The "Where" of Social Media Marketing

In our last blog we spoke about the “What” of Social Media Marketing, and although knowing what your audience wants is important, I find the “Where” is even more valuable. The “Where” determines if those amazing ideas of yours will actually see their full potential. I know you work hard, and I – and especially you – don’t want to see your ideas wasted. Stick with me for the next few minutes and I’ll explain everything.

Last week we spoke about a hypothetical paper company, and how they did not offer the “What” well. We saw how they lost a customer and possibly a free advocator. Now that you know what to offer, we need to look at where to offer it. There is a trap that most companies fall victim to. I like to call it the F.T.G. conundrum. What this means is there are a handful of popular social media sites, and businesses get the idea to only interact within the top 3. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ (F.T.G.) are easily the most populated social media sites, and having your business on them is good – not great.

Lets jump back to this imaginary paper company. They are on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ and they feel as if they have tapped into all of social media’s potential. Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Remember in the last article we said their paper is 90% recycled? A great way to illustrate the impact of recycled paper is via picture. They should show their “green” customers beautiful forests they are saving by purchasing this paper. Now, the hard part, finding a social media platform specifically designed for pictures … but what site is only for pictures? I hope you know I am being facetious of course. We would jump to Instagram and do a little investigative work. But that’s the “Who” of social media marketing, and we haven’t got there yet. Let’s pretend all R&D is completed and Instagram is a pivotal platform for them. Great! We now discovered where the customer base is and are now closer to them. When you can interact with your customer base on a less intimidating level, they draw near to you. Your customers view you less as of a faceless, money hungry business and more like a friend. I’ve said before, “treat me as a customer you lose; treat me as a friend you win”.

As we begin to conclude I hope you at least remember this. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts are great and every company should have one, but dive a little deeper into the social media pool. If your customers are on tumbler, go to tumbler as well. If your clients are on Pinterest, go there! Don’t waste your time with social media accounts you don’t need, but don’t miss golden opportunities.

Marketing has changed, can you adapt?