Reconsidering Social Media

Using Social Media in An Ever-Changing Landscape

Social media, the platforms, people, and technologies that connect us, is in the limelight more than ever before. It’s used for news, advertising, entertainment, and connecting…uh…you know…socially. Tweets have become official US policy, Facebook has been accused of undermining democracy, a company that was presumably formed for the purpose of sending “intimate” photos had a splashy IPO, and Google Plus still exists!

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

Simply put, there’s no denying the immense importance these organizations have. As a result, anyone working in marketing and communications must have a comprehensive and inclusive social strategy. However, while we can agree that it’s important to focus on this area, it’s less clear what exactly should be done. The constantly shifting priorities of companies like Facebook and Twitter, the variance in the kind of content displayed on each platform, and the fact that those organizations are certainly not prioritizing your company’s goals over their own, mean it’s often quite difficult to optimize your content successfully.

The best example of this issue, and one I’ve written about before, comes from Facebook. Facebook wanted to promote live video, and went all in on Facebook Live. Many organizations quickly put together teams whose sole purpose was creating live video. There was only one problem, consumers didn’t want it. Live video did not take off and Facebook stopped prioritizing it, leaving organizations with full teams that were now essentially without purpose.

No one forced those organizations to create those teams, and creating content with the sole goal of satisfying and populating a platform, no matter how large that platform is, will almost certainly hurt in the long run. Still, Facebook and others promise an extraordinary number of eyeballs, and it would be equally unwise to ignore their wishes completely.

What, then, are organizations to do? One possibility is to go halfway, to “dip your toe in the water” of new formats. Investing some time and effort into the platforms based on their newest whims while avoiding the larger risk of assigning whole teams to projects and priorities only to have them abandoned after a few months.

While experimenting can be a good idea at times, it isn’t a good long term strategy. For one, because experimenting means you typically aren’t producing a great deal of material, it’s difficult to tell when an experiment is successful, and why. If some of your material generates huge returns, and some seemingly quite similar content languishes in the abyss, it’s going to be difficult to understand what works, and how to capitalize it. Even if you’re successful, it’s often hard to scale up and convince superiors that you need a larger budget. After all, you were successful with an experimental budget, why make a larger investment? When you’re unsuccessful, it’s difficult to tell if it was because of your idea, or your inability to execute due to your limited resources.

The best way to move forward, then, is not to focus on the content. No matter what, the exact type of content you must create will change. Not only that, but in reality you will need to create multiple forms of content anyway. Video may be on the rise, but it isn’t going to completely replace the written word. There is a time for using live broadcasts, but it certainly isn’t “always”.

So, what do you focus on? A recent Twitter thread from one of my favorite follows, Lucas Miller, lays it out well. Here it is in its entirety.

The real focus of your social media strategy should be on your community. Once you understand this, it will help you make decisions around everything else you do.

What does your community enjoy? What might they want to see from your organization? Do they want a behind the scenes tour of your offices, or do they simply want a 20% off deal? Do they want to be active participants, or are they content to watch your brand a bit more passively?

It’s not a secret that any marketer should understand their audience well, but it does seem as though social media strategies, in an effort to “hit KPI’s that don’t ~really~ matter without larger context” have taken a turn. The idea here was to be social and create communities that provide value to the consumer, not obey the platforms and abide by their every wish. The platforms are a tool, the consumer is the one you need to focus on. Platforms are valuable, but they need to be utilized in the right way.

This strategy won’t only help you create strong communities, it will also allow you to respond to changes the platforms make in a healthier way. Truly dedicating time and effort to the platforms will allow organizations to understand how to best make content that will fit new priorities. Instead of scrambling to create new content, you’ll create content that fits into your strategy and the priorities of the platforms.

Don’t allow your organization to twist in the wind with every change the platforms make. Invest real time and effort into creating community, and you’ll reap the benefits of doing so.