Would you outsource your love life to your parents?

"Social media is transforming the world. Approximately two in five people spend more time socialising online than they do face to face. Businesses are taking advantage of this transformation and are using social media to support the way they do business,” says Field.

 

However, many argue that social media doesn’t work for business-to-business companies; especially those who sell grudge purchases. Talking about something like insurance on social media is as sexy as late night chat lines. Its just not. But this doesn’t mean that the financial services industry should be excluded from the social media phenomenon.

 

Social media can be used as a tool to bring the sexy back to the grudge purchases that we sell.

 

"It is important to build a social media audience. But, a small targeted audience is worth more than thousands of random people who will never consume your product or service."

Effective use of social media should be centered on reaching and engaging defined target markets, rather than how many likes you receive. "I can post a picture of Justin Bieber on Facebook and get millions of likes. However, these likes would be from 13 year old girls and is not a true reflection of my target market," says Field.

 

Similarly, buying likes through grab campaigns leaves you with an audience that is essentially useless. Many businesses resort to purchasing likes from spoof accounts. Others run competitions to attract likes. While this works as a tool to get people to like you, in the end the number of likes eventually dwindle.

Stick to the fundamentals of advertising and focus on your target market, Field advises.

There is a tendency of businesses to over-rely on statistics. While analysing can give you an overview of activity, focusing on statistics does not truly reflect what’s going on. If you do feel the need to analyse, rather focus on the unlikes.

Fiels explaines: "Likes are easy to get, but difficult to retain. As such, I prefer to look at unlikes because they show that there is something that you did which changed your follower’s perception. While getting the follower back may be a difficult job, it would be beneficial to find out what you did to chase them away."

Your social media should be handled by someone who has a personal interest in the business and not outsourced to a third party. "Outsourcing your social media is like outsourcing your love life to your parents. Yes, they may have more experience in love than you, but they won’t be invested in the same way you are," he added.

Managing your business’s social media also ensures that your page is given top priority. This is especially valuable if things go wrong. Any bad experience on social media can be a killer because negative comments are more frequently discussed than positive comments. The benefit of managing your own social media is that in the event something does go wrong, you can fix it immediately and convert a negative brand experience into a positive one.

It is important that you remember your personality. When you log on, two words count: social skills. Your level of engagement should be driven by the general positioning of your brand, but don’t forget to create your brand’s social personality. A real personality is far more likeable and followable than a window dressed one.

 

Field concludes: "Social media remains a social platform. Make sure your brand is not socially awkward."