Questions to Help You Mind Your Business… Question #10

In this blog series we will attempt to answer ten different questions business owners may need answered, using our individual and unique perspectives and approaches. It is our hope that this series will inspire both action and interaction. Please feel free to comment and ask more questions.

Graham —

I know Renée will be very enthusiastic about this question and have great things to say — I on the other hand see social media as an evil necessity and still somewhat struggle with it.

It wasn’t so long ago that I saw social media as nothing more than voluntarily relinquishing of our privacy, and self-righteously made a stand not to get involved — I would hold onto my privacy with my last dying breath (or the illusion of doing so).  And then one day I heard Gary Vaynerchuk speak, and he said something profoundly simple.

He said, “Privacy is dead.”  

If you have not heard of Gary Vaynerchuk he is arguably “THE EXPERT” on social media and using it to grow your business (particularly if you an entrepreneur). I encourage you to read his books (and watch his videos) if you are interested in understanding the impact and utility of social media in all its forms.

With the recognition that sadly his assertion was correct, I welcomed social media in, embraced it, and adopted the illusion that I would at least try to control it for my own branding and messaging — and with that preamble down on paper let’s start with a definition.

 This is how Wikipedia defines Social media —

The variety of evolving stand-alone and built-in social media services introduces a challenge of definition. The idea that social media are defined by their ability to bring people together has been seen as too broad a definition, as this would suggest that the telegraph and telephone were also social media – not the technologies scholars are intending to describe. The terminology is unclear, with some referring to social media as social networks.

A 2015 paper reviewed the prominent literature in the area and identified four commonalities unique to then-current social media services:

           1.    Social media are Web 2.0 Internet-based applications,

           2.    User-generated content (UGC) is the lifeblood of the social media organism,

           3.    Users create service-specific profiles for the site or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization,

           4.    Social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.

In 2016, Merriam-Webster defined social media as "Forms of electronic communication (such as Web sites) through which people create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, etc."

And this definition manifests itself in websites, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, beBee, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram, Medium, Tumblr, et cetera — all available for you to get involved with 24/7, 365 ¼ days a year.

It’s probably best to break this question into three sections —

                             The first section: Do I need to be using Social Media?

                             The second section: What Social media should I use?

                             The third section: How much do I really need to do?

The first section to the answer of the tenth and final question

Your need to use Social media is completely dependent on your business objectives, the type of business you have, and what your overall marketing plan looks like. I suppose technically (in this day and age) you don’t have to use social media but I will admit I struggle to think of a business situation where some sort of social media wouldn’t come into play. I think the question you should ask is why wouldn’t you get involved with social media? For example, if you sell a product of any kind, at the very least, you will have to set up a website — (thanks to Amazon) people now like to order on-line from the comfort of their bedroom.

So the answer to this section is yes you should be using social media (with some important considerations). As an aside, if you are actually able to come up with reasons your business shouldn’t engage in social media I would be very curious as to the reasons — please let me know.

The second section to the answer of the tenth and final question in a series of questions by Renée and Graham

This section starts to touch on some of the considerations I alluded to above. What social media you use will depend on which social media will communicate your message most effectively (and this will be very dependent on the type of business you have). You also need to look at social media “holistically”, and not as individual platforms that operate independently; it is important to view social media platforms as pieces that make up the whole of your social media activity which actively complement, engage, and play off of each other (as well as your more traditional marketing channels). I believe it is important to understand your branding strategy and the networks you are looking to develop, and how you will use your social media to engage potential customers. It is imperative to understand that social media is not simply a new marketing channel to statically push your message through but rather an opportunity to initiate a dialogue and have a conversation with your customer.

My suggestion would be to start with three social media platforms when you develop your social media strategy and be prepared to participate — get really good at it, learn, and expand from there. THERE IS A TRUSIM THAT IS BECOMING QUITE APPARENT AND IT GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS:  IT IS BETTER TO HAVE NO SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS THAN ACTIVATE SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS THAT ARE NEVER USED — SETTING UP A COMPANY FACEBOOK PAGE, A TWITTER ACCOUNT, LINKEDIN, INSTAGRAM, ETC AND NOT USING THEM DOES NOT A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY MAKE.

