What a contradictory title huh? Well, more and more small-to-medium businesses are flocking to social media as a cheaper alternative to promote their services and products. Social media is attractive as it is free to establish a presence on the platforms.
Facebook alone has 1.4 billion monthly active users. So it must be good for business right?
Well …
Focus is everything
At my agency, Lemok Agency, we manage multiple digital marketing strategies for just over a dozen small-to-medium businesses based in Gauteng and thousands of Rands are spent every month on social media. My team and I are always monitoring and measuring results to check what works best. We even benchmark results to our clients’ competitors and other related small-to-medium businesses.
After reviewing 65 social media accounts (focusing on Facebook and Twitter), we found that 13 of these small-to-medium businesses achieved an average of 12% increase in sales while the remaining 52 were stagnant with no reported returns. Why? Because most small-to-medium businesses simply do not have a clear strategy for social media – that is, clear social media goals and a clear road map to achieving those goals.
“We do not sell ‘likes’ but we focus on what’s important which is sales”
It’s all about effectiveness
There are three questions that ultimately contribute to the social media success of an SME:
why are you using social media? Is your Facebook page for customer service queries? Is your Twitter profile used as a content distribution channel?
When you know why you are on a certain social media platform, you will have a targeted strategy. Sometimes we find businesses posting about political sagas or the weather – maybe the reason your audience isn’t engaging with you on social media is because your content isn’t guided by any strategy and it all seems ‘wishy-washy’.
What are you measuring as your performance indicator? At our agency we often say we do not sell ‘likes’ but we focus on what’s important which is sales. Too many businesses measure the wrong things, and usually this is because they simply haven’t asked the questions in point one above.
So until you know why you are on social media and you can develop a clear social media strategy, I would suggest you take a “social vacation” for a while. It is better to not have a presence online than to be visible with no derived ‘value’.
“…reputation is your biggest asset”
About the author: Lebogang Mokubela is the CEO of Lemok Digital Agency, the #1 preferred digital marketing agency for small-to-medium businesses with a focus on sales. You can follow him on @LemokAgency
