3 Social Media Success Tips for 2014 (Part 2)

Here’s the tips I shared last time:

3 Social Media Success Tips for 2014:

1. Focus on the Best Metrics for Your Business.
2. Listen to Others, but Determine Your Path
3. Devote enough Resources to Make it Worthwhile.

Today, let’s explore number two.

Before I took the social media position I had in 2013, I had plenty of my own thoughts on what to do, based on observation and my own experience.

As a consumer, I did not really like Facebook.  Constant changes in their privacy and layout and I really didn’t want to deal with it.  Twitter was my best friend.  Pinterest was for other people.

Then I was hired to make these social media platforms work for a $50 million Internet retailer.

I had to set aside my own personal preferences and focus on what would work best for our company.

That means focusing on where our customers were, and how they wanted to engage.

Facebook and Pinterest were my top dogs, while Twitter was pushed to the bottom.

My advice is to do some digging and find a few others who are “Experts” on the social media platform you are using.  Then decide how their advice and wisdom applies to your business.

You’ll find conflicting advice, which is good, because you need to learn what works for YOU.

Subscribe to a couple of newsletters that will keep you up to date on Facebook changes.

In 2013 I had to change my Facebook tactics a couple of times due to changes Facebook made in their Timeline and Newsfeed algorithms.

When I left my position, I wrote a multi-page guidebook for my temporary replacements on how to continue building the successes I was creating.

Unfortunately, they didn’t follow it, and they reverted back to their old ways, and I have seen the results.

My last month with their company was November. The number of people their Facebook posts reached each week was over 300,000 when I was there.  At least half the posts reached 12,000 or more.  One in November reached 58,560 resulting in 1544 clicks and 941 likes, comments and shares. Reaching 20,000, 30,000 , or 40,000 or more with a single post on Facebook was achievable, but only because I adapted my tactics to accommodate the changes that Facebook was making.

I just looked at their December numbers and their best post reached only 14,704 people resulting in 63 clicks and 170 likes, comments, and shares.  The weekly reach has dropped 90% simply because they are not following the advice and guidance I left them.

The advice and guidance I left for my former co-workers might help them right now if they implement it, but odds are in a few months, it will need to change again because Facebook is going to continue to change.

You don’t need to be a guru-expert-know-it-all on Facebook (or any social media), BUT you do need to keep up with what is going on so you can be the guru-expert-know-it-all for your company on Facebook or any social media that you use.

A couple more notes.

Along with listening to others, take a look at what your competitors are doing. I discovered that we were the number two business of our type on social media and after a few months I took us to number one in terms of engagement.

Also look at the social media activities of companies that are not your competitors, but serve the same customers you do.  Learn from observing what they are doing.

Finally, if all of this is overwhelming, feel free to contact me.

The company I now work for has a Digital/Interactive Media division which includes a Social Media concierge service which will work hand in hand with your business for a small fee, freeing you up to focus on your area of expertise instead of all this Social Media marketing.

Even if you don’t use us, I bet I can offer some ideas for you to improve what you are doing.

I’ll have part 3 in this series next week.