Social media marketing misconceptions
I do a fair bit of social media management for a variety of companies across several industry segments and have been a social media user since 2007. Over that span of fifteen years, I’ve seen social media grow, evolve, change, stumble, fall, and get up again. Like it or not, social media is here to stay, and what it means for your business is; you need to have a healthy social media presence. Businesses without a social media presence have gained an almost iffy reputation and are generally looked upon with a wary eye as potential ‘fly by night’ operations. Never mind that many ‘fly by night’ operations do in fact operate solely on social media and are able to vanish at the blink of an eye.
I’ve also come across several marketing misconceptions pertaining to social media that prompted me to write this article. Many people believe that social media can do magic for your business, and when they don’t find it providing instantaneous results, start getting perturbed. So here’s a dose of reality for you to read, understand, and most importantly, know how to use social media management in an effective manner.
Social media is not a genie in a lamp that you can rub to increase sales.
A mere social media presence doesn’t guarantee success. Just because you set up a business page doesn’t mean your job is over and customers will start pouring in. You’ve got to work at social media. In fact, savvy companies have entire departments, or at least a dedicated person handling their social media. You have got to create meaningful and relevant content on a regular but not excessive basis, whilst ensuring that you portray the company’s best interests at all times and avoid upsetting an increasingly up settable world. These days, even using the wrong pronoun can cause uproar. You’ve got to be active without being cheesy and irritating. There are many social media accounts that I’ve un-followed or ‘unliked’, simply because they were becoming irritating with excessive content that was so uninspiring and lame, my eyes started to hurt from all the eye-rolling. Occasionally, cheesy and lame can work, but only as a snack rather than the main meal.
Likes don’t tell the whole story.
Ah, the ubiquitous Like, React, Thumbs Up, Love, whatever you like to call it. Many a time I’ve had a customer ask me why their post isn’t getting enough likes. The fact is, the like would have been a great indicator of social media performance five years ago, but it’s no longer reflective of how many people have seen your post. I do not place a like on many things even though I’ve seen them and acted on them later, simply because I can’t be bothered anymore. Social media users are so swamped with content that they usually scroll on with their phones. They might have saved your post, though, or sent it to a friend via Messenger, WhatsApp, or other method. So when you tell me that your post doesn’t have enough likes I am trying hard not to turn my eyes upwards in annoyance. Instead of likes you should look at factors like how many people your post reached. Shares could also be a potential indicator for certain products and services, but if you’re trying to sell something mainstream such as dish soap, for example, don’t expect many people to share that!
You’ve got to get sharing too!
I have clients who don’t even bother to share the posts I create for them. When I inform them of this requirement, they are surprised as they think social media management does it for them. No, we don’t. We can’t access your personal FB or LinkedIn account, for example and share on your behalf. I personally will not do that as a policy, even if you give me your password. Social media management does not start and end with those managing your social media. Imagine if your company has 100 employees, and just 10 of those employees share a post among their networks? That’s 10 more shares! Encourage your employees to share your company’s social media posts among their networks too. All it costs is maybe ten seconds of their time, which they would anyways be spending on social media. Finally, if you don’t bother to at least put a like against your own company’s posts, how can you expect others to do so?
Should you pay for social media advertising?
The age-old question of paying for advertising or boosting on social media. Whilst you could get away with a decent reach without paying a cent ten years ago, the fact is, you will only go so far with that strategy in the current scenario. Social media is saturated. Companies even have social media marketing budgets built into their main marketing budget. That’s why I advise my customers to spend even $5 or $10 on boosting selected posts to a highly defined audience. When paying for advertising, defining your audience is key, and you can do this as tightly as you desire, defining by demographics, geographic area, interests, and more metrics. So the short answer is, yes you should pay, but not for every single post.
Should I hire someone for social media management or can I do it myself?
There is no correct answer to this question. It all depends on your ability to commit time to social media management, including the creation of material for posts, writing copy, generating visuals and scheduling posts. There are many successful entrepreneurs who do it themselves and successful businesses who have entire departments dedicated to this. SMEs may choose to outsource it to a social media management professional. You’ve got to find what works best for you, and the best way to do that, is to do it yourself and see if it impacts your productivity across other areas of your professional and personal life. Remember that there are avenues such as post scheduling, where you can create a bunch of posts at once and schedule for a week or so, which is what I do to ease my workload.
Ashraaq Wahab - Technical Director Hospitality Sri Lanka, Automotive Journalist, Marketer and Writer, enjoys penning his thoughts, insights and ideas on a variety of topics.
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