Putting the “Social” Back in Social Media

It was a hot August day, the summer of 2005. I stumbled out of my dorm room at college into the path of a pretty girl. After a brief chat, there was mutual interest and she asked me a question I’d never heard -- “Are you on Facebook?”

At the time, Facebook was a young, feisty, startup website for college students. Concepts like the Timeline, Video Sharing, and Pages didn’t exist yet. It was built as a way to quasi-stalk your classmates, form communities of like-minded individuals, and to share photos of you and your friends. Believe it or not, Facebook is called a “social” network because it was built for people.

Eventually, the world caught on to the power of an online public square, and Facebook exploded into the behemoth we know today - a hub for business information and content, the world’s leading social video platform, and a marketplace to buy and sell your old couch (or your brand new guitar pedal.) By 2015, everyone and their grandma had a facebook profile. Like all things, the smashing success of the ability for business pages to reach their audience and acquire new customers faded precipitously as Facebook made it increasingly difficult to reach your goals without putting some skin ($$$) in the game.

As a result, many businesses are pondering now more than ever what an effective strategy for best-use is on Facebook. Some are even writing off the platform all-together. When I do one-on-one consultations with PG clients, social media strategy is one of the most prevalent topics discussed and my message is always simple: Success on social media is still very possible, it’s just that the goal needs to be adjusted.

Unless you sell personalized T-Shirts or low-cost consumer goods, Facebook is not a place to expect direct revenue to be earned. But, that doesn’t mean Facebook should be abandoned or that it can’t bring value to your online presence and brand. So, here are my tips to maximize impact and help your business on social media:

1. Build community by engaging your followers on a regular basis. Ask them questions about their experience with your brand and invite them offer feedback that could help convince others to buy your products.

2. Offer them something they can’t find anywhere else: exclusive follower discounts, rebates, or offers that entice them to stay engaged.

3. Post content that puts a human face to your company. People like to support people. This could be behind-the-scenes photos/videos, a company blog or Q&A, or stories about the history of your company or products.

4. Create a series of low-budget facebook ads that will allow you to test messaging, content, and results. Vary your messages for content, new follower acquisition, sales, etc. See here for help determining your facebook ad budget and strategy.

5. Define a budget to commit to boosting your content to your followers and relevant related audiences. This will help you grow your reach.

6. Inquire with other, larger, pages that produce coverage of your brand about partnering to boost and promote your coverage to their followers. Make sure your page is tagged when doing this.

These are just a few, simple ideas to get the most out of social media. If you need a more personal touch, PG’s Marketing Lab is here to help with any and all of your marketing questions. We’d love to help you develop a strategy specific to your social media presence, including how PG can help you spread the word via our social media channels. You can sign up for a free, no-pressure consultation with me using the calendar below. Happy posting!