The Marketing world consists of many avenues of communication, from your
business cards, your signage, your product – price – promotion – people – and place (5Ps), how you answer your phone & greet customers, your website, your advertising, and much more, and now, your social media platforms.
If someone were to ask you, what’s the Return on Investment for your sign, your phone or your website, do you know? Probably not. But you know it would have a negative impact if you did not have those things. They are so ‘normal’ as to not be thought of as special anymore. Social media as a part of a marketing mix is now the norm, but it is amazing that many businesses still disregard it as a waste of time and having no value, holding it to a different standard than other marketing tactics when part of the problem may be their own actions or inactions.
Is that advertising campaign you just ran a waste of time and money? Unless you are giving out coupons that can be redeemed — and you tally those redemptions — you really don’t know what effect your marketing and advertising is having. You are advertising and marketing to get your name out there to generate more sales by interested people. If you don’t market or advertise, you are unknown. If you don’t ask how people found you, you have no idea of the ROI of those efforts. If you don’t benchmark your numbers, it’s a guess.
The advantage of social media marketing is that it’s marketing where most people are, especially Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for B2B’s. The sale is not made on social media, the sale is made on your website or at your physical location. Social media, like other marketing tools, makes you visible to the audience that needs you and will buy from you from your website or retail location.
Social Media is NOT sales, it is Marketing to make those sales.
Marketing takes consistent effort to stay in front of your audience. If you aren’t seen, you are forgotten.
Problems getting in the way of seeing the value of social media for small businesses are:
1. Not being aware of core problems in the business to remedy them. If your restaurant, for example, has received negative reviews (plural) on Yelp and other review sites, then take heed and fix them! Social media (which includes review sites) will only make any problems you have worse. You want to have all your ducks in a row before venturing into social media where all problems will be exposed. This is part of the fear of small businesses in using social media, but if the business has nothing to fear, then social media should be used to connect with its customers.
2. Believing that social media is the magic charm to increase sales. Social media is only one part of your marketing mix that includes online and offline advertising, and your 5P’s. Marketing generates interest in customers to make a purchase.
3. Not giving enough time or money toward social media marketing. If you are getting a new business launched or relaunching your existing one, updating your social media accounts (if done properly) for a few months will not lead you to the holy grail. It may take a good year before your efforts are rewarded, so consistency is key.
4. Not posting at times your audience will see them. You can’t blast out a bunch of posts at 5am because that’s when you have time to do them. No one will see these posts in their newsfeeds which is where people see updates. Very rarely does anyone go to the specific page. So though the page has lots of updates, nobody is seeing them if posted at the wrong times. Three posts per day, spaced at different times, is a good schedule for Facebook and LinkedIn. Twitter can have more updates because the feed is faster.
5. Posting constant promotional updates. Nobody wants to see “buy me” posts all the time, it gets spammy and you’ll be Unliked, losing fans. Posts should follow the 80/20 rule of 80% helpful, interesting, or fun, and 20% selling. The aim is to be social, not hyper-promotional.
6. Not monitoring your social media and responding to comments, RT, queries, complaints, and reviews. Social media is the new watercooler, and your customers are talking about you whether you are there or not. Pay attention and respond. And do not erase negative comments, use them as a customer service opportunity. When others see how well you handle problems, you will gain new fans of your business.
7. Relegating your social media platforms to an untested intern or lowest paid employee. Your social media business accounts are visible to everyone — your customers and your competitors. Do you really want the low man on the totem pole to be front and center representing your business? If it’s just another task for them, they most likely won’t take the care and brainpower to use social media for your business properly. Just because they tweet for their own accounts, does not mean they can do it for your business. Social Media is an Art and a Science, not a task.
8. Not understanding that Search algorithms take into account Social results, making social media activity very important in being found online.
9. Not advertising on Facebook, if that is one of your social media platforms. Facebook’s newsfeeds are increasingly limited as to what they show, based on their algorithm. In order to break thru and be seen, it is now necessary to Boost Posts or advertise with Ads or Sponsored Stories.
Keep in mind too that each social media platform has its own system and culture. What works on one doesn’t necessarily translate well to other platforms. Sending out one post across all platforms you use is not wise. Yes, it gives you a presence on the other platforms, but not in a good way.
Social media is slowing catching on for small business, but more understanding of how it works would be of benefit to them. Clean up internal business problems, long term consistency, proper postings and timing, monitor and respond, devote time and/or monetary resources, and don’t expect miracles.
This is a long, slow effort over time to allow your business to become familiar, liked and trusted by your potential customers and to interact with your present customers to enable them to become your advocates. It’s a courtship and you must lead the dance.
When your Social Media Marketing efforts are lagging from lack of time, knowledge, and personnel, contact us to solve those issues for you. Email us at millerfinch@millerfinchmedia.com or give us a call for a Free Consultation: 770-289-5681 during 9-6 ET M-F Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon!
Social Media Management is an Art and a Science
Social Media Management is both an art and a science for business marketing, and social media managers are not all the same.
Social Media Managers are all a little different in their style and method. Just as artists paint in different styles — impressionistic, realistic, abstract — social media managers all ply their art and science a little (or a lot) differently from each other, though using the same material platforms. Styles of managers vary according to their own creativity, knowledge and personal background, the client’s industry, and the individual client.
Choosing a social media manager should be a partnership of sorts, one
where you like their work and personality, and what your goals are.
Some professional social media managers are very corporate-focused, some more focused on particular industries or professions, and many are generalists. Social media management also varies according to the needs of the client — some clients have no posting material of their own, so the manager must curate content for them, and some client accounts need more monitoring or audience building. A good social media manager can select just the right appropriate content to share and know the correct timing and platform in doing so.
The social media manager must also have the right business skill and knowledge to understand the client, the client’s customers, and the client’s profession or industry. An SM Manager who’s never read the Wall Street Journal would not be a good fit for a financial or accounting client. Similarly, a vegan SM Manager would not be a fit for a burger restaurant. At our firm, we’ve had the experience of working in a wide variety of industries and can understand a multitude of clients and their needs.
The best social media managers will also ‘reach over’ the client to the client’s customers to update the platforms with information useful to the client’s customer. For example, social media for an accounting firm will focus on content helpful to businesses or individuals, versus content pertinent to the accountants, such as new certification requirements.
Monitoring the social media platforms is very important to connecting with people on social media and responding to their comments and inquiries. Social media is not only about posting, it’s about the followup. Monitoring is usually an additional fee, but well worth it when you have a sudden (or even not so sudden) problem on the client’s Facebook or Twitter and the social media manager, monitoring the platforms, can quickly respond or send a message to the client to respond if it’s something the manager cannot answer. With larger, national or regional, companies, monitoring the social media platforms is a necessity, not a luxury.
The best social media managers do not punch a 9 to 5 clock, as social media is always ON and so must we be too. We also must be excellent multi-taskers and keep everything straight — not posting to the wrong accounts for example, or mistakenly posting personal updates onto a client account. In all our time doing social media for clients, we at Miller Finch Media are proud to say that we have been totally on the ball for our clients for updates, spelling, and correct wording.
So when you are choosing a social media manager, have a conversation with them after seeing their portfolio because you can’t just be guided by the portfolio since your needs may be different. Portfolios give you an overview of what’s been done, but not what can be done for your needs and budget. The portfolio clients may have had budgetary or other restrictions that color the account management for that client. Your social media updates and the management of your platforms will be unique to you and your goals.
If you have any questions, we would love to answer them for you. Just give us a call M-F, 9-6 ET at 770-289-5681 or shoot us an email at: millerfinch@millerfinchmedia.com
Thanks!
Author: Miller Finch