Social Media Advantages & Pitfalls

Having a presence on social media sites is now expected if you are to be taken seriously, but you must be aware of both the advantages and disadvantages.  One big advantage has to be that companies both large, medium and small have the opportunity to connect instantly with the target audience bypassing more expensive and traditional forms of marketing (eg. TV, Print Advertising etc.). The linkage between the two groups starts whenever an individual clicks on a Facebook ‘like’ button or decides to follow a particular company/brand on Twitter. Yet there are downsides, as a PR gaffe or in-house scandal can lead to a digital fire-storm of bad publicity: resulting in real damage being done to a brand.  It’s almost impossible to remove material posted online and to attempt to close down a page of comments on a social media site just because they reflect poorly on your brand will only further alienate your audience.  Just one line posted on your company’s social media page has the potential to boost or kill your sales. Bad press has always existed, but it used to originate from the traditional media whereas now it can come arrowing in from all your customers via a social media page.

 Key Steps to remember 

There are some important things to remember if you are to use social media as a key part of your marketing strategy.  If you stick rigidly to these steps, then you can make the networks dance to your tune!

1. Have a clear goal of what you want to achieve for your brand in mind

2. Do not use more social media channels then necessary - Linkedin may be useful for someone trying to get a new job, but it is next to useless for a company trying to sell potted pans.

3. Routine – Like all marketing tools, you must ensure you use the social media channels you have on a regular basis.  Failure to do so will result in poor connection and therefore conversion with your target audience.

4. Shortcut tools – Make your life easier by installing tools that help you monitor and update your social media connection with your audience.  These are usually free and can be found all across the web. Having to log in and out of individual accounts will become impossible to manage and will damage your brand and any potential conversion you want to gain with your audience.

History and Potential

Five or ten years ago retail companies and media outlets had websites but they didn’t possess the ability for consumers to engage in a dialogue. Businesses through their sites would conduct only monologues à la Alan Bennett, with the consumers playing the part of a silent audience. Information about products, prices and store locations would be doled out to consumers, outside of the provision of a general telephone number and email address. Nowadays through Facebook wall posts and Twitter tweets, businesses of whatever size can gauge potential demand for an upcoming release, instant reaction to the released new product, whether customer service needs tweaking or reconstructive surgery, etc. There is no excuse any more for being deaf to customers’ demands or complaints, businesses have to start listening. There’s a motto that’s long been in existence, you should know it by heart. We’ll start you off and you finish: “The customer is…”

In 1971 the world’s first email was sent.  By today’s standards it wasn’t overly impressive; the two computers were sitting next to each other and were connected by wires.  Today over 340 million ‘tweets’ are sent, and over 1 billion messages are posted on Facebook.  This is a far cry from the early 70s where computers and its associated technology were seen as being only available to the privileged few.  Whilst the world laughed at all the geeks and nerds sitting behind their screens in a darkened room over the next three decades, it was these same nerds manning the helm of what has turned out to be an almost unstoppable juggernaut of electronic social interaction.

It began with the Business Bulletin Boards in 1978 allowing users to exchange data over phone lines with other users.  The template was rough and functionally unsound, but the idea was there and firmly in place.  Copies of the world’s first internet browsers ended up being distributed by USENET, an early online business bulletin board.  Did social networking aid in the birth of the internet?  Or was it the other way round?  Whatever happened, social networking and the internet are now completely interdependent on one another.

Online social networking is now seen as not only ‘cool’ but ‘essential’.  It has become a way for people all over the world to stay connected to friends, family, work colleagues and more, whereas before it would not have been possible to do so.  The explosion of smartphone and tablet technology in the late noughties has made social networking even more powerful with users constantly connected.  Just take a look around whenever you’re on a train or walking down the street – virtually every other person will be texting or posting on their phone.

Facebook and Twitter both now have an imposing presence in the online markets solely due to the human need to connect and communicate.  Whether or not this has been a bad or good thing is perhaps best left for another discussion, but like it or not, online social networking is here to stay.