Any small business worthy of the name today has a social media presence where it publishes articles, interesting blurbs or new offers. And as social media plays a bigger role in our lives, the consequences of social media mistakes can become more serious.
But it is no longer enough to launch a Twitter account and publish a short presentation text, because 2018 is looming on the horizon. Social media is constantly evolving, and platforms that were once considered the wave of the future, like Vine, are now forgotten. Here are some social media concepts that businesses need to pay attention to today to attract attention and sales.
Do not leave it to trainees
Who manages your company's social media account? Many companies entrust this responsibility to a novice worker or, worse yet, a trainee on the logic of "the millennial generation is good in social media". What they have actually done is the equivalent of jostling this trainee in front of thousands if not millions of people, giving them a microphone, and telling them "good luck". The company is then surprised when the young trainee gets angry.
Social media is about marketing and requires a real strategy, like any other aspect of marketing. Your company would not let a trainee manage their marketing department, so why would you let your account manage on social networks? Ask your marketers to design a comprehensive strategy and make sure that those who post on the company account. Social media has become too important to be left to trainees and low-level employees.
Paying for Advertising
Companies are becoming more and more interested in social media marketing because they offer a way to advertise their product with minimal cost. Create a Twitter account, create smart tweets and you can reach an international audience.
This is no longer the case now. The problem is that when people spend more time on social media, they gradually install themselves into social media bubbles where they receive messages related to their direct interests. News media like Wired talked about how these bubbles contributed to political polarization. But from a business perspective, it means that it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract the attention of new customers within their bubbles. In addition, even your subscribers will miss most of your posts given the amount of information on social media.
Often the only way to punch bubbles and attract the attention of your followers is to pay the social media provider. As social media continues to grow, barriers to success and entry will continue to grow.
Focus on your brand
Earlier in March, McDonald's Twitter's suddenly criticized President Trump, the appellant according to The Hill "a disgusting excuse of a president" and wishing that Obama is back. McDonald claimed that the company had been hacked and quickly deleted the tweet.
This tweet was terrible for McDonald's, not just because it was inappropriate, but because it did nothing to promote McDonald's brand. Social media can be used on the occasion to show viewers that a company has a human side, but the main goal should be to promote the brand's SEO business. And at a time that seems to be more confrontational, it's best to project an attitude of unity rather than getting involved in contentious cases that risk losing a large part of your consumer base.
The domination of Mobile continues
You should already know that any social media strategy needs to be mobile-oriented, but you may not know how prevalent the mobile is now. AdWeek summed up the dominance of the mobile phone by pointing out that in the latest quarterly earnings report for Facebook, mobile accounted for 87% of the company's overall advertising revenue.
Facebook's mobile dominance is particularly important because, unlike new social media platforms like Snapchat, Facebook was developed before mobile social media existed. If Facebook can self-optimize for mobile, companies have no reason to avoid doing the same thing. Content, whether via social media or on the company's website, needs to be optimized for mobile.
Conduct social media training
The tips listed here are just ways by which social media will continue to evolve, but there are many other factors that need to be considered as well. The discussion bots, the growing importance of video versus text and the rise of automation are just some of the trends that social media managers need to keep in mind.
But beyond technology, social media managers need to be trained, avoid pitfalls such as posting insensitive content or too many hashtags, and having a viable strategy. This requires training. There are many training courses on social media from places like Lynda, which can give managers more marketing and social media advice.
Social media is an area where a trial and error learning approach can not work, and training will be more necessary as the field becomes more professional. Look to make sure your social media managers are not just professionals, but have the right skills.