Social media is meant to be a force for good (and for making money) in small business marketing. Yet, it is fair to say, that it occasionally gets a bad press! But, like bad drivers when you yourself are excellent behind the wheel, it’s a frustration that it’s best simply to live with – but not contribute to!
However, in your own social media activities for your business, there are some anti-social pitfalls that can be avoided. In reality, in the physical world, many of these can be compared to bad customer service in a retail store, or when trying to contact a business on the phone (‘Your call is important to us – but that doesn’t mean we’re going to hire extra staff to deal with it promptly or professionally’).
It’s all about responsiveness!
Many businesses can forget this and rely solely on pro-active activities. However, after you’ve done what you’ve done, that shouldn’t be the end of the matter. Suppose you post on Facebook about a product or service you are introducing. Assuming that the job is done and moving on to the next post means that opportunities will be lost.
Two key questions to consider
First question: Are you merely providing a description or are you showing people how to best use it or to gain maximum benefit? You can be responsive before ever responding – by using your knowledge to help already answer the questions people are likely to ask.
Next question: Do you then pay close attention to the comments people add? These can be positive (to build on) or negative (to deal with by offering tips or solutions). Anti-social media responders have even been shown to tell those posting that they’ve got it wrong – that doesn’t help gain a good reputation or satisfied customers!
Be committed to responsiveness
This encourages continued interaction – it can even deliver an extra positive outcome of individuals enthusiastically sharing your post with family, friends and colleagues. This is because people often expect a poor service; and when it’s so much better than that, they are enthused by it.
Mark Zuckerberg once made this observation: ‘In general, we’re a social network. I prefer that because I think it is focused on the people part of it – as opposed to some people call it social media, which I think focuses more on the content.’
In terms of your social media presence, we’d suggest that you are really aiming for a meeting of the two. You should want your content to be interesting and engaging for those who you are trying to reach. Equally, the key to success is in actually engaging them – as individuals – to make them keen to take the action you would like them to.
US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez once said: ‘I’m very hands-on about social media. That’s my voice.’ This is surely a positive way to think about it for your business.
So, if you’d like to take the time to discuss your social media profile with our talented Promotr team, we’re ready to listen…
