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Social Media Dazed and Confused

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Social Media overwhelm may be costing you money.

There are two primary reasons:

  1. You are overwhelmed and your spending money, time, and other resources.   You are dedicating those resources to your Social Media as you try to manage a Facebook page , a Facebook personal profile, a YouTube channel, a Twitter account, LinkedIn, a blog, and more…
  2. You are so overwhelmed with Social Media that you are doing nothing.  You don’t have any accounts or if you do, those accounts and profiles are useless because you don’t do anything with them because you feel so overwhelmed.

If you are suffering from #1(too many accounts-not enough resources)…all accounts get diluted and it is tough to get results from any of them. 

If you’re suffering from #2 (paralysis of analysis) you could be missing out on new customers and the potential for strengthening relationships with existing customers.

When one of your competitors is using Social Media to build strong relationships with their costumers they may be luring some of your customer base away.

We are at that point that customers are expecting more than just a sale.  They want relationship and interaction.  If you are not interacting with your customers where they already are(Facebook, blogs, etc.) and your competitors are, how long do you think it will be until your customers are going elsewhere?

The networks in social media are massive.  Each person on Facebook has an average of 140 friends so 10 people have a reach of 1400 on the first level. Take that 1400 and multiply that by 140 and you have 196,000.  You can see how big the networks get and it is feasibe that many of your customers are connected to your competitors customers.  That is good news if you are using Social Media to your advantage and bad news if you are not.

It is important to determine why you are suffering from Social Media overwhelm?  Is it because you are listening to everything that comes across your desk or in your email inbox?

Go to Amazon and type in “Social Media” and you will get 153,053 results.

Everyone has their opinion and everyone says “Open this account. Open that account. Open this account.”

The truth is you need to find someone that can give you good advice and tell you the Social Media you can focus on…what works for you and your industry based on the resources that you have. You do not have to have an account and a profile on every single one of the social media platforms that are out there.  Here are some tips:

  • Most businesses should have a Facebook Fan Page- There are over 600 Million people on Facebook
  • A blog is totally in your control and should be installed as a page of your website.  Connect with customers on your terms.
  • A YouTube channel is good for hosting videos and driving traffic back to your website or blog. 
  • Twitter is good for continuous connecting and short, valuable messages.
  • LinkedIn is good if your goal is to sell B2B.

If you don’t have unlimited time or money to dedicate to all of them, then you should pick the ones that are going  to work for you and your industry based on the resources you have.  As you get comfortable and understand where your market is, expand.

Then you have 3 options:

  1. Hire someone in-house to do your Social Media.
  2. Hire someone outside to do all of your Social Media.
  3. Hire someone from the outside to help you with your Social Media.

I believe most businesses should choose option 3.  You may think as a marketing agency, we would want to do all of your Social Media because that should pay the most. 

The truth is, I believe you should participate in your Social Media because nobody knows your customers better than you do.  You may not have the time to do it all yourself but if you bring in an outside consultant and allow other team members to participate…you may be wildy successful.

First Social Media Step is Offline

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Social media is the Great Equalizer

In a prevous article, I talked about how your actions outside of your business can affect your social media like the GoDaddy CEO killing the elephant.

This article addresses your service and products.  Your actions at your place of business will be talked about in Social Media whether you have a Facebook Fan Page or not.  In fact, we offer Social Media Management Services and I am here to tell you, your service offline will drive your Social Media.

We can build you a fancy Facebook Fan Page and help you determine what type of content to put on the page regularly, but your customers conversation about you is the most important of all.  Using Social Media to market your business is great and you also need to respond to those occasional customer complaints.

They are already talking about you…the question is…are you entering the conversation?

You have probably heard that one unhappy customer will tell 10 people about your company and 10 happy customers may tell one person.  That used to be true.  Now it is more like- one unhappy customer tells thousands.

Look what this customer did when an airline broke his guitar.

 

Over 10 million views of this video and if you count the number of blog posts, Facebook updates, etc.  This was one unhappy customer.

Be honest, have you ever wanted to voice your opinion to the world about an unpleasant experience with a business you visited? Let us know below.

Hire a Social Media Marketing Employee No Thanks

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Should you hire a full-time employee specifically for your Social Media Marketing?

The options are:

  • Do it yourself
  • Let the current marketing person handle it
  • Hire your 16 year old niece
  • Hire a part-time employee
  • Hire a full-time employee
  • Hire a professional consulting company

Your Social Media Marketing Strategy should be ongoing.  It is not a billboard you put up next to the interstate and wait for the mad rush of customers.  To effectively market your business using sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, you should be adding content regularly.

Another big question to answer is, “What is my budget for Social Media”?

The answer to this question as well as who you should hire depend on the type of business you are in and the size of your company.  Most businesses can benefit from implementing a marketing campaign that utilizes Social Media.  If your product or service is purchased by humans then there is a good chance your potential customers and current customers spend time on Facebook and other social sites. 

“Go where the eyeballs are.”

The following statistics are from Facebook:

  • More than 500 million active users
  • 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
  • Average user has 130 friends
  • People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook

What type of businesses can skip the social aspect of marketing?  Maybe a corporate attorney…maybe… morgue owner…there are not many.

If your business provides a social type of product or service your marketing budget should be significantly in favor of Social Media. 

A bowling alley, golf course, and a restaurant all fit into this category.  Your customers may actually help you populate your own social space with user generated content.

Here are some quick tips regarding all these questions:

  • If you are doing it yourself…who is running the business?
  • If you let your current marketing person handle it…they are probably not experts in this area and they will need training.
  • If you hire a part-time employee…expect shoddy part-time work unless the person has  a passion for your industry, your company, and your product.
  • If you hire a full-time employee…make sure they know what they are doing.  They do not qualify to be a social media manager just because they have 10,000 Myspace friends or 5,000 Facebook friends.  It proves they like to spend time on those platforms but it has nothing to do with writing great content, enticing copy, recording engaging videos, and analyzing and testing various marketing metrics. 
  • If you want to hire a consulting company…good for you.  Just make sure you are not tied into a long-term contract.  Probably the #1 over blown hyped up business to start this year is a Consulting business with a focus on social.  People are hurting for money and looking for ways to pay the bills and next thing you know, they are a consultant.

Look at their website and determine what type of content they provide.  Do they provide valuable content?  Do they beg for business?  Do they allow you to pay month-to-month because they are confident you will continue to use their services?

While you are considering all the questions above watch this video from CBC News about social jobs.

Then check out our Social Media Marketing Services page for a more in depth look as well as one of the most powerful and informative videos online.