A lot of clients ask about Social Media. The usual things I hear are either in the vein of:
Do we really need Social Media? As in, it feels likes a shotgun approach and how do we measure what is working?
Or
We really need to be on social media! What should we pay? Which platforms should we be on? And again, how do we measure what is working?
Insight: Common Thread is “How do we measure what is working?”
I could write a 5,000 word essay on Social Media but, for my sanity, I won’t and will provide an abridged answer in two parts.
Part One: Short answer
If you have little time and are willing to pay someone R5,000-R10,000 a month or more then just hire someone who specialises in this. Google and find an article that will answer to help you know what to look for, what to ask them, how to measure their work, and such. Or, read below to learn a little more…
Part Two: Medium-ish Answer
Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google My Business.
First, you probably don’t have to look much beyond the above list. If you’re on all of those you should be A-ok.
Secondly, Google My Business is your first port of call! This is mainly in line with ranking your website on organic results (which is the heart of these articles and my website). Once that is done and set up properly, then you can worry about the others.
Thirdly, all Google products are always going to be more valuable in terms of links point to your website than non-Google products. In this case, it’s just YouTube really that counts.
Fourthly, you want to set up a way of measuring your work from day number one! Don’t be lazy with this, and if you can, get the resources you hire to do this. Google Analytics is the go-to platform for measurement, though it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s free, it’s super easy to use, it integrates with everything, and seeing as you are probably like 50% of the world, you are likely tied into half of Google’s products already so just use this and make your life easier.
Fifthly, work out who your business comes from. That doesn’t necessarily mean who your web traffic users are, but the people that actually convert and become customers. If they don’t go on Pinterest or Instagram for work (eg. perhaps in B2B) then I’d say don’t even waste your time thinking about those platforms. For one client I just focus on their website, their Google Ads campaign, and LinkedIn – it’s all that matters to them, the rest is just fluff.
Sixthly, video is big now. As our minds change through all this screen time people are far preferring seeing images and watching videos than ever before. It’s actually a pet hate (as an avid reader) and I am sure will be part of the end of the human race being able to achieve meaningful tasks in their life. Two main takeaways: if it makes sense, try afford to produce video content, especially if it appeals to your target market; try keep your videos short and the users engaged – engagement leads to interest to conversions to sales to higher SEO rankings to profits to big success to early retirement 😉
Seventhly, seen seems like a fitting number for the amount of parts to the medium-length answer (stay tuned or the long one, if it ever gets written) and my final point is this: If you cannot maintain something well, steer clear of it. Plot out the year in terms of what you’d need to do regarding Social Media and if it adds up to four hours a month per platform and that isn’t manageable, then you need to strip down to something that is.
Conclusion. Work out what works for you and see the traction you get. The worst-case scenario is you just stop posting, or pull down a platform and cut your losses. The best-case scenario? You find a unique insight to your industry, like one client of mine did – they discovered their conversion rate for Facebook Ads was about 17.5%, compared to a measly 1-2% via Google Ads – incredible insight and supreme value that will help them set budgets and allocate work for 1-2 years ahead. Marvellous.