Over the past few years some big questions have been asked about the impact of social media for small business,  social change, political or consumer advocacy and even to our democratic processes. Small businesses have been particularly vocal regarding their confusion or concerns about social media and the application of it in their operations. Another emerging group that has been questioning how best to use social media are non-profit organizations. I can’t give the same answer about how to use social media (or let it use you) to these two groups, small businesses and non-profits, because their own reasons for engagement, audiences they want to reach, and desired outcomes are so different. But I do want to share some general ideas that can help anyone looking to incorporate social media into their marketing and PR strategies, because that’s essentially everyone.

Today I want to approach social media from a more temporal context. By this I mean let’s look at our social media tools like they’re  instruments, creating a song, a noise, or a rythm, each one engages people differently and each one acts on a different temporal scale, holding a note or chord for longer or shorter depending on what function it provides.  Much like a symphony, some tools are used for sudden emphasis, like cymbals crashing to emphasize a crescendo, others can form the broad foundation of your opus, like violins and cellos.  And let’s not forget the triangle. So understanding which message goes where and what kind of time frame you have to operate in can help you to better form your own social media strategy for engagement, and bring harmony to your marketing strategy.

We’ll start with the long term engagement tools. And I’m not going to list off every social media app or platform, just a few to make my point.

Your website provides the foundation for your engagement. It should be updated regularly if it can be and always have something helpful, informative or interesting on it. It should be consistent, along with your name and logo it is the most powerful tool of your branding and should be a place where your customers go to again and again because they know they can count on it for the information they want. It is the cello section that anchors your symphony. Though not often thought of as being a part of social media directly, this is where you want your social media engagement to return to. You want new customers or supporters spending time on your site and supporting your business or non-profit. Engaging them through social media is a great way to encourage this.

Your Blog. Every company should have a blog, and if you have more than one person in your company you should have more than one contributor. This is a great tool for directing traffic to your site and for building an intellectual identity. I don’t care if you sell exotic plants or buttons and cuff links, you should be blogging about them and about upcoming sales in your store, trade shows or conferences you’re attending, and general thoughts on life as a small business owner. You NEVER know who might read your blog and what opportunities will arise from it. Your blog is the violin section that carries the main melody of your company, it should be regularly rather than sporadically used.

Facebook and Twitter. For those who might not have time to read your blog but still want to show their support as a customer and get updates  Facebook is a good option as is Twitter. Facebook is first and foremost a social networking tool, so bear that in mind when you make your company profile. It, along with Twitter,  is a busy place with lots of information constantly being thrown back and forth so though over time you can aggregate “friends” of your business or non-profit group it’s not a tool for long term engagement unless it’s a two way street. You can’t provide content and sit back letting the audience become engaged. You need to jump into the mosh pit. You can get all sorts of feedback from customers, suggestions, and even ideas. So for short term engagement it’s great to post promotional calls to action and for longer term engagement your Facebook account should become the dialogue between you and your base.  It accentuates the long term engagement and provides little reminders of your anchoring melody i.e. your website and blog. The chances that someone will develop a deep rooted and strong attachment to your company or organization by becoming a fan on Facebook is slim, but the chances that someone who does will be committed to a long term engagement through Facebook are pretty high.

Content is King

A great way to attract brand new supporters or customers is through content platforms like Youtube that can then go viral through Twitter and Facebook. User generated content that you can adopt into your strategy also gives your fans, friends or customer base, a stake in your company and vision that empowers them and involves them. Campaigns to generate user content can be highly successful, but can also bomb if not done thoughtfully and properly. And even if a contest to drum up UGC is successful and attracts attention to your site, if your site isn’t ready to capitalize on that exposure you’re doing yourself a disservice.

Viral videos for example are great for exposure, but if you make a video and post it on Youtube and hundreds of thousands (or millions) of people watch it and send it to everyone they know, and you website isn’t a lean mean eCommerce machine (or for non-profits a tool that will create quality committed engagement),  and can’t capitalize on that exposure then it is all for naught. Attention needs to be turned into action, and a brief burst of attention like a video that gets Tweeted and posted to Facebook all over the place is like a cymbal crashing or gong or timpani that creates a burst of sudden energy and activity, but ultimately it is to draw the listener deeper into the song. If the rest of your online marketing strategy isn’t ready for the attention,with quality content on your website, your blog, or if you lack  eCommerce tools and the capacity to turn attention into action then you’ve missed an opportunity to capitalize on social media in a business context. And you should be smacked in the face.

