So Many Platforms, So Little Time

Blog Topic: With so many social media platforms available to the marketer, should a company adopt only one platform as its main/primary channel? If you think so, offer some perspective on how this primary platform should be determined. If not, how should a company identify which platforms to use and how to allocate its marketing resources?

Well, the true answer is: It depends.

Just like with traditional media, marketers should be conscientious of what types of social media will be most beneficial for their brand. The old saying “The medium is the message” rings true in this situation.

There are several criteria to determine which platform should be the primary platform. What is the nature of the company’s product or service? Is it visual? Is it text-heavy? Who is their audience? What do we want them to do? What is the company’s strategy to get them to do that? How big is our budget?

I propose that for large, national brands, companies should not only adopt one platform, but should have a presence on several. It doesn’t have to be every single one if it doesn’t fit with their product or service- it’s never a good idea to join a network without a clear understanding of how it can be used to the brand’s benefit. That’s why it’s important for brands to select channels that are natural fits for their products and services. No need to try to shove a square peg into a round hole.

Each social media channel caters to a slightly different audience, and so it may be advantageous for brands to establish a presence on multiple platforms. For example, Nike shines on a variety of social media platforms, and I believe that is because the company appeals to a very broad audience.

However, for a brand with a more niche audience, it may make perfect sense to strategically put the bulk of their effort into one platform.

For example, National Geographic exists on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. While each platform does well, the brand has found particular success with Instagram, where they boast 11 million followers. This makes sense, because National Geographic is a quintessential example of a visual storyteller. Because of this, they have leveraged the visual nature of Instagram to their benefit. On Pinterest, another visual social media site, National Geographic has a healthy following as well. However, Instagram still appears to be the frontrunner for this brand, likely due to Instagram’s ability to deliver content in real time. 

But let’s look at another brand: The New York Times. They too have the kind of following that most brands would kill for. They have more than 9 million Facebook fans and 15 million Twitter followers. They do have an Instagram, but it’s specifically for their fashion section (again, a highly visual subject.) On Facebook, the NYT is able to give readers a visual sneak peak along with a catchy teaser. But Twitter is king for the brand because it is constantly updating in real time, which is absolutely perfect for delivering breaking news.

While national brands can benefit from existing on multiple channels, perhaps leaning more heavily on one in particular, the story is slightly different for small businesses with meager marketing budgets.

I would strongly discourage a new small business to put much effort into a Facebook page. Facebook has continually implemented new rules and algorithms that filter out promotional posts unless businesses pay up. What was once free marketing is no longer free, and page views have plummeted (Louhis, 2014.)

In this situation, I suggest that companies focus their efforts on Instagram, where users may be actively promoted – for free (Oliver, 2015.) Instagram (and Twitter, too, for that matter) allow all posts to be shown in chronological order for free. So for the small business looking to leverage a small social media budget for the biggest impact, these may make more financial sense.

Do you think this week’s readings regarding content vs. conversation factor into the decision? Please feel free to use a real or fictitious company to explain your position. 

This week’s readings regarding content vs. conversation did not particularly factor into my decision. All of the readings were from 2009 or 2010. I’ve managed social media for brands for nearly five years, and a lot of the viewpoints expressed in the readings are like second nature to me – they’re simply the rules of the road, if you will. There were some excellent excerpts, however, that eloquently state what a marketer should do when creating and implementing a social media marketing plan. They’re the basic tenets of marketing, adapted for social media.

Entrepreneur Chris Lake wrote a fantastic article back in 2009 – a time where the idea of “thought leadership” was becoming more mainstream. His position, which is still true today, is that engaged customers are far more likely to convert (Lake, 2009.)

But becoming a thought leader takes a lot of work. Digital marketing analyst Brian Solis said early on that in order to succeed in social, one must discover all relevant communities of interest to their audience(s), and observe the choices, challenges and wants of the audience within each network. Then, once identified, you can formulate a game plan that embodies the attributes you wish to publicly portray. While doing that, he warns against speaking at audiences through canned, self-promoting messages. Instead, promote thyself by being valuable to your audience – give them insight, direction and a sense of community (Solis, 2010.)

Once you’ve found your niche of thought leadership and formulated your game plan, companies must refine their personality. Content without conversation is merely advertising (Novak, 2009.) Companies must become more human. Today, many people expect a response when they tweet a question or comment to a company. When engaging customers, brands should have a consistent voice.

Now that you have all of those three things, you’re really ready to rock and roll with the most important part of all: Content.

Content is King. We’ve heard it a million times. But that’s because it’s true.

Marketing executive Michael Greenberg explained that first, marketers must have content. Second, they must have cadence. Once they’ve established a cadence of posting, they must maintain it to maintain their credibility. Finally, they must consider themselves a publisher (Greenberg, 2009.)

Back when Greenberg wrote his article, there weren’t many companies doing social very well. Companies didn’t quite grasp the concept of becoming their own publishers. And that paved the way for my career success.

I was fortunate to ride the wave of social media during the time that it really caught on. I was working for a Seattle startup called Nology Media (which has since been acquired by other marketing companies) as an intern. I’d had another offer at a PR firm, but I took a chance on this newfangled social media management company.

It completely changed my life.

We built the social media presence of several regional brands.

During my three months there, I learned inbound marketing without realizing it was called inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is a way of putting your message into digestible pieces to catch the audience’s interest and keep them wanting more (McCormick, 2013.) It was all about establishing your client as a “thought leader” in their given field. It took a lot of research into the client’s audience, to realize their interests and figure out how to best cater to those interests.

At one point, I remember sitting down with my then-boss, and I explained that while I loved what he was doing, and what I was learning, that I didn’t think it was very sustainable. Why? Because, eventually in-house marketers were going to fully grasp the concept of social media. And I was right.

While Nology Media didn’t stand the test of time, it did provide me the foundation that got my foot in the door at my current job. While I don’t particularly care to manage social media accounts anymore (after 4.5 years I was ready for a change), I will always be grateful to social media for jumpstarting my professional career.

References

Greenberg, M. (2009, October 20). Content is king of social marketing. MultichannelMerchant.com. Retrieved Sunday February 1, 2015 from http://multichannelmerchant.com/social-media/1020-content-social-marketing

Lake, C. (2009, October 30). 35 social media kpis to help measure engagement. Econsultancy Blog. Retrieved Monday, February 2, 2015 from http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/4887-35-social-media-kpis-to-help-measure-engagement.

McCormick, M. (2013.) What is inbound marketing and how do I start? Salesforce. Retrieved Sunday, February 1, 2015 from http://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/07/inbound-marketing-getting-started.html/?d=70130000000tH3O

Novak, C. (2010, July 27). Why conversation, not content, is king. SocialMediaToday.com. Retrieved Sunday February 1, 2015 from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king

Oliver, G. (2015) Why your small business should participate in an Instagram Weekend Hashtag Project. Business 2 Community. Retrieved Monday, February 2, 2015 from  http://www.business2community.com/instagram/small-business-participate-instagram-weekend-hashtag-project-01118117

Solis, B. (2010). 21 rules for social media engagement. Mashable. Retrieved Monday, February 2, 2015, from: http://mashable.com/2010/05/18/rules-social-media-engagment/