‘We’re really into Social… we have a Facebook page’ - Is Social misunderstood and misused?

Many businesses nowadays embrace Social and see that it is a powerful way to market their product and interact with customers. Then there are those that haven’t got a clue. Just like every rubbish music artist around 2007 backed up their legitimacy by owning a MySpace page, a clueless company today will try and quantify their relevance by having a Facebook page.

Newsflash – you’re wrong. Facebook alone doesn’t mean anything in Social…especially if you’re not using it right. There is more to having a Social presence than merely sending out the odd status update. Businesses need to learn that a Social presence isn’t exclusive to Facebook – it means using Twitter and Linkedin and all the other networks that apply to your business too. Don’t forget about blogging either. A good Social presence is balanced – all aspects should work in perfect synergy and one should never be neglected at the expense of another.

According to Maha Ibrahim, a Social games expert,  it’s getting a lot harder for a startup to use Facebook to grow virally anyway. This is because Facebook has acted against spamming by changing the way it handles notifications from third-party apps – a lack of response to an app or game notification and the likelihood is you won’t be getting any more at all. Not only that, but Ibrahim also thinks that as Facebook grows more and more, it will be under more pressure to increase its share of revenue.  This will mean Facebook will become a more expensive option than at present.

Hey, relax. This isn’t a Facebook bashing exercise. Facebook is great and is a brilliant tool for business, just don’t think a few hundred hits of the ‘like’ button will equate to a big increase in turnover. Facebook and all the other Social media tools need to be used in the right way to drive your business forward. They are a powerful set of tools but only if used in the correctly. Facebook and indeed the whole Social spectrum, should be just one part of your companies marketing strategy. Don’t suddenly neglect the more traditional mediums of marketing just because Facebook is all over the news.

Remember – The World doesn’t revolve around Facebook, or Social for that matter.If you want to get your product out there then you can’t afford to neglect any aspect of marketing…

All marketing is marketing. Period.

Are you getting the best out of your Social presence?