Blue Elevator Blog

Social media – use it or lose it?

Social Media: To engage or not to engage?  That is the question.  Whether you are planning to start a business or you are an experienced business veteran, the prospect of setting up accounts on social media platforms needs to be addressed.

There are plenty of options: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

• Should your business be on social media?
• If so, which platform(s) would be best?

Should you engage in social media?

Here’s the short answer: Yes!  More and more people have taken the dive into social media.  Both young and old are engaging on their favorite social media sites.  People are looking for you.  Your customers are searching for you on the web; they will also be originating their searches on social media sites.  More and more customers are starting their organic searches on Facebook, Twitter, etc.  People are opting for the simplicity of a social media channel.  So yes, your customers are looking for you.  The question is whether or not they will find you.

Where are your customers?

The question you must ask is what social media sites host the majority of your customers.  It’s hard to overlook the main sites: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.   Depending upon your type of business and your target demographic, you may also consider setting up accounts on additional platforms.

Will you be found?

When setting up your account, make sure that you can be found.  When people search for you across the various sites, what name will they type in?  If they type in your business name, will you appear?  Are there others with similar names?  Check your privacy settings to make sure that you will come up in searches and that potential customers will have the ability to contact you if they choose.  The message here is to make sure that you can and will be found.

There are two mistakes that businesses make when it comes to social media: the first is failing to engage and the second is failing to engage.  Allow me to explain: people WILL look for you on various social media sites.

1. The first question is this: Will they find you?  Hopefully, the answer is yes.  Set up an account and make sure that you can be found by customizing your privacy and search settings.
2. The second question is this: Is anyone home?  When they show up at your social media site, are you ready to engage?

The lights are on, but is anyone home?

Setting up an account across the various platforms is only half the battle.  You must engage, and you must engage every day!  When you set up a social media account, it is as if you set up a store front.  Everyday, you will have any number of customers show up at your store front; they will peer into your store front window and look for signs of life:

• Are you posting every day on Facebook?
• Are you “liking” comments on Facebook?
• Also, are you replying to comments on Facebook?
• Are you “tweeting” every day on Twitter?
• Are you “favoriting” and “retweeting” on Twitter?

The lights are on, but is anybody home?  If you have taken the time to set up social media accounts, you MUST engage with your customers every day.  Period.

Social Media – use it!

If you are in business, you must engage in social media.  Failing to set up relevant accounts will likely result in missed opportunity.  It is not enough to merely set up an account on your medium of choice.  You must actively engage!  Here is a recap for you:

1. Set up accounts on social media platforms where your customers reside.  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram are the most common and widely-used platforms, so these would be good starting places.  Here is a separate article on Twitter.
2. Make sure that your business can be found by organic search efforts on each platform.
3. Make sure that you are engaging with and nurturing the people that visit your site daily.

Social media is aptly named, so be social!  Want more information? The lights are on, stop on in.