1. Why your business shouldn’t be on
social media
13 June 2014
Leah Nosal, Research Consultant

2. Social media has revolutionized how
companies communicate with current
and prospective customers.

3. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, and others can help your
business increase brand awareness,
cultivate meaningful relationships with
customers, and drive sales.

4. Given apparently obvious benefits,
the use of social media is rarely
questioned by companies large and
small.

5. However, so long as your company’s
social media consumes time and
energy, it is a business expense and
should be evaluated as such.

6. Without proper evaluation, too many
businesses will damage their brand
and lose potential customers as a
result of poor social media strategy.

7. Consider these five reasons
why your business shouldn’t be on
social media:

8. 1. You do not know your clients

9. Without a reliable understanding of who
your customers are, you will not know how
to communicate with them most
effectively.

10. Understanding your customer–their age,
gender, income, values, interests, and
lifestyle–will help you decide what to say
and do on social media.

11. Most importantly, you need to know where
your target market is active on social
media channels. You want to meet them
where they are already engaged.

12. For example:
 Reddit is used heavily by 18-24 year old males
 The ratio of women to men on Pinterest is 4:1
 LinkedIn and Slideshare have the greatest proportion of
business professionals with graduate degrees and higher
incomes

13. 2. You don’t know what platform
makes sense for your business

14. Too many companies subscribe to social
media channels that are inappropriate for
their business.

15. Social media is not a one-size-fits-all
model–every channel has a unique value
proposition and should be evaluated
accordingly. For example:

16.  Facebook’s widespread adoption across
nearly all age brackets makes it a valuable
opportunity for almost any business
 Facebook pages are easy to customize based
on the kind of content you are sharing (e.g.
photos, videos, articles and text)
 Business pages should be focused on letting
customers get to know your business in a
friendly, sociable manner
 Unfortunately, it can be harder to distinguish
oneself on Facebook due to the sheer volume
of traffic and information on users’ news feeds

17.  YouTube is exceeded only by Facebook in
terms of engagement reach
 Ideally suited for companies and brands
with video content, whether as
advertisements or how-to content
 To stand out amongst other videos,
companies need to feature their product,
service or story in an unforgettable way

18.  Twitter is a tool for real-time conversation
and customer engagement
 Ideal for people or businesses that want
to reach out and are prepared to respond
accordingly
 Companies can share breaking news,
updates, and questions for followers
 Everyone can use it (e.g. individuals or
large corporations)
 Requires multiple posts per day and
active online monitoring

19.  Visual channels such as Instagram and
Pinterest are ideal for companies with a
visual culture to their brand, e.g.,
fashion, food, design, travel, DIY
 Note that Visual channels such as these
lean heavily towards female users

20. 3. You’re using social media to
advertise

21. While increasing sales may be the
ultimate objective of marketing activities,
social media should not be used strictly as
an advertising tool.

22. Social media is about building
relationships – i.e., being social.
These relationships will contribute to sales
growth in the long term.

23. Effective social media engagement allows
users to personally connect to you and
your brand as part of a conversation.
As a company, social media should be
used to share, but also to listen.

24. When in doubt, try the 80/20 rule:
80% of social media content should be
original content* for users to enjoy, and
only 20% should be promotional material

25. *content
The creation and sharing of original media
– e.g. blogs, photos, videos, infographics,
articles, how-to guides – that reflect your
brand and address customer needs.

26. 4. You don’t have time for it

27. Setting up social media accounts is not
enough.
Every platform needs to be managed
effectively.

28. Unlike traditional advertising activities,
social media engagement requires
ongoing attention.

29. While several free tools exist to manage
different social media platforms –
Hootsuite, for example – daily attention is
needed to push out material and respond
feedback and engagement.

30. Not sure what you can manage?
Start small. Pick the most appropriate
channel for your customers and your
business, and commit time every day to
growing your following.

31. Instead of a sub-par presence on several
channels, be extraordinary on a few!

32. Remember: having no accounts at all is
better than having poorly managed ones,
featuring out-of-date postings and bursts
of activity.

33. 5. There’s no strategy behind it

34. Each of the challenges we have
discussed – e.g. getting to know your
customers, picking the proper channel,
designing unique content, etc. – are part
of an effective social media strategy.

35. A social media strategy includes the goals
of your online engagement, how you will
engage customers, what kind of content
you will produce, and how you will
measure progress.

36. Without a clear roadmap, tactics, and key
performance indicators, you will not know
if social media is a sound investment for
your business.

37. Effective social media
doesn’t happen by accident.