The Feeling of Connection
Yesterday I had a conversation about social media with a friend who owns a medium-sized company (25 employees and >$15 million in revenue). He told me that social wasn’t a priority for them and that they were considering bringing in an intern to manage things including posting to the different accounts/networks. I laughed. Would he let an intern manage their email communications (content and all) to their customers and investors? Of course not… and email only reaches about 70% of the targets. So why would you do that with a communication system that reaches more than 90% of your targets in a much more engaging environment?
Social media is no joke and it's not something to overlook or under-invest on. More than 90% of your customers, partners, vendors, employees, and stakeholders are on social media. It's plain and simple... if your business is not proactive on social media, then you are NOT controlling the message that you want people to hear. If you are not posting regularly and giving value to your customers, partners, vendors, employees, and stakeholders then there is a perception (whether true or not) that you don’t really care about your message. This is not an opinion. It is a fact based on a massive amount of user surveys and professional research. The truth is, there is a psychology that happens when you connect with your customers, partners, vendors, employees, and stakeholders on social media. It’s a feeling of connection.
If you do not have a communication strategy centering on social media messaging and engagement then there already is a disconnect with your company. It’s a feeling that the customers, partners, vendors, employees, and stakeholders won’t be able to explain. People spend so much time on social media. It will feel like something is missing in your life - like when a friend or family member goes away and you miss them a lot.
A well-executed social media strategy can exponentially add to a business’ communication, sales, and marketing efforts to the tune of several high-level employees. When you think about it, the GOAL of all communications is to make people feel connected to your business and ultimately increase brand awareness, increase sales, increase referrals, and transmit important information. A proper strategy includes a communication calendar, content topics, promotions, and important news. The types of posts span text, pictures, video, downloadable PDFs, and infographics; and include a balance of information that is engaging, funny, promotional, and informative. You can't trust that big or a task to someone that isn't a professional.
The interesting thing about PROFESSIONAL social media management, including strategy and infrastructure, is that it is more affordable than you think. CREDENTL, for example offers a professional social media management plan that starts as low as $2,500/month. From a value standpoint, you could get the value of a $120,000+ executive for a fraction of the cost without having to incur the "employee" expense. The CREDENTL base program INCLUDES complete management of social media channels, daily content curation (Facebook posts, Tweets, G+ posts, etc.), monetization of social media channels (connecting all existing social channels), daily oversight and reputation mitigation (monitor for negative statements), social media customer service (review and respond to comments and questions). Extras such as content creation, new account set up and monetization, page/post engagement strategies and other custom services are available for a small additional fee.
Don't overlook social media or under-invest in quite possibly the most important communication resource your company has. Remember the goal... to make people feel connected to your business and ultimately increase brand awareness, increase sales, increase referrals, and transmit important information... and proceed accordingly.
To your success!
Mike