Lets Talk About Social Media

Published: 11/05/2023 by Ross Chesterfield

The influence of social media over brands and their relationships with their customers and clients has been debated for some time.

We can all think of examples of when social media has been managed well, for example, Dutch airline KLM has implanted social media at the heart of their business, equally when it is poorly managed it can damage a brand.

So what are the opportunities for companies on social media:

  1. Enhance your customer perceptions
  2. Increase brand loyalty
  3. Improve your customer/client experience
  4. Promote your offering
  5. Provision of a platform for customer advocacy (THE HOLY GRAIL)

With such rich rewards on offer for businesses big and small, those who have not embraced social media need to. It’s important to remember that not all social media is the same. The platforms are different and intended to be used differently so businesses need to be aware of the context and nuances of each. For example, if you post the same content on Facebook and Pinterest the reactions on both platforms will be very different.

Companies need to think about what social media platforms are appropriate for their business,  a company providing B2B services will better reach its target audience via Linkedin (66% effectiveness) or Twitter (55% effectiveness) than Google + which has only 13% effectiveness for B2B.

Source: Content Marketing Institute

So what do we recommend when it comes to content marketing? Guy Kawasaki, Marketing specialist and Venture Capitalist, has some great ideas when it comes to the mix needed for content marketing.

  • 6 parts curation - pointing people at new things (research, views, insights and recommendations)
  • 3 parts original content – demonstrating your company’s ideas and experience
  • 1 part SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION – succinct product and service messages

Don’t bombard your audience with service and product promotions, they will soon get bored and stop engaging with you.

Use your social media accounts to deliver great customer service: address concerns, answer questions and respond to comments, but remember to be quick. Social media can be a double edged sword; it provides the platform for the best promotion of all, customer advocacy, but it also has the ability to spread negative messages about your business quicker than ever before.

It can be a challenge for businesses to adapt to working at the speeds required in order to deliver great customer service via social media, those businesses who run their social media well tend to have centralised their social media functions and empowered them to work with subject matter experts and decision makers in order to be able to respond quickly.  

When done well, social media can push a business forward creating a loyal and engaged client base. When done poorly it can damage a business. 

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