Social Media: Don’t Be A Follower
Generalizations create issues, especially when it comes to your brand or business. What’s good for someone else may not be good for you, and what’s bad for someone else may not be bad for you. That’s why at Covenant we don’t take a “one-size-fits-all” approach with our clients. We wouldn’t be much help if we did.
Unfortunately, due to a variety of reasons (cost, time, resources, etc), in trying to keep up with the latest trends and best practices, businesses and brands can often fall into the “everybody’s doing it so I should do it” trap. I see this happening quite a bit when discussing social media strategy with clients. When this topic comes up, typically Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube come to mind – and in a span of a few seconds, the client makes up his or her mind whether or not to employ social media initiatives as part of their marketing strategy.
What is the basis of this decision? More often than not it’s based on two factors – a generalization of what social media is, and a comparison of what everybody else is doing. I’d like to make two quick observations about this that hopefully will prove helpful when thinking about how to utilize social media for your brand or business.
1. Social Media is More than Social Media
What I mean by this is social media is more than just Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The core of social media is interaction. Instead of just a one-way conversation between brands and consumers, social media platforms allow for a two-way dialogue. This creates powerful new channels through which to extend brand experience, and reach target audiences. And it doesn’t just happen on the “Big 3″. Social media is much more a shift in media, in how we should interact with our audience, than it is a specific application, or web platform. You can “do” social media in a variety of ways – it could be a blog, it could be a social community, it could be a local Tweet-up, it could be an interactive poll, it could even be a weekly podcast, e-newsletter, or conference call. The bottom line is, social media is much more about building, and maintaining a conversation with your customers.
2. Don’t Be A Follower
“If you’re not the lead dog the view never changes”.
We’ve all heard this expression, and believe it or not, it can actually be applied to social media, but perhaps not in the way you think. Certainly, it’s important to be a leader not a follower – you want your brand or business to be at the head of the pack. So there is a point to be made that you shouldn’t follow everyone else for the sake of following everyone else. But the key element here is not about being a leader or a follower – the key element is what you are trying to accomplish.
Let’s put it this way, if you’re on Twitter just because everyone else is on Twitter, that’s not a good reason to do it. But if you’re on Twitter because no one is on Twitter, that in itself is also not a good reason to do it. The question is, what is your purpose? What are you trying to accomplish with that particular initiative? Is it increased sales? More brand recognition? A unique product offering? My point is, everything you do should have a goal in view, and a strategy for how to get there. It’s not so much about being the lead dog, and it’s not so much about being a follower. It’s much more about your specific vision for your brand, the purposes behind the initiatives, and the strategy for accomplishing your goals.
So what should you take away from this post? I’m a social media advocate for sure, but I’m not going to tell you to develop a Facebook page, or reach 1000 followers on Twitter just for the sake of “doing” social media. What I am going to say is this – social media can be a powerful tool in your arsenal. It allows you to connect with consumers on a variety of different levels. But every initiative you undertake, whether it be social media or anything else, must have a purpose behind it.
Here at Covenant this is our top priority – we want each initiative to be successful, and this is achieved by making sure we have a clear strategy behind everything we do. And we’ve seen it work time and again. I trust this perspective will prove helpful to you as you evaluate your brand or business.
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