When I meet with
small and medium size business owners to discuss with them their marketing
objectives and offer actionable advice, I often come across lot of questions
about social media. It could be because: it’s not very old, it’s evolving very
fast (with new platforms coming up every day), it’s important (everybody seems to be using
it!), there are lot of success stories but it has to be done differently for
every business (requires creativity) and there is confusion about ROI and so on.
I agree that no
two businesses are same, however, since I do discuss similar topics quite
often, I thought of putting together the questions and the best practices I
suggested. If you are faced with
similar issues/ questions, you will enjoy this read :- )
#1 Do I really need social media?
This is the MOST
commonly asked question. Many businesses think that they don’t really need this
new media. After all they are just doing fine without it so far. But then I ask
them: aren’t you worried that you might miss on some new lead generation
methods? You might miss on some very valuable customer connection and
engagement opportunity? When brands worldwide – right from Fortune 500 to the
small cafes around the corner are benefitting from it, aren’t you willing to
give it a thought that there might be some merit in it?
Getting involved
in social media allows you to be more engaged with your current and potential
clients. The word “transparency” was
probably most clichéd word used to describe social media some 3-4 years ago,
but it’s very true. Social media allows
companies to have a voice and to show the public that your company is willing
to listen and gather unsolicited feedback.
Social media also allows your brand to provide that extra customer
service option outside of the traditional email and phone media.
So while you need
to definitely look into if your target audience is on social media or not, you
should not reject is outright without giving it a thought.
#2 Which is a better platform? Facebook or
Twitter?
What would you
answer if you are asked “Is T-Shirt more appropriate or a formal shirt?” Well, you
would say “depends on the occasion” right? Now apply the same principle.
Whether Facebook is better or Twitter clearly depends on your objective,
purpose, your target market and your user group. Both the platforms have their
own merits, purpose, usage guidelines and benefits. You need to understand your
marketing and communication objective and then choose an appropriate platform. You
need to also consider that people’s behavior on Twitter is different than on
Facebook. Twitter timeline moves faster
than Facebook so you really need to post almost like real-time updates on
Twitter. It provides the kind of immediacy. Whereas; on Facebook, you have better
opportunity to have more in-depth conversation around a topic. Picture sharing
is more appreciated on Facebook than Twitter. So I would say that if at all you have to
choose, apply a simple test: Choose a platform where your audience spends more
time :-)
#3 Can I use LinkedIn for promotion of my
business?
I would not recommend
this. LinkedIn as a platform is for connecting with individuals, getting in
touch with professionals and experts and interacting with them. Mostly I have
observed people using LinkedIn groups to promote their business. This is strict
NO. Discussion Groups, as the name itself says, are for discussions. Use them
to discuss interesting topics, share point of views and learn. Don’t dilute the
purpose by commenting with product promotions. Do it ONLY IF you truly believe
that your product offers the value in line with the discussion which is going
on.
#4 Does Google AdWords work better than Facebook
ads?
Both the types
of ads have shown great results for businesses. Fundamentally, although both
work on the principles of Pay-Per-Click or Pay as Per Impressions, there is a
slight difference. Google ads are more keyword driven. You choose the keywords
for which you would like to show your ad, put a bid you are willing to pay and
you are done. In Facebook, you can choose to show your ads based on interests
like photography, reading, writing etc. Essentially you show your ads to people
who you think would be ‘relate’ with your ads better.
Secondly, you
need to remember that there is always intent on Google. When someone does a
search on Google, he/she has come there with some intention (of either making a
decision, making a purchase, research etc). On Facebook, mostly people are for networking
and connecting with friends. So the intent is not explicitly there.
Consider all
these options when you take a call.
#5 Does Social Media work for B2B?
Absolutely - Just that you need
to use it in a different way. With B2B, use social media to build thought
leadership, gather reviews and opinions and educate people. Don’t make the
mistake of using social media as any other marketing campaign. Focus on two-way
dialogue with your audience rather than one-way messaging. Be patient and you
are sure to go long way with this.
#6 How do I create a viral campaign?
Unfortunately there is no formula
which can guarantee your campaign to go viral. Of course there are some common elements
of a successful viral campaign. Here is one of my previous
articles speaking about viral campaigns in detail.
#7 How to get more followers and fans?
You will find numerous articles describing
how to increase your fans and followers. But the first thing you need to
remember with social media is that it is better to have 10 engaged followers
than 100 non-engaged ones. Yes, numbers do matter to create an impact, but do
not compromise on quality for the sake of quantity.
Having said that, you can achieve
numbers as well as quality with well thought out strategy and plan. Sharing
useful and insightful content, initiating meaningful dialogues, making it easy
to find you on social media and offering exclusive content on social media are
some of the ways which can help you get more engaged fans and followers. In
case of Facebook, you can run Facebook ads to drive audience to your page. Do
remember to have a concrete execution plan in place to keep the audience
engaged. Otherwise, you are sure to lose them in no time.
#8 How much will social media cost?
If I say social media does not
cost of anything, I will be lying. Although most of the platforms are free, you
do need to spend quality time for using those platforms effectively. So there
is investment of time – which is not free :). There are paid options available like
pay-per-click ads, promoted tweets etc, but you can very effectively use the
platforms without spending money on those – just with your creativity. Make
sure to keep your audience interested in being connected with you, value their
connection and offer them something worth their attachment with you, get them involved
in your brand – emotionally as well as through some gestures like discounts,
exclusive offers etc.
#9 Will I be able to measure the ROI?
Definitely yes! Don’t believe those
who tell you that you cannot measure ROI on social media – they don’t know how
to measure it. The ROI with social media can be both qualitative as well as
quantitative. Here is one of my past articles on how to measure ROI
with social media.
#10 How to handle negative comments on social
media?
This is one question which is asked
many times. There is a common misconception that social media opens a can of
worms with lot of negative comments. But actually thinking, if at all there are
negative sentiments, at least social media is offering you a platform to KNOW
about those sentiments which you would have never known – but your customers
and others would have definitely known. With such negative comments on social
media, you are at least getting an opportunity to address those negative
comments/ sentiments and regain the confidence of your customers, whom you would
have probably completely lost. In this article, I have described a simple 3-step
approach on handling negative comments on social media.
Hope you enjoyed reading this article. I have also co-authored a book ‘Are you Socially Shy? to help small and mid-size business owners get started with social media. This book describes getting started with 6 popular social media platforms in 8 hours. The platforms covered in this book are: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, SlideShare and Blog.
Look forward to hearing your comments!
Note: This article was originally published on YourStory.in at http://yourstory.in/2012/07/your-most-common-social-media-questions-answered/
