The business of social media

Where people are, businesses follow. And nowhere is that more true than on the varying forms of social media – after all, most of the forms of social media are created and run by companies, and these guys want to make money.

So do many of their users, however.

Tell businesses they can have the ability to talk directly to their customers, to know their brand champions, and be able to reach new customers with low cost or no cost, was always going to draw them like bears to honey.

Add to that the ability for non-profit organisations to raise awareness and potentially funds, or to communicate to their members – pretty much for free – and its really no wonder that my newsfeed on Facebook and my LinkedIn account are more full of updates from the above, than pictures of Granny’s cat.

However! Just because someone gives you a magic power, doesn’t mean that you should immediately start leaping tall towers in single bounds.

A study into the adoption of social media by small to medium enterprises in Ireland has found that one of the key reasons businesses get into social media is FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out – on this amazing new tool for business growth.[1]

Which, in my personal experience helping organisations think about social media, is about the worst reason out there.

I am a small business in my spare time (very small, as in, me and my computer doing freelance writing) and I also help run social media for two non-profit sporting organisations.

I haven’t used social media for my personal business, simply because I can’t see the audience for it, and I don’t have the time to spend to grow one.

Because that is the key commodity for successful social media use, no matter the platform you choose, for business and non-profits – time.

Large businesses can afford to hire someone to manage their social media, and take the time to make a plan for why and how they are in the social space.

For small businesses, unless they have a distinct purpose and the time and passion for investing into the network or application they have chosen, I find they would be better off leaving it alone.

Social media for small businesses and non-profits is best used to grow awareness, potentially grow customer numbers or members, and develop a brand. Varying types of social media can also help these organisations develop knowledge and skills[2].

For businesses who sell to other businesses (B2B), the number of customers to be communicated with are usually much smaller, and often dealt with face-to-face, which possibly explains a Finnish study which found internal social media was more common than external use in those types of businesses.[3]

One thing that all types of businesses share today however, is the likelihood than any social media they or their customers are consuming, will be on a mobile device.

Mobile internet overtook desktop internet in 2014 and continues to climb.[4] This story says 54% of people used their mobile device worldwide to access Facebook in the first quarter of this year, for example. So today a pertinent question is, should a business or non-profit be considering social media, a mobile-responsive website, or a mobile app for their marketing/fund-raising?[5]

Issues to consider include how things look on very small screens – how to capture people’s attention in postage-stamp sized spaces – and the speed at which people consume mobile media, in comparison to longer and larger spaces online on a desktop.

However a business or non-profit chooses to communicate, there are huge risks to using social media. A small mistake with one customer in person can be rectified simply. Make the same mistake online and you can be an international laughing stock in mere seconds. The reach of social media makes any error potentially company-threatening. Check out these fails![6]

So here are my quick recommendations for business and non-profit use:

1. Have a plan for WHY you are using social media and how you will measure that.
2. Know who exactly you are trying to reach and what they want from you.
3. Make a detailed plan weeks, months or even a year ahead on what, when, and how you will use your media tools.
4. Monitor monitor monitor! (If you use social media for nothing else, use it to listen to your customers and your competitors).
5. PROOFREAD! Better yet, get someone else to check every post before you hit send!

 

Footnotes:

[1] Durkin, M., McGowan, P., & McKeown, N. (2013). Exploring social media adoption in small to medium-sized enterprises in Ireland. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 20(4), 716-734. “The insights gained from the case companies indicated a variety of different approaches to social media adoption which often varied by organisational context and staff competency level. A universally common motivator for thinking about social media adoption was that the case companies shared an anxiety were they not to adopt what was perceived to be a new essential tool for business growth. Little evidence was found in the cases of such adoption behaviour being driven by a purposeful or thoughtful agenda through which value could be added to the customer experience.”

[2] Bosua, R., Evans, N., Sawyer, J. (2013). Social Networks, Social Media and Absorptive Capacity in Regional Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES) in Australia. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education. 23 (1), 2013

[3] Jussila, J. J., Kärkkäinen, H., & Aramo-Immonen, H. (2014). Social media utilization in business-to-business relationships of technology industry firms. Computers in Human Behavior, 30, 606-613.

[4] http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/

[5] https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235981

[6] http://croud.com.au/blog/2015/09/top-5-australian-social-media-fails-2015so-far/

Photo and graphic credits:

https://www.pexels.com/photo/cat-sleeping-62640/

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