The third section to the answer of the tenth and final question in a series of questions by Renée and Graham to Help You Mind Your Business

I’ve noticed there is a chain of events that occurs with the adoption of social media —

The realization (sometimes grudgingly) that social media is needed to move the business forward (and more often than not, there is also the belief that you don’t really have to understand it — just pretend that you do).

A saving grace perception occurs that the upfront costs are low and the costs can be kept low by giving it to someone who is young and “knows this stuff” — then it’s hands off.

Leadership takes a top shelf position as they try to understand what is happening, question why it doesn’t seem to be working, and asking that ever popular question, “Where’s the ROI?”

My experience is this chain of events tends to lead to static social media channels, no integration with other channels (or brand messaging), and the eventual reallocation of resources for something else (that more often than not isn’t very customer engaging).

So to the question of how much do you really have to do?

YOU NEED TO GO ALL IN and ensure any social media you use is as active as possible (forever creating dialogue with your network).

• Leadership needs to truly understand the value of social media and the degree it wants to adopt social media—strategy and guidelines for the social media channels need to be set by leadership, as well as participation and engagement.
• It does make sense to give the heavy lifting to a marketing associate or manager with social media roles and responsibilities, but they need to be operating under those guidelines set by leadership, and then after that shouldn’t be micromanaged — and given the latitude to build a dynamic network with their own creativity.
• Social media is designed for the bold, the humble, and the patient — there are a lot of people “out there”and it is naive to believe just because you “said something” that anyone will care (or even hear you). My experience is it takes time to catch people’s attention, and more importantly hold it.

These are my guiding principles on this subject so far:

• Quality prevails.
• It takes more time than you would imagine
• It is called “social media” because there is an inherent expectation to be social.
• Identify lead and lag indicators to determine performance, and don’t use revenue.

One last thing on this subject since I learned privacy is dead — you will never move your business (or your brand) forward unless you seriously adopt a social media strategy.

I am very certain that there will be the obligatory summary and wrap up on our little series, but until then I want to thank you for reading.

iamgpe

                                            *******

Renée —

This is an interesting question because I often find myself in the position of having to manage expectations around social media and digital marketing. Many business people who are not specialists in this area are under the naïve assumption that social media marketing is all you really need to do and that your Twitter or Facebook account will supply you with a gazillion hot leads almost immediately.

So the short answer to the above question is yes, you do need to use social media for your business if you want to grow and remain in touch with the real world. Bear in mind that you should only do as much as you can consistently manage. I am anticipating you will want a little more direction, so please keep reading. Here are some things to consider as you set out to build your social presence:

Consider which social media sites your audience will frequent: 

You don’t need to be on every site. Just maintain a regular presence on a few key sites that your audience is most likely to frequent. For example, if your target market is over 65, you may want to consider keeping your direct mail campaign while also advertising on Facebook. The young folk find Facebook rather passé but seniors and the elderly are a fast growing demographic on Facebook. My 89 year old mother has been on Facebook for years. Seniors tend to not engage on social media, so don’t expect a ton of follows on your Facebook page, but your advertising on Facebook could be very effective.

Use sites like LinkedIn and Twitter for business to business content and keep an eye on beBee.com. This is an international blogging platform which focusses on personal and business branding. The site is rich with interesting content and has a very engaged community which is growing quite rapidly. There is a lot of great opportunity for beBee members to really connect in meaningful ways to conduct business and build friendships. I have had great success there.

Have your content professionally managed: 

People who think that today’s youth are automatically qualified to run social media campaigns drive me crazy. There is actually an art and science to social media that your average kid just doesn’t have knowledge of. You also need a certain level of business acumen in order to do a good job. Think about it. Age is not the best qualifier for any job. Knowledge and expertise, however, have a lot of value.

