Idly working our way through our various social media accounts, someone in the office raised the question whether social media was really social any more. Doesn't social media have an element of the crowd about it? Shouldn't it be a natural phenomenon? It's almost mandatory for a business to "do social media" these days. We are encouraged to post to Twitter, Facebook and Google+ and to boost our connections in Linked In, but are we in danger of slipping into a trap of our own making?
Let's take a look at Facebook. We understand it is is not the first social media giant, but it is the largest and most successful to date. As a business, we have a social media presence there and some of us have personal pages which we use to keep in touch with friends, family and so on. We also have clients who we actively encourage to use Facebook, and some of these have thousands of followers and regularly send feeds and get feedback: they have built a social community for their products or events. What we notice is that the ones that have succeeded are part of a wider social network connected with their business. If I belong to a club or group, or enjoy a particular pastime, then following a commercial organisation linked to that activity makes social sense. But then, look down the right hand side at the random adverts for weight-loss, fishing tackle, two for dating, for the release of cash from my home and for industrial injury claims - in what way is this social?
We all realise that where the people are is where the advertisers want to be. And Facebook needs to generate revenue. All these people posting content and uploading images for free are the marketers dream... All those Justin Bieber fans who adore his page.... Now, if only I could reach them. But let's not kid ourselves that the bigger a social media platform gets, the higher its costs and the more the shareholders want something back for their creation. The pact with the devil means that once the advertising starts, the social media platform starts to become just another news page. Adverts wink at us to pay for the content. But are these adverts really social. Much more like, it seems to us, that they are simply using the platform to sell us more stuff.
The Business Response
The danger for any business is the one where the business starts to post in a frenzy. Just build those Twitter followers by posting on the hour. Update the Facebook page with fascinating facts about the office.... Push out adverts and stuff about the business in a random torrent. Like the world is interested? You see the results of these campaign littered all over the place. And you see the skeletal results as the instigators got bored and move on to other things... Last post October 2012. Yet, there are still plenty of advisers telling us to join the bandwagon.
The dishonesty in this is the promise of engagement. To succeed in social media, you have to engage your audience. Engagement means listening, posting intelligently and being good and entertaining while you are at it. This is hard work for most of us and even harder if you are an accounting firm or a legal practice.
Our advice is to strip away the fallacies first and properly consider how you are going to reach your potential customers. Take the example of the accounting firm. From time to time, you will be needed. That's the point that you want the customer to choose you over your competitors. That's the time when you want to be there when they open whatever they open to find a good accountant. A firm like yours can do far more for itself by building up a great reputation as a reliable and honest firm that offers excellent value and service, than by flooding social media with posts. If you want to network, try the real thing. Meet with groups of other businesses who will welcome an accountant in their midst and who are genuinely interested in the tips you have to offer. Then you are starting to build an audience for the things you have to say. Your relationship not with the world, but with your own relevant groups.
The point here is that, if you don't have an audience, then social media is just a form of shouting while standing in the middle of a crowd of other noisy people. Our suggestion? Start to do some listening for a change.
In our blog next week, we will consider ways in which you can build physical and online engagement.
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