Blog

The range of knowledge on social media ranges vastly throughout America. The sad thing is it's hard for brands and companies to sometimes tell who actually knows what they're talking about vs who has real past-application and knowledge on what to do and the ability to get results. Perhaps I can help a bit.

A lot of companies are popping up everywhere with Facebook pages. Now, I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but just because your nephew says "let's get you a Facebook page", doesn't mean you're doing the right thing and you’re “now doing social media.” There are a few things you need to take into consideration.

Facebook alone isn't enough.

There are a number of popular social networks and Facebook's popularity is decreasing with many of businesses top demographics. While a few years ago it was not only crucial to have a Facebook page, but a nice way to get a head, not so much anymore. Now, you must have other accounts as well such as Instagram and Twitter.

To elaborate on this further:

Facebook is gearing up for a heavy push for monetizing. (No, they will never charge you - TO USE THE SITE - anyways). They want brand pages and even individuals to pay for more views (they call it boosting/promoting posts). The way they do this is by decreasing the organic views your posts get and push your desire for more views.

For example, Basch Solutions posted an informative link the other day about Google acquiring Nest and out of 1,228 fans, Facebook only decided 26 people should see the post. What? Really? That’s only 2.1% of our fans that saw the post. As some ESPN reporters would say, “Come on, man.” (See Also: Nobody Likes Your Status Updates Any More? (By Huffington Post)

Now, having said that, there's still great value in having a fan base on Facebook, but with their recent strategy switching to a larger monetization strategy, your content and posts (without paid boosts) will begin to have less and less of an effect, and you need to cover your bases.

How do you do this? Well, for starters, promote some of your more important posts and ensure 1000’s of people see it – it will be well worth the small amount of money they charge you to do this. Get over the fact that it’s annoying, we’re all annoyed, and just pay the small nominal fee.

The other crucial task you need to do is setup social accounts on other social networks. Join Instagram. Join Twitter. Join Google+. Join LinkedIn. Join social networks that allow you to connect with a wider audience and networks that allow you to grow brand awareness and bring your brand farther.

Right now, Instagram is hot and a lot of brands are starting to “switch to” Instagram from Facebook. Don’t switch to Instagram but be sure to add an Instagram account to your social presence and deliver some unique content to help grow a fan base on Instagram, which is another audience at the end of the day to market to and interact/engage with. Don’t always think about growing an audience just to market to either, it’s important that you value this audience’s opinion and get feedback on your company!

Proper Strategy

I’m sure you see it if you belong to a social network – spam posts from companies promoting a product or service. All that is going to do is get you unfollowed very quickly. It’s CRUCIAL that you consult with someone who has gotten real results, has had real experience and can bring something to the table. Lately, just like everyone is a “fitness/nutrition pro”, it seems as if everyone is a “social media guru” – a term which makes me want to slap someone.

You need to develop a proper social media strategy (What is a social media strategy?) and create goals and milestones for your different social accounts. Not only does this mean setting up a proper strategy with a goal in mind, but this means eliminating stupid tactics such as using hashtags like “likeforlike” “like4like” “teamfollowback” to gain more likes/followers. NEWSFLASH: Those people are NOT your core demographic! Fluffing your numbers with that type of data and interaction will HURT you long-term!

It’s important that you sit down and figure out how you can benefit from using each social network properly (hopefully with a professional, so feel free to contact us for help), as each social network requires different strategies in place. For example, Instagram is a place you’re going to want to perhaps give people a behind the scenes look into your company and what you’re up to, where Facebook might be used to ask your audience a question and gain valuable feedback, as well as share company news. For one final example, Twitter is a great place for customer service and engaging with your audience!

Regardless the brand you’ve grown or are starting, it’s crucial that you are well adapted into the social media world. The last thing you want to do is get off on the wrong foot and take steps backwards when trying to move forwards. Please feel free to reach out to us for help in setting up your social presence and guiding you along the process of getting the most out of it.

Be sure to also check out the other social media blog posts on our site!