Beware of the pretenders: 

It makes me very sad when I hear of people who have used social media services which do not actually serve the client. I once spoke to a guy who was signed up on a “Rockstar” plan for $1000 a month. For that, he got 2 tweets a week of content that the client had to produce himself! Sadly, this self-proclaimed expert had only a few hundred followers on Twitter. This is wrong on a lot of levels. You really need to tweet out quality content several times a day. The content should be comprised of both original and curated content and should consist of links to articles, blogs, memes, etc. You also need to have a large following in order to have any reach at all, or at least be able to garner shares from those who have a significant number of followers from your target market. It takes a few minutes at most, to compose a statement of 140 characters. If it’s not done with links to quality original content and access to a broad audience, it isn’t worth much on any level.

The internet is fraught with people who call themselves growth hackers, and SEO wizards. They rarely deliver anything of value, but by the time you realize that, they’ve taken your money and moved on. They are the charlatans of the 21st century. Anyone who tells you that you can get a million visitors on your site in three months is full of crap. If you looked up the number of prospects you would do business with, would it be ten times more? Would it even be a million? Think about it in terms of the 80/20 rule. If 20 per cent of your prospects landed on your site, how may would that be? If all of your prospects and potential prospects landed on your site, how many would that be? Duh! Unless your product has enormous mass appeal, you haven’t got a hope in hell of getting that kind of traffic. Yes, I know there are companies that produce content that promises that kind of success. They rely on your complete gullibility for success.  They hope that your ignorance, along with the fact that you will not be able to do the work yourself, will compel you to call them to create an internet marketing miracle for you (which will not happen). Just because it says so on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true!

Produce relevant content: 

Having a mix of content types is a good thing but you must be careful about quantity and quality. Affinity based content, which is entertaining, inspiring and not vulgar in nature is typically good. Some people use controversial content to get people talking and create brand awareness. Candice Galek of Bikini Luxe did this beautifully on LinkedIn with her bikini clad beauties on a business site. Who doesn’t need a swim suit? Her campaign was nothing short of brilliant and now the name of her company is widely recognized. She did get a lot of flak, however, and plenty of trouble from LinkedIn, I hear.

So how should you mix your content? When it comes to content mix, the 80/20 rule is a good one to follow with 80% being directly related to your business and 20% affinity based. Also, 80% of your content should be original content and 20% curated.

Produce well written original content: 

The content you produce needs to be well written. Poor grammar, typos and spelling errors will obscure the message and frustrate your reader. I like to keep my content in a skimable format knowing that most people will only skim a blog post, anyway. You will notice that most of my blog posts have bold faced points next to a brief explanation. I like to do that because it helps the reader learn something without necessarily having to take the time to devour every word. Let me know what you think.

A Few Rules of Thumb:

1.     It is better to have one social platform that you manage fully than several that you neglect.

2.     Generally speaking Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to post your most important content. Regardless of the site, studies show that posting between noon and 1:00 PM also tends to yield high engagement.

3.     Use backlinks to other posts and relevant websites to help you gain more traction.

4.     Be a good social media citizen. Share content generously, comment freely and play nice. Never engage in a battle with trolls or anyone you don’t agree with.

5.     Leverage the reach and influence of people with a large following in your industry. Ask for shares from them, freely share their content and mention them in your posts, if appropriate.

As a follow up to this post, I would like to direct you to a beBee post I wrote last year called, Is Social Media Marketing Enough? It talks about how to create an integrated approach to your marketing. The reality of marketing is that an integrated approach which combines traditional media and advertising with social media will be most effective. I also have a free downloadable e-booklet called 20 Content Marketing Tips to Supercharge Your Sales.Of course, if you need anyone to help with your marketing communications, just let me know!

Thanks to the social media platform beBee, Renée Cormier & Graham Edwards developed a business relationship and friendship that typically involves regular meetings, goal setting sessions, etc. Our meetings often provide the fuel for plans around business strategy, blog ideas and more.