So when you think of all these tools for engagement take some time to orchestrate your strategy and make sure you’re ready in case you hit a home run. Have an e-commerce platform or a website built to soak up that attention and turn it into action. I hope this metaphor of the symphony in action helps to inspire you to question how you can better use social media to create success for your company or organization.

Wes

Have you got a 27B-6? Terry Gilliam's film Brazil examines, among many other things, bureacratic inefficiency.

As we take some time to decompress and re-organize our homes, car trunks, closets or files on our computers maybe it’s also a good time to reassess how and where we store everything,  including information.  We have an ever growing number of gadgets, overlapping platforms, social media tools, iPhone apps, software fixes and other products all flying at us every week to help us manage the ever expanding information at our disposal. Once in a while it’s a good idea to take inventory of what you’re using and really ask yourself, how can I simplify this? The amount of information isn’t likely to decrease any time soon, but the amount of overlap and reproduced functions can be streamlined. Your business can and should be ran lean and clean, not like a bureaucratic office.

Reduce redundancies, reduce paperwork

Make sure you can sync your calendar automatically so you don’t have to enter anything in twice.  It amazes me how many people still rely on one calendar, whether it be Outlook or Google or iCalendar without taking five minutes to back it all up and sync it on compatible platforms.  Or those who enter data into different programs when they can be synchronized.If you sync your calendars you have 3 convenient locations where the same data can be accessed in should a problem arise on one machine or platform and you only enter it once. To some people this might seem really basic and elementary but a lot of people (the less tech savvy in particular) still don’t take this organizational step.

Use e-mail aliases. Once again, it amazes me how many people don’t set up this easy function. In outlook, Google, and other mail programs you can easily set up your account to send and receive the same mail, eliminating the need to check multiple e-mail accounts. If you want to be the primary contact at your company, but you want to convey that you have a professional operation or larger team working with you have an info@mycompany.com account set up as an alias rather than a separate account. Any inquiries sent to this address will also be sent to your real POP3 or Real Name account which will be me@mycompany.com (or whatever version of your name that you choose)

Use business apps to organize data

Where possible, incorporate USEFUL applications into your daily business operations that will help to save time and safely organize your business affairs. Just the Bill is a good example of a useful business application. With Just The Bill, you can simply take a photo of your receipt from your camera-phone and expense it through a mobile application. All the receipts are organized and tracked for the book keeper to easily export to a desired accounting software, like Simply Accounting. Find these apps and use them if you can, they can be life savers.

How much is too much?

The numerous social media platforms and applications that have been bestowed on us can be powerful and efficient tools for reaching customers and friends, but before you as a business owner spend all  day tweeting, blogging, updating your Facebook status while posting pics to Flickr take a moment to reflect on your own productivity and use of time. It’s my belief that the economics of social media (which is still a relatively little understood field) has a bell curve to it just like most things. Where is the minimum amount of time or effort with maximum return located for you? In order to do that you’re going to have to try and gauge when the amount of engagement exceeds the amount of benefit. I have a friend and blogger who teaches social media in Vancouver (a few actually) and he likens social media to a cocktail party. You can listen in or get involved with any conversation in the room but the guy who just yells stuff out all night hoping for attention ends up looking like a jackass. So find the happy medium, don’t go further than you have to.  By doing so you will be able to free yourself up to engage in more meaningful dialogue with those who are attracted to your company through those mediums and free up time to work on other important aspects of your business too.   

Do I need this?

Often we are presented with gadgets and toys that claim to offer solutions, many times these are more lifestyle products than business products. I love Macs, but if you ‘re putting yourself or your business in a compromising position by paying extra for a Mac I encourage you to ask yourself “Do I need this?”. The Mac is great for design, music, creative projects and yes they are typically safer from viruses but PCs still offer businesses more flexibility and are more cost effective. Get some good anti-virus software on them and be careful where you surf, attachments you open,  and your PC will be good to you. So before you rush out and buy the newest, most technologically advanced toys and gadgets for your company ask yourself, do we really need these? And if you do great! But remember this word before you go on a shopping spree: Simplify.

For more information on how to streamline your business and maximize the usefulness of software and technology for your company contact Thirdi.