What is the optimum Platform mix?

When faced with the decision of which platforms to be present on, many businesses fall into the trap of feeling like they need to be everywhere to be successful on social media. The fact is, this is not true. Each business is different and so too are the platforms which are relevant to their business. An accounting firm is likely to only need to be present on Facebook, in comparison which a Fashion brand who engages heavily on Instagram, Facebook, Blogger and Pinterest. It is important to carefully evaluate which platforms will suit you and tailor them to your business activity. At the end of the day it is more beneficial to your business to effectively use one platform and gain traction with it, than spread your resources thin operating on 5 different platforms and consequently not be successful on any of them. Work out the best way to get bang for your buck!

Alerting your customer base...

For many businesses, social media and the online revolution hit after they were already well and truly up and running. They had been operating and communicating with their customer base, and using many other forms of advertising…this made it very difficult to get into the guts of developing an effective strategy and making the switch, outside of the normal advertising mediums.

There are a few simple ways to kickstart your footprint online as an existing business. One of the easiest ways is to position your social media platform links on your website and emails. This subtly alerts those with whom you are communicating that you are active on these platforms, and often helps to grow your database with your existing customers. Another good way is to place these platforms on your business card, again achieving the same purpose. Depending on the scope and focus of your business it may also be appropriate to inform customers of your new platform's directly, but providing them with an incentive. For example, as a clothing store you may encourage shoppers to follow your new Instagram account by mentioning to buyers in store that you have a new Instagram account where all the new stock is uploaded…you are then giving these buyers an incentive to follow the page.

What can an inactive page say about you?

Just recently I've come across several business pages which do not have much activity. Obviously started in the hopes of effectively executing social media, the pages have come off track somewhere along the way and stopped posting altogether, or now only post very sporadically. Which posed the question…is a lack of posts more tarnishing to your business than a page which posts consistently and has few followers?

I think this one could be argued either way, and is quite a good topic for discussion. But, I think abandoning the ship may be more detrimental. If I come across a business page and see that they're jumped on and off the social media bandwagon, it gets me thinking about a lack of resources. Do they not have the time to post? Do they not know what to post, or how to post it? For me it sort of ruins the image I have of the business. If you're not ready to throw yourself into social media, maybe it's better to delay sign up until you are, and you're ready to push the platform to your clients.

But, in the same way. Is it a waste of time and resources if you've got someone expending reasonable effort on a social media platform, with seemingly little return. It certainly seems that way, doesn't it. In saying so, there are so many small initiatives that businesses can use to push their social media platforms, so I find it highly unlikely that with use of a small few tips and tricks they wouldn't find some benefit from consistent use of platforms.

Snapchat as Social Media Marketing...

It is definitely used by celebrities…they go for the take a look at what I get up to angle, come and see what I really do all day every day - although, I'm really not even sure how accurate this is. Even a snap chat is only what they want you to view to upkeep their image, not what is really going on in their day. But…is this a new form of social media marketing for businesses?

I think it depends…

For some businesses in say the fashion industry, their fans are likely to be interested in their daily activity. The new stock that's arrived, sourcing fabrics, fashion parades etc - all very interesting to their fans. An accounting firm on the other hand, their daily activities are probably not quite as intriguing and transferrable into snap chat. As such, it heavily depends on the nature of your business, client base and target audience as to whether snap chat may fit into your social media marketing strategy. But, is it as translucent and effective as other platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook…not yet! But, popularity of use in this way may make a dramatic improvement.

The flip side...

As with anything in life…there is always a flip side, or two sides to the story.

Too often organisations fall into the trap of establishing social media platforms without appropriately monitoring them.

Sure, establishing your company catch phrase, or hashtag is an effective marketing tool…but, what happens when this turns on its head. It is almost unarguable that there will be some form of negative reviews about your business and often these reviewers make use of the same mediums and promotion tools, such as hashtags which you use to target consumers, to air their thoughts on your brand.

This is the flip side to social media marketing and is why it is crucial to have steps in place where these platforms are constantly monitored and reviewed so that these circumstances are handled appropriately and in a time sensitive manner.

Lack of social media…is it a death sentence?

