Social Media as a Necessary Evil

Stock image from Pixabay

I hate social media. I hate the lack of privacy and the forced perceptions of not only people, but businesses. Yet, despite its flaws social media connects people and businesses in ways that never existed even 10 years ago. As a marketer, it is impossible to deny the power of social media as an organic and paid channel. With more and more companies shifting to be consumer focused, social media is an obvious channel for investment and participation. The hardest part is determining which channels to participate.

Small Business Trends suggests that there are 48 social media channels that businesses should consider participation ranging from the obvious Facebook to the less obvious XING, which is specifically for business networking (Pilon, 2019). Forty-eight social media channels sounds conservative to me, given that there are new apps and websites launching each day trying to become the next big thing. Social media channels all connect people, but do so in various ways. It is important for companies of any size to determine which channels will have the most pay off.

The elephant in the social media space is Facebook. Whether you’re a wannabe rap star or a well-established company, you have a Facebook page. In 2016, Facebook reported that 60 million businesses have a Facebook page (Yeung, 2016). Facebook established itself early as the social place to be for customers and brands to interact. Worldwide Facebook’s pervasiveness continues to reign as having most active user’s share of time.

(Chaffey, 2019)

 But having a Facebook page and dedicating resources to create content and provide community engagement are different animals. While it’s big, it may not be where your target audience is hanging out. I, a 33 year old DINK with a college education and job, stopped using Facebook in 2016. I am not alone, Hootsuite reports that “only half of American teens use Facebook” and “35% of Facebook’s ad audience is under 25,” yet “the number of American Facebook users aged 65+ has doubled to 41%” (Cooper, 2018). So while Facebook is big and worth having an updated page, if your audience is elsewhere, your time and efforts could be better spent on a better match of a social media channel.

But what about the other social media channels?

A very good place to begin determining channel participation is to understand business objectives and the target audience. An e-commerce company like ColourPop.com, which sells makeup, has very different business objectives than say the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), yet both entities exist online and have a strong social media presence. To hone in on what social media channels to participate, business should answer the question: “What do you hope social media will do for your business?” Some social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are better for selling (Kasteler, 2017). Other social media channels are better for engagement like Facebook and Twitter (Leone, 2018).

Next, “who is your target audience?” After all, if a social media channel exists, people are on it, but are those the right people for your business? Do channel users meet what your company would consider an ideal customer? This is also where a bit of qualitative research may come in handy to determine how your target audience spends their time.

Sooooo, how many social media accounts should I have?

Like any good media mix, a good mix of social media channels is best, but there are caveats. If you’re a big organization and have the resources to dedicate people to social media, then the more the merrier, however, if you’re a small business like my dad, then maybe just a Facebook page is enough. The key is to remember the goal. If it does not provide value to the business, then don’t waste your time. There is nothing worse than a company having multiple channels, but posting the same content across all of them. Sure this saves time, but it completely disregards the different channel audiences.

Hootsuite reminds marketers that each channel has its own language and specifications. Duplicate posting result in disengaged followers and may be considered spam. As a solution, Hootsuite goes on to suggest: “Craft a new message for every network and post” (Cyca, 2018). Again, this takes time and resources, so either commit the resources or stick to one channel.

(Instagram - Colourpop, n.d.)

If your company has the resources then a multi-channel strategy will work. Colourpop is a company that sells high-quality cosmetics for a low price. According to their homepage, they have owned channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube. Their target audience is young women and men who seek high quality for a low price. Each channel posts content about the company’s products using high quality and colorful images, but it does not duplicate content across platforms.Solely examining audience size by comparing Likes/Follows/Subscribers, Colourpop has its biggest following on Instagram with 8.5 million followers (Instagram – Colourpop, n.d.). Its next highest social media platforms are Facebook and YouTube with 1.8 million likes (Facebook – Colourpop, n.d.; YouTube – Colourpop, n.d.). Given the vast amount of followers, a good strategy would be to go heavy on Instagram content and then parse out for the other channels.

Web metrics also play a key role in determining what social media channels to allocate resources. We know that if Google Analytics tracks sources, conversion, and demographics. All of this data can tell marketers, what consumers are doing when they come in from the various social channels. For Colourpop, Instagram may have the most followers, but do those followers convert or does Facebook produce higher conversion? If it is the latter, then a heavier emphasis on Facebook is needed.

Content vs. Conversation

Conversation is another reason why I hate social media, mostly because conversation is rarely the ideal two-sided. It people posting their thoughts and getting mad at people who disagree. Conversation becomes herd mentality, which is hardly a conversation at all. My thoughts aside, I agree with Novak that content is a vehicle for conversation (Novak, 2010). Some social media platforms are better for conversation and it’s important for marketers to note and engage with consumers, especially in today’s cancel culture.

Obama recently made headlines about how the cancel culture can turn on a person or brand if a large enough mob disagrees with an opinion (Cillizza, 2019). In cases like this, you can have the best content in the world, but if it goes out of style or goes viral for the wrong reasons, the risk is being shut out or worse.

Colourpop sometimes reposts Instagrams of young men who are fans of the company and use their makeup products. Sometimes these posts trigger people the wrong way. For a brand that was built on social media, I can’t imagine that their social media team did not anticipate the response of critics. The brand response was brilliant and included a message of inclusivity and acceptance (Instagram – Colourpop, n.d.). Not only does a company that engages with consumers on social media seem more approachable, but it goes back to Novak’s point that people want to be spoken to as if they are humans and not customers (Novak, 2010). 

Maybe I’m old school, but I believe that focus on good content for the right audience in the right channel is the key to a successful social media plan. Everything else will follow.

References

Chaffey, D. (2019, February 12). Global social media research summary 2019. SmartInsights.com. Retreived from https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/ 

Cillizza, C. (2019, October 30). What Barack Obama gets exactly right about our toxic 'cancel' culture. CNN Politics. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/politics/obama-cancel-culture/index.html 

ColourPop. (n.d.) Homepage. Retrieved from https://www.colourpop.com/ 

Cooper, P. (2018, November 13). 41 Facebook Stats that Matter to Marketers in 2019. Hootsuite. Retrieved from https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-statistics/ 

Cyca, M. (2018, April 30). Stop Posting the Same Message on Social Media. Hootsuite. Retreived from https://blog.hootsuite.com/cross-promote-social-media/ 

Facebook - Colourpop. (n.d.). ColourPopCosmetics Page. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/ColourPopCosmetics
Instagram - Colourpop. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/colourpopcosmetics/ 

Kasteler, J. (2017, January 3). 9 ways to sell on social media. Marketing Land. Retrieved from https://marketingland.com/sell-social-media-200201

Leone, C. (2018, July 6). Which Social Media Sites Get The Most Engagement? Webstrategies. Retrieved from https://www.webstrategiesinc.com/blog/which-social-media-sites-get-the-most-engagement 

Novak, C. (2010, July 27). Why conversation, not content, is king. SocialMediaToday.com. Retrieved April 12, 2012 from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king

Pilon, A. (2019, March 18). 48 Social Media Channels for Marketing Your Business: The Ultimate Guide. Small Business Trends. Retreived from https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/09/social-media-channels-marketing.html

Twitter - ColourpopCo. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ColourPopCo 

Yeung, K. (2016, September 27). Facebook: 60 million businesses have Pages, 4 million actively advertise. VentureBeat.com. Retrieved from https://venturebeat.com/2016/09/27/facebook-60-million-businesses-have-pages-4-million-actively-advertise/ 

YouTube - Colourpop. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/user/colourpopcosmetics