Every so often, more often than I probably think I should, I see a question about where a business should be in social media. The easy answer is, I suppose “everywhere” but, in my opinion, that’s not the accurate answer. The more social media profiles you have and have to maintain, the less time you have to do things well. Also, if your customers aren’t on the platform you’re using, you’re wasting a lot of time and effort that could be put into communicating with your customers where they are.
The more accurate way of putting the question of where a business should be in social media is, as far as I’m concerned, centered on figuring out where the potential and current customers of a business are on social media platforms. That’s the crucial question that needs to be answered. Once a company knows that information, they have a ready made map for where they should be concentrating their social media efforts.
So, now the the question is, of course, how do you figure out what platforms your customers are using on social media? There are a few ways to do this.
One is simple, ask them. Your customers want to connect with you as much as you want to connect with them. In today’s landscape, customers are used to finding out about sales, relaying compliments and tendering complaints on social media. They’re looking to connect with the companies from which they buy because they know that social media is often a faster and easier way to get answers to questions or assistance with problems. You can do a survey to ask your customers what platforms they use, or ask for their social media information as part of the checkout process. Not all customers will respond, but a good portion of your customer base is likely to share that information.
Another method is to be a detective. Spend some time on the social media platforms your considering before you develop much of a profile. Figure out search terms your potential customers might be likely to search and see what comes up when you search them. Set up some sample ad campaigns for those search terms and take a look at what the numbers and potential demographic breakdowns are. Keep in mind that, whenever possible, it’s wise to set up your profiles as business profiles. Most social media platforms offer these, and they generally come with more analytics and statistics than a personal profile.
Don’t neglect to follow your competitors on social media. A good source of information for where your company should be positioned can come from where your competitors already are. Looking at their profiles can give you information on what sort of sales might be profitable or popular in your target market. If a competitor profile is doing really well, and gaining lots of followers and activity, you can take a look at the sorts of things that profile is doing and then incorporate those techniques into your own social media plan. Should a competitor profile be languishing and not getting a lot of engagement, you can also take a lesson. Is the profile lacking in posts? Do they mostly post “buy my stuff” messages? Do they neglect to respond to comments and messages? Every competitor profile you study will have something to teach you. These profiles are also a great place to find the initial customers you might want to recruit as followers.
Keep in mind that strategic following is also a huge component of a successful social media strategy. This type of following strategy involves figuring out your target market and working to build a network of followers who are in that market. The idea is not to build numbers and have tons of followers. It’s about being selective in who you follow and who you recruit to follow your profile, so you build a follower base that is interested in what you have to offer and definitely fits your buyer profile. The theory that it’s about the number of followers you have is completely misleading. The number doesn’t matter, the relevance of your followers is what counts. If you have 10,000 followers, but 9,999 of them aren’t interested in what you have to offer, than you’re just wasting your time and everyone else’s.
Just like “everyone” is not an answer to the question of who’s in your target market, “everywhere” is not a useful answer to the question of where your company should be on social media. The only way to answer the question of where your social media efforts will be most valuable is to spend the time and do the research. Each company and each audience is different. Spending the time on research and gathering information before you’ve invested a lot of effort into a creating a profile for an audience that isn’t there will ensure that you have social media profiles that will thrive, not fail.
