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Social media is not always the best marketing strategy for businesses
By Suzy Bekiroglu
Like any “hot” marketing strategy, the hype surrounding the use of social media has been edged with an implied fear. Don’t tweet, like, plus, pin, or check in and leads will be missed, customers lost, and the future of the business harmed. Many business owners are rightfully resentful in the face of pressure to use social media they may not understand, don’t have the time to deal with, and cannot quantify in terms of real returns. The truth is that social media doesn’t work for all businesses, and can in fact be counterproductive.
Are the security risks worth it?
In a practical sense, inhabiting the social media space also means exposing the corporate network to social “diseases.” There are all manner of third party applications that will ask for permission to interact with the social network. These may range from photo hosting environments, to invitation or calendar functions. Often the security settings on social networks are confusing and users don’t even realize they’ve agreed to allow an external application to gain access via their account. That’s a clear invitation to both malware and hacking.
Which network fits the business?
Many businesses don’t invite a need for constant social engagement. A restaurant offering discounts to patrons who follow them on Facebook differs vastly from a roofing company that may do business with a client once every few years. Facebook is a chatty environment where users expect to see photos and read wall posts. Twitter, on the other hand, lends itself to announcements or comments on news and developments.
Any time a business is considering using social networking, the environment chosen for the activity has to be a good match or nothing will result buy time wasting busy work with no payback. Newer social networks, while “all the rage,” are still largely unproven as viable business tools. Pinterest is a good example, since the service is, for all practical purposes, a digital scrapbook of bookmarks.
Bad social networking is just painful to see.
In many cases a business would be better off not to jump on the social media bandwagon over trying and performing badly. It also doesn’t look good for a business to leave “orphaned” Twitter streams or Facebook pages lying around. The first thought those likely springs to a visitor’s mind in that event is, “Oh, they must have gone out of business.”
The simple truth behind the social media hype is that there’s a dark side to the whole phenomenon. All social media networks are not created equal, and it is not incumbent on every business to use them. If an owner or manager cannot see a demonstrable return on the activity and resents having to even try, the best course of action is to move on to another way to promote the business.
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Ms. Bekiroglu is an author, freelance writer and editorial consultant for mobilepaymentgeek.com. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida, she became determined to eliminate her student loan debt, thus becoming very knowledgeable about money management. Now she seeks to educate others with tips in both personal and business finance.
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