Would it be blasphemy to say that social media isn’t the be-all end-all of marketing, especially since I make my living from social media? At Spring Media, we’d like to think that without us, our clients’ businesses would simply fall apart.
But that simply isn’t the case.
It’s simple to start a Facebook page for a business. It’s simple to set up a Twitter account. The famous playwright Woody Allen once said that 80% of success is just showing up. Anyone can show up. Anyone can figure out how to set up a few social media profiles.
So why do so many businesses fail at social media, believing it just doesn’t work for them?
Enter the 80/20 rule. If you’re not already familiar with it, the 80/20 rule states that a small portion of effort (usually about 20%) provides most of the results (usually about 80%). Perhaps you see evidence of this in your business already with a few clients providing the majority of your profits. For Sterling Cooper, the fictional advertising agency on AMC’s Mad Men, their big client was Lucky Strike cigarettes. (SPOILER ALERT: They eventually lose the account and have to scramble to make up for the lost profits. Also, Don and Betty divorce, and Don marries his new secretary. I can’t wait for season 6 to come out on Netflix.)
Could it be that the reason a business fails at social media is that they spend too much time on the wrong things? What is the 20% of effort that gets the 80% we desire? What is the big win with social media?
At Spring Media, we believe that social media has two purposes: 1) to create customer interaction; and 2) to create action.
Before social media and the internet, the only time a business could interact with the customer was inside the store or on sales calls. But now, we can sit in the office or at home and talk with our customers through Facebook, Twitter, and other venues.
Customer interaction is a vital factor in relationship marketing. It used to be that a company could put out a product and people would simply buy it because it was a new product. Not so today. There is so much competition in every industry that a brand must truly stand out in order to win a sizable chunk of market share. One of the most cost effective and simple ways is to interact with customers.
Before social media and the internet, the only time a business could interact with the customer was inside the store or on sales calls. But now, we can sit in the office or at home and talk with our customers through Facebook, Twitter, and other venues. The trick, though, is to know what to say, how to say it (let’s just say that diplomacy is always important), and when to say it.
The second, and probably most important factor, for social media success is creating action. What good is it to interact with potential customers if you can’t make a decent portion of them current customers? It’s fun to make friends and fans, but you aren’t in business to make friends and fans.
Creating consistent and predictable action takes a well-crafted marketing message. A well-crafted marketing message takes a professional with experience, talent and know how. And that’s where Spring Media comes in.
We are social media nerds. (We can also sing and dance upon request because our talents are many.) We know the ins and outs of social media: how to set up your Facebook, Twitter, blog, and just about every other platform there is. We can make them all work together to have a seamless and consistent message. With us, you won’t have to worry about figuring out the difference between a tweet, a retweet, a like, a share, or any of that.
What’s more important though, is that we are experts in using social media to create interaction and action. If you have failed miserably (or moderately) with social media, we are here to move your business forward! Click here or call (855) 321-SPRING (7774).
