It’s easy to get caught up in the social media numbers game. Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Instagram or Pinterest etc. It’s hard not to get at least a little bit excited when you get a notification to say someone’s engaged with your activity. When you’re using social media for your business, your heart is often on the line when you put all your energy into building it and promoting your brain-child or project.
Over the past year we’ve had meetings with and met a variety of people from a wide range of industries – all at different levels within a company (director, administrator, designer, cleaner, apprentice, student… the list is endless). Whatever your role, at home or at work, social media is about you engaging as a person. There’s a human being behind every profile and/or account whether it’s used for personal use or for a business.
When we have an initial meeting or conversation with someone about social media we often get a response, such as:
“Oh yes, I’m on Facebook/Twitter but I don’t DO anything on it. I just scroll down and watch what’s going on.”
Is this you? Don’t forget that 40% of social media users do not engage but they do see the content!
Another example is about some feedback we received when we sent out our New Year email campaign… One very kind subscriber emailed us back simply to tell us they enjoy reading our emails and seeing our posts on Facebook – especially the singing videos! Both Janet and I don’t recall seeing their activity or interaction on any of our social media. This happened to be a prime example of what Janet and I now call a “Silent Watcher”. We’ve come across many over the past 12 months!
Often people forget that their own experiences of social media reflect the audience they are trying to capture and engage with on their social media. When we do a Social Media Review of a clients existing social media platforms and website we take notes on various things (which includes their activity – how they use it) and make suggestions on improvement. For example one of the most common pitfalls we come across is text heavy content. Would you be inspired to engage with a wordy status, post or tweet?
What would draw your attention more?
1. A wall full of wordy tweets and retweets…
…or 2) A wall full of (a mix of) tweets with photos, retweets and “wordy” tweets?
My point is, think about your audience. If you’re not getting engagement you expected and you’re worried about the “numbers”, maybe it’s time to review your strategy and the kind of content you’re posting. OR maybe it’s time to get a Social Media Boost from us at Social Progress?
Whatever stage you’re at on your social media journey, we encourage you to not get hung up or upset about the figure that Facebook and the other platforms gives you. Facebook is notorious for giving inaccurate post reaches and making it extremely difficult to reach your target audience – without paying, that is! Sometimes you just need to find your own feet and keep it simple or invest in some paid advertising.
For us, we like Fairtrade tea, cake and musicals! Take a look at our own social media and you’ll see both Janet and I are on there – we’re simply showing the people behind the business and, hopefully, keeping our audience (including the “Silent Watchers”) entertained and updated with fun and informative posts. But that’s not all we post, we mix it up with facts & figures about our core services, social media, branding, digital marketing etc. However, we get very little engagement with these posts. Why? Because they’re information not social.
The heart of Social Progress is to help businesses (whatever their size) to get to the next level. Whether that’s by freeing up clients’ time by doing the social media marketing on their behalf, or it’s actually training and up-skilling them to use their social media more effectively themselves, we’re here to clear the social media “fog” and bring back the sunshine.
Frequently asked questions:
- What IS social media?
- How does social media relate to my business?
- How are you supposed to know which platform(s) to use?
- What do I do with it?
- What is a hashtag?
- Why are my posts not being seen?
- How often should I post something?
- What if someone posts a really bad review?
- Why can’t I tag someone/something on Facebook?
- What’s a tag?
If you find yourself asking any of these questions, why not contact us and find out? We have various open workshops (check out our “What’s On Page”) between now and April explaining 5 of the main social media platforms, as well as workshops covering social media strategy, content marketing and effective blogging!
We also do 1-to-1 training where we can tailor the session purely to your requirements. Both the workshops and the 1:1 sessions are the perfect opportunity to ask those burning questions once and for all.
Get to grips with social media this year and stop saying “I just don’t get it!” Either, learn it for yourself, train up an employee or let us work with you to free up your time and manage your social media on your behalf.
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Are you on social media? Do get connected and say hello to us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest & Instagram. We’d love to hear from you! #SoProHigh5!