Social media has been around for a while, and in most businesses and organizations there is a strategy for communicating on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other channels. But are you sure you have the right strategy in place?
Here are three reasons why you should consider reevaluating your social-media strategy.
1. You have no goals
In other parts of the business this would be unheard of – spending time and money without clear goals on what you want to achieve. Since social media is somewhat new to many companies, this is an area where a lot of people work without a clear direction on where they’re heading or why they choose a specific direction.
If you have a product you primarily sell on an e-commerce site and want to use Facebook as another start of the conversion funnel, Facebook business advertising is probably the way to go. You may not even want to spend a lot of time on making an active Facebook page where you discuss with customers and fans.
You want people to click on an ad and start a purchase process right away. That’s your only goal.
If your goal is to strengthen you brand, position yourself in the industry and become part of a bigger discussion, you should focus on the social aspect of social media. Get recognized by being active, and get fans by being social.
2. You don’t spend enough time
In many organizations, social-media efforts are not seen as a part of the core business. It’s something that is a little fun and something you should do (because people say so). The work, whether it’s the odd Facebook update or twitter discussion, is often given to someone who already has a lot of tasks on his or her plate.
The instructions boil down to: “Do it when you have time – preferably on your spare time.”
However, to reach some success with a presence in social media, you need to spend time on it. You need to start discussions, take part in conversations, make sure your opinions are heard and be active more or less around the clock.
3. You don’t tell a story
Business whose only social media work consists of communicating when a new product is released, when they have a sale and what’s happening in the company will rarely get any big social attention. This type of dry information simply doesn’t correlate with people’s intentions of being on, say, Facebook.
Think about it. When you log on to Facebook you do it because you want to see what your friends are up to, what news stories people share, music or videos people like, opinions people have. That is your intention. Real stories.
If you as a business fail in communicating a story – where you actually say something, think something or at least make people laugh – it’s hard to get a decent amount of likes, shares, comments, retweets etc. The strategy fails to be social.
Article written by: Craig Robinson, an online writer for Qwaya, a Facebook ad campaign tool. He loves to write different topics about social media tips and strategies. Besides writing, he also enjoys engaging with different communities and social forums.
