First time here?

Go register NOW! It is FREE.
Social Bookmarking on Facebook

Social Traffic Club

Twitter Search Engine


http://www.wikio.com
«  
  »

Do you have a social media strategy in place?

By Karin, on April 4th, 2011

As a person, who is active in social media, I do get a lot of questions. The other day I was talking to one of my customers. He asked me: “why should I be using social media”. At first glance this question has a very simple straight forward answer. After all, there are hundreds of millions of people actively using social media every day.


If you want to be where your customers are, you have to use social media. Of course, that is a statement I wholeheartedly agree with. However, if the answer stops there, I am afraid that you are doing the person asking the question a disservice. Let me explain what I mean.

The focus with social media is too often on the numbers.How many times have you heard people brag about the fact that they have tens of thousands of Twitter followers, or thousands of Facebook fans. Depending on the personal situation this can be highly relevant and very impressive or it can be meaningless and a false representation of what the influence is this person has in the social media world.

In any case, it is my opinion that these numbers really don’t tell the story. Having meaningful conversations on the social media platforms does not depend on the number of followers that you have, but on the number of active followers. If you only have 10 fans on Facebook, but they are all engaging in conversations, you may be in better shape than someone with 1000 fans, but none of them are interested in what you have to say.

Of course, I realize that this example is extreme. Besides, if all 10 people are actively engaging in conversation, you will automatically attract more fans. That is the beauty of social media. So, your numbers will start growing and you may even reach the same 1000 followers over time. But this proofs my point even more, because these 1000 followers are of a totally different quality than the 1000 followers may be that I was talking about above.

Those 1000 followers may have come from an ad that you ran, or through a bribe that got you one time traffic. And even though you have “bragging rights”, you don’t have a following that will make you successful in social media.

So, with that said, let’s get back to the question “why should I be using social media?”. My answer to my customer was: “Your customers are using social media, so if you develop a strategy to uses social media in a way that is meaningful to your customers, you will create a win-win situation”. But the focus is more on the fact that you need a strategy than on the number of people using social media.


I hope that you understand where I am going with this. Do not focus on the number of people following you on any of the social media platforms. Rather, focus on the right strategies to grow your business and the followers will come.

What is your favorite social media strategy? Share it in the comments. I would love to hear your success stories. Or, if you have questions regarding the use of social media strategies, feel free to post them in the comments also.

To your success,



Facebook, social media   , ,  
  • http://timedtweeter.com Andy Nathan

    I agree with you that social media is not about numbers in the sense that who cares how many followers, friends, fans, and connections you have. Instead, it is about numbers because you will figuratively have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your ideal clients through social networking.

    • http://bookmarksandvotes.com social bookmarking

      Andy, I agree with numbers the way you describe. I just hear too many people brag e.g. about having thousands of followers on Twitter, while they are never even active on Twitter themselves.
      Thanks for sharing your view.

  • business online

    This is a very fascinating post, I was looking for this information!

  • http://socialtrafficmastermind.com Richard Goutal

    I think numbers should be a part, perhaps small part, of the strategy. Because while large numbers do not necessarily mean anything in terms of results, the social proof aspect does play a small part, in the backs of people’s minds. We all KNOW (or many of us do) that it is not necessarily proof of anything. Still, when someone tells me I “gotta do what Jack Xyzre says” and I find his FB friends shows “3″ (etc for other accounts), it sends a message that is hard to ignore no matter what the logical part of the brain says.

    That said- getting numbers by itself is not a meaningful strategy.

    Now I would love to see a few different practical outworking examples of the yellow highlighted advice you gave, Karin. What does it mean, “use social media in a way that’s meaningful to your customers.” What do you think is a way that is meaningful to your customers… or mine?

    • social bookmarking

      Rich, that is a great question you are asking. What actually is a meaningful strategy. I will dedicate a post on this topic, to make sure that everybody who visits sees this. Thanks for your input.

  • http://socialtrafficmastermind.com Anonymous

    Hey Karin,

    Thanks for sharing your social media expertise.

    Well, you always need to get prospects into your sales funnel and then sort through them and hopefully have some targeted prospects remaining, so it is a numbers game from that perspective.

    But, as far as social media is concerned, I don’t get too wrapped up in the numbers, although many may be impressed. For me, it is about quality, not quantity.

    But, as you suggest..unless you have a strategy in place, it doesn’t matter if you have 10 loyal followers or 1000 casual followers if you don’t connect in a real way and build a relationship.

    Personally, I like to get my active followers to connect with me on Skype to further develop the rapport.

    You can get your message out to them if they follow you, but so many others are doing the same, that it becomes diluted. If you want to stand out from the crowd, reach out AND over-deliver great content and value.

    To your continued success,
    Marc

    • social bookmarking

      Interesting that you use Skype. Thanks for mentioning that. I use Skype also, but not to the extend you seem to. Skype certainly is a great way to communicate with people all around the world.

  • Anonymous

    Karin this is excellent advice for anyone your customers are lucky to have you. I think that engagement is definitely the key. It is what attracts people and it is what makes your post and comments more visible especially on facebook. Quality definitely is the key.

    Steve

    • social bookmarking

      Glad to hear you say it.

  • Christine Casey

    HI Karin ~ I wholeheartedly agree with your post, that it is about the quality of your social media existence rather than how many friends, fans or followers you may have! And, if your niche market/customers are online these days, yes, you also need to be online to connect with them on different levels of service and opportunities. When I first began my online journey in January 2010, I had no idea what I was doing (probably like most folks out there) and yes, did initially get hung-up on the numbers, yet this all changed for me when I realized it isn’t all about the numbers (at least for me!) it is about the relationships…how I can connect with others and share information with them, and them with me. :-) Christine

    • social bookmarking

      That is so good to hear. I am not surprised you look at it this way. I can tell from your blog and the way you operate on the social media platforms. Way to go!

  • Leslie Denning

    Hi Karin. Thanks for this post, Karin. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in number. There are times when I look at Facebook and think, “Who are all these people?” and I don’t have nearly as many followers as a lot of people. I think my social media strategy is going to be hanging out on your site for the next few weeks and learning what you know. I appreciate all you share with other people.

    Wishing you a song in your heart,
    Miss Leslie @ Music with Miss Leslie

    • http://socialnetworkvoter.com social bookmarking

      I guess I will see you soon… lol

  • Shari Weiss

    Numbers were important when Mass Media was King of Marketing. Today, however, it is all about relationships, so it’s definitely quality, not quantity. To me, it is all about making good friends online, who find out what I do — and if they have a need [to learn social media strategies, in my case], then they take the next step. The First Step, though, is making the connection.

    • social bookmarking

      Thanks Shari. Great to hear you say that.

  • Pingback: Twitter Strategy « AutoMarker| Social Traffic Club

  • http://timedtweeter.com Willena Flewelling

    Karin, you’ve done a great job of cutting through the fluff and exposing what’s really important, as you answer the question, “Why and HOW should I be using social media?”

    But then, that’s what you do best. That’s why I keep coming back to your blog. You always have great content, presented in a refreshing way, and often in a way I hadn’t thought of before.

    Which reminds me, it’s time for me to go through my FB and Twitter lists again…

    Willena Flewelling

«  
  »