7 Startling Truths About Social Media

Are your social media efforts inconsistent? Is your brand identity fading? Has every network investment yielded nothing but lost time and wasted dollars?

A Not-So-Sweet Song

It’s time to face the music, brand marketers: Social media is not infallible. All too often posts strike sour chords, leaving you unable to generate the necessary traffic, sales, and ROI. Your hashtag attempts rank as double-flats on the network scale.

Why does this happen? Perhaps you, like so many other marketers, have let the Pied Pipers of social media lead you in the wrong direction?

Let’s discover seven interesting facts about using social media for branded networking.

1. Followers Don’t Matter

The numbers promise success. Brands using top social networks accumulate many followers:

• Average Instagram Followers: 843 (Optical Cortex)
• Average Twitter Followers: 14,709 (AdWeek)
• Average Pinterest Followers: 229 (Social Fresh)
• Average Facebook Followers: 338 (BigThink)

What these statistics do not reveal, however, is the presence of bot traffic, irrelevant consumers, and fellow marketers wishing to expand their social reach. Don’t judge the success of an account based on its followers. Judge it instead by the post engagement and number of leads generated.

2. Networks Are Not Created Equal

There are endless networks to utilize in a branding strategy. Not all prove ideal, however. Each is instead defined by niche distinctions (such as interests, ages, locations, or even gender).

Target those networks that reflect your particular service. Post content for your audience rather than the entire online community.

3. Facebook Still Reigns Supreme

A recent trend has slithered its way through the social world – Facebook is dead; Facebook is irrelevant; Facebook is not intended for serious branding.

This, according to Zephoria, is false:

• Number of active Facebook users each month: 1.39 billion.
• Number of likes generated every day: 4.5 billion.
• Number of daily Facebook log-ins: 890 million.
• Number of photos added every day: 300 million.
• Number of posts shared every day: 4.75 billion.

Does this seem like a dying network? A Facebook presence proves crucial for marketers, especially in the B2C world, who want to engage their key consumers.

4. There’s Always a Price

Despite its lack of subscription fees, activation fees, or even promotional fees social media is not free. It simply siphons away time instead of dollars.

To implement an effective branding strategy, you must devote yourself to networking, just like your customers do. Consider these statistics from AdWeek:

• Average Amount of Time Consumers Spend on Facebook: 42.1 minutes.
• Average Amount of Time Consumers Spend on Tumblr: 34.2 minutes.
• Average Amount of Time Consumers Spend on Instagram: 21.2 minutes.
• Average Amount of Time Consumers Spend on Pinterest: 20.8 minutes.

To keep pace with post-hungry audiences you must create daily content, dedicating time each week to each network that your company is active on – and, since time is money, this adds up to quite a cost.

5. Outsourcing Works… Until It Doesn’t

The constant posting, pinning, and tweeting can often frustrate marketers – and push them toward the idea of third-party sourcing. After all, isn’t it easier to simply let others generate content?

Easier doesn’t translate to wise.

To fully engage consumers you must control your content. Outsourced agencies are not familiar with your goals, your products, or the many values you offer unless you take the time to fully brief the freelancer. Keep all networking in-house to ensure stronger branding, or build a relationship with a freelancer that will honor your brand.

Social media experts can bring more readers to content you create, but if you’re the expert, you’ll still have to create much of the content. You still need to think about what messages you want to share with your audience. – Laura Vanderkam, Fast Company Blog

6. Sit down and Type It Up

Consumers are easy to please. They only require content that engages and informs: blogs that reveal product launches, tweets that contain sales promotions, a series of inventory images.

Producing original content is the key to social media success. And, it’s not the challenge many marketers claim it to be.

Focus on both your audience and your company. Deliver straightforward data that answers customer questions and emphasizes the brand. Find inspiration and become efficient by repurposing marketing pitches, sales brochures, and other promotional materials.

7. Size Doesn’t Matter

Every post should push the character limit: this is what many marketers swear, believing that stacking words and images together will somehow guarantee success. It doesn’t.

Quality triumphs over quantity. Post only relevant, customer-centric content to your networks. A single paragraph – when optimized and shareable – can prove far more valuable than a company essay.

Conclusion

Remember:

• The amount of followers doesn’t reflect the value of the brand.
• Not every network matters.
• Facebook is still essential for B2C companies.
• Spend time online.
• Avoid outsourcing.
• Content creation can be easy.
• Sometimes a short post can say volumes.

What do you think about these seven social truths? Do you have others to share? Leave a comment below!