On any given day:
- More than a billion people use Facebook.
- Roughly a half-million tweets are sent
- Social networking accounts for nearly 30% of internet activity
With countless stats like these, it’s clear that social media is not a passing fad. What isn’t clear is why more businesses are not embracing social media’s ability to connect with their consumers, showcase their corporate culture, share helpful industry information, highlight their community support, and so much more.
I confess that I know all too well why many businesses are hesitant, if not downright resistant, to taking their business social. I’ve heard all the excuses and, fortunately, I have all the answers.
We’re afraid that unhappy customers will post negative comments.
Stop. Hold it right there. If unsatisfied customers are that plentiful and vocal, social media should NOT be a priority for your business. But, customer experience training and measurement should be.
While the anticipation of negative feedback is often exaggerated, businesses should welcome customer comments – good and bad. There are several benefits to addressing customer service issues on social media.
- It shows you are responsive and motivated to seek a solution.
- The interaction gives you the opportunity to acknowledge the customer’s frustration. This human touch and empathy is very effective at disarming a frustrated customer.
- If you are able to keep the conversation online and can satisfy the customer, you’re more likely to create a brand advocate.
- If there is an issue such as a service outage, it provides you with a platform to proactively keep customers updated and informed of anticipated restoration.
We can’t risk our employees posting inappropriate content on our business’ behalf.
If hooligan employees are a concern, you might want to shift your focus to employee training before social media. Actually, most businesses are relieved to know that only designated administrators have the ability to create and post on a business’ behalf. Despite this fact, employees should still be made aware of:
- What is appropriate for them to post in comments or posts
- What they can do to leverage the business’ social media efforts
- How they can submit ideas for content
We don’t have time to monitor Facebook all day.
Whew! If you did, we’d be worried. You can remain focused on running your business. Your admins are notified if anyone posts on your pages, shares, comments or retweets. They can set aside a few minutes each day to address any issues if required.
We could never come up with enough content.
Really? You can’t think of something to say about your industry, your corporate culture, your employees, or your community support three times a week? The fact is most businesses find that, once they get started, they have an abundance of content to share.
Our audience isn’t on social media.
Your industry may not be trending like Justin Bieber but what is? With one in seven people on Earth using Facebook each day, your customers are using social media. Although finding and learning about your business may not be their intent, reaching them while they are connecting with their friends and seeking information should be yours.
We want to focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) before Social Media.
That’s like saying you want to run the Boston Marathon wearing oversized galoshes. Twitter and Facebook boast a combined 2.6 billion search queries a day. Social and search go hand-in-hand in creating relevant, fresh content that people will find useful or entertaining – you can’t have one without the other.
And lastly, the comment that often goes unsaid…We just don’t understand it.
Hey, I don’t know how to do a root canal but I had one anyway. Just like you outsource web design, accounting and legal, you can outsource social media. Just because your seven year old niece can tweet, there’s no shame in handing over your social media marketing strategy to the experts.
Electrum Branding can provide the training, guidelines, content, monitoring, and measurement. Contact us and socialize your business.