Businesses are posed with this heavy question at some stage in their marketing endeavours…do we need to use social media to market? and is not doing so…a death sentence.

More and more I believe this is becoming increasingly true. Social media is at the forefront of what we do on a daily basis and that is only becoming more relevant with the younger generations…it is not something that is going anywhere anytime soon.

Does not using social media to most importantly market your brand, but also your service or product mean that you are doomed to fail…obviously not. But, how can we expect to remain competitive if our competitors are utilising these platforms and we are not. The reality is for many businesses…even if you are not running pages which make you active on social media, it is likely that somewhere, somehow your consumers are doing it for you to a certain extent anyway…and you'd be silly not to further this. After all, how many people on your instagram feed are posting images of products they've purchased, brands or dining experiences…these are all free marketing for the respective businesses…and I think it would be silly not to increase that.

Ice Bucket Challenge

I can almost say without a doubt that this was one of the best social media marketing stunts of all time.

The Ice Bucket Challenge was a movement which was started in order to raise funds for Motor Neuron Disease. It had people all over the world sharing, hashtaging and posting videos on all forms of social media where they would nominate someone else to take the challenge. It was so widespread that even celebrities got involved. They ended up raising over 115 million for research! Below is an example!

The "share a coke" campaign

I can safely say that Coca-Cola is one of the best corporations when it comes to marketing. The life and energy that they manage to capture and directly associate with their product is incredible and the share a coke campaign that they released not too long ago was an amazing example of how their brand is still such a successful phenomenon.

The share a coke campaign involved coke bottles having names on them. Not only did this cause a flurry on social media, by both consumers and coke themselves. It also had everyone talking about coke and going on a search to get their hands on their very own personally named coke. Below are some examples of how this worked on various social platforms.

How important is a strategy?

So many businesses venture out into the social media world without a strategy. Of course, large corporations and those who have been in the game for awhile have come to incorporate their social media activity in their overall marketing strategy. They have a game plan…and this is so important.

Like anything we do, if we do it blindly its likely to have minimal results. We struck gold here and there with the odd fluke and flurry of activity, but it's unlikely that the rewards will be consistent. So why is it that we fall into this trap?

The important thing to remember here is that there is a big difference between having a formal strategy and having no plan whatsoever…and I'm not by any means saying that somewhere in the middle of these two variables isn't a good place to sit.

A formal plan is often used by large corporations as they have the resources to conduct their marketing in such a way. Not only do they have the funds, but they also have more people focused on this goal and therefore more time to devote to strategising. In this sense each post has substantial thought before it is created, the times they post are researched to produce the best results and so on. But, the question here is…is this what every business must do in order to be successful?

My personal opinion? Not entirely, but they do have to have some form of strategy. If you're a small business it is unlikely that you will be able to devote this much time, energy and resources into your social media marketing, but it is important to incorporate it into the overall picture and give it the thought it deserves. Firstly, it is important to realise how much bang for your buck you can get by marketing online…and in keeping with this trial and error isn't a bad way for small businesses to start. You can easily look at your posts and see what type of content is producing results, the same as which time slot gives you the most activity. Take the time to evaluate what you post and how you post it. 

In this way, having a strategy is crucial…and incorporating it into your overall marketing strategy is simply the next level. And one that is highly advisable to take.

April Fool!

April Fool's day is an excellent time for marketer's particularly those on social media, to let their hair down. It is a chance to create and associate a sense of fun and humour with your brand, and get people talking about you on social media.

However, every year there are a whole bunch of brands who get it right…and another group who get it oh so wrong! So what are the most important things to remember? The first is to have fun! Be clever, innovative and place an emphasis on humour. But…don't do anything that could offend people…if it's a sensitive issue or you have to second guess it…chances are you shouldn't be doing it! Before posting anything consider that this stunt could create enormous exposure for your brand…will you be happy for the world to view your brand in light of this April fool if it goes viral? If the answer is yes, then you're on the right track!

Here's a great example that YouTube implemented back in 2013!

A University dive into social media

Interesting attempt by Flinders to get their name out in social media…

Unfortunately, it does not appear to have created much of a stir with only one photo posted on Instagram and not even from the designated "Selfie Spot"