Social Media Is Meant To Be Social

The first thing you should always remember about social media is the first word of the idea: social. When brands of all sizes run their social media, sometimes they over-focus on the second word: media. What that means is an over-focus on assets and what you push out, i.e. your “content,” as opposed to a focus on being social with other users. Social media is an attractive business concept because of the reach. But the reach doesn’t mean anything without engagement, and engagement can’t be fostered by just pushing out media and content. So you need to think about what social media is a little bit differently. 

How should we be thinking about social media?

Consider it to be “social media,” yes. But also think of your channels as social communities. You should not just be pushing content. You should be asking questions of users and responding to comments about your content and those questions you’ve asked.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you make beautiful rugs. You should definitely share awesome photos of your rugs on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter. (LinkedIn for rug photos might not be as effective.) You should definitely consider some targeted ads for the rugs. But you should also be posting questions like “How do you decide what type of rug is best for your living room?” and then responding to the answers, to show that you’re an active, engaged, social brand. You should also respond to comments on photos and ads. And yes, sometimes those comments might be negative or troll-y, and you should address those too. Show that there is a social spirit, i.e. a real person behind the brand. People love Wendy’s social media content because it doesn’t feel like a brand; it feels like a real social experience. 

Remember: people can ignore ads, but not experiences

Marketers have been saying this for years, and that’s why you’ve seen in increase in influencer content, user-generated content, native content, etc. Brands want to showcase authentic experiences of working with them or using their products/services, because it resonates more than an ad. Many people scroll past ads. DVR is a concept entirely because people would rather not watch ads, if they could. So while ads definitely have a place in a social media strategy, what you need more than that is to really engage your community on each platform. Give them opportunities to speak up and actively respond to their comments. Offer to move product questions or bigger discussions into direct messaging. These are all ways of generating leads, too. The more active, authentic conversations you’re having on social, the stronger your brand appears -- and each of those conversations is a lead in and of itself.

But won’t this be time-consuming?

It can be, yes. Many small business owners have experienced the deal where they open a platform and see 300 comments, and think “Oh man, I need to reply to all of these when I have all these other tasks?” It can seem very daunting. That’s why we do some of what we do; you can outsource the social community management function to us, and we’ll respond to questions and needs in brand voice and quickly. That way you can focus on more core elements of the business, and we’ll keep the community humming along. As the community grows, so grows the business -- and we work in concert with you to make sure any strategic shifts on your end are reflected in managing the different platform communities.