved from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/191175/social-media-will-be-primary-channel-for-engaging.html
Statista. (2014). Number of
social network users worldwide from 2010 to 2017 (in billions). Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/
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