Not All Social Is Created Equal

social conversation
Over the last several years the importance of social media for businesses has become more and more apparent. Most companies are on at least one of the major social media platforms and leverage the same general content on all of their different social platforms. This method has become the norm for businesses marketing on social as a way to try to reach the largest possible audience with their generalized message, however this is not the best way to use social. This method does not utilize each platform to its maximum potential and discourages users from following the same business on multiple platforms. Not all social sites are the same so treating them as such is not a smart move. In my time dealing with the major social platforms I’ve noticed some major distinctions in how to go about managing the sites for businesses.

The first of the major social sites that comes to mind when talking about social media is always Facebook. Facebook is important to have but is not the most important site for every company. More and more people have been moving off Facebook and it’s so cluttered with advertisers that it has become hard to get a message through to the consumer. So putting lots of extra time into Facebook can be a waste if you’re a business starting out in 2014. The new site emerging as the most important site for a company is Google+.  Google+ has become more important as Google Local became integrated with Google+ making it the best way to get a verified listing on Google for businesses. So to keep up with SEO efforts a well planned and implemented Google+ is extremely valuable.  Of the common 3 social platforms Twitter is the most misused and underutilized. Companies need to not post a link back to their webpage in every tweet and no one wants to follow a twitter handle that only posts call to actions. Twitter is simple to manage effectively just by posting a thought or idea about your work during the workday. In time this will build a following of people in the same field who have a common interest. Then, it is ok to occasionally use that following to leverage company agendas.

Out side of the major social platforms I feel that the current trends are showing that the most important sites to get on to are going to be image and video based social media platforms. Image based social sites such as Instagram and Pinterest are active social platforms currently. People who have accounts on these sites use them actively and they are still not overrun with avatar accounts yet. Proper use of these sites can really help reach real people who have never heard about your company. The rise of micro video site in 2013 is still going on in 2014. Getting on Vine and using Instagram video is a strong move because of the activity on the platforms and because users take an interest in a micro 6 second video more than a block of text. The down side of micro videos is that they are more difficult to make than writing a tweet, however, the reward is worth the effort. My advice with the video sites is, don’t be shy, just take a video of what you think is interesting and upload it and don’t over think it, the micro video will never be perfect.

Not all social platforms are the same, so you should not treat them like they are. Packing 15 different social platforms with social accounts just filled with call to actions and links to your homepage is a waste of space on the Internet. No one cares about a page that doesn’t offer anything interesting. If you run a company I assume that you think what your company does is interesting, post about that. Other people in that industry will think the same. By not trying to advertise you will be doing the best advertising.  Lastly, when picking social platforms pick the ones that pertain to the content that you plan to upload.  If you don’t have a following and you look at all your social accounts and they all look exactly the same, maybe its time to rethink your social strategy.

Picture from http://socialmediatoday.com/

By: Matt Bilbao

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