Social Media is Anti-Social – Fleming Consulting & Co.

Can social media grow your company’s revenue?

Each and every week experts are touting the latest and greatest tool designed to help us pin, poke, jab, snap, slap, flip, or tweet, with the hope and promise that we might just poke someone in the eye hard enough to get their attention.

Much like chasing the Holy Grail, many companies continuously chase the next big thing, and social media provides them with an elusive treasure hunt. Thousands of “experts” have sprouted from the abyss to self-appointed “Thought Leadership” stardom promising organizations that social media is the savior to all their customer acquisition goals. But it’s a myth, and it costs companies in time, energy, money, and results that could have generated greater returns elsewhere.

I get emails all the time from companies that tell me they are doing everything they can on social media, but nothing’s working as well as it should be. I visit their websites, and I see all the familiar logos and pleas for attention:

Like us on Facebook.

Pin us on Pinterest.

View our latest albums on Flickr

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Snap us Snapchat.

Tumblr, LinkedIn, Vimeo, RSS, and so much more!

The list goes on and on and on.

Here’s my advice. Stop the madness and be only where you need to be!

Companies are burnt out because they are trying to maintain profiles on all of these social networks, or they’re overpaying self-proclaimed social media experts to manage these vital tasks for them. Worse yet, they’re freaking out each time a new service gains critical mass because they’re told they need to be there, too, or they’ll miss out on a great opportunity–the game-changing, be-all and end-all opportunity for droves of eager, ready-to-buy, new customers.

I have a client, for example, who manufactures a very large and expensive piece of industrial machinery. He heard one social media guru say that every B2B manufacturing business without a Snapchat profile would be obsolete within three years!

It was an utterly ridiculous comment, but it sent my client down a rabbit hole of discovery and wasted time until he realized how preposterous the remarks were. After a few days of playing with the app, he decided to leave the snapping up to his 14-year-old son, and we moved on to generating a demonstrable impact on his business in the areas where his time and focus were best utilized.

There is no commodity more valuable than your time and your focus. By blindly worrying about social networking instead of focusing where it’s important, you’re casting your greatest resource to the wind and hoping it turns out well.

Remember – the point of social media is to get the right message in front of the right people at the right time. That sounds a lot like the point of every other type of marketing, so treat it as such. Use the same decision criteria you use when somebody tries to sell you a branded mug, or a newspaper ad, or a telemarketing gig – maybe it’s right for you, probably it’s not. When it’s right, commit fully and do it right.

And that’s the real secret to the successful use of social media in today’s business environment. Be only where you need to do. Don’t get me wrong. Social media can be an excellent tool when used right, but when used to chase the mythical and elusive new customer it’s a recipe for disappointment.

Here’s your key challenge for this week:

Ask yourself, which social platforms do your current customers use? Do you know, or do you need to ask them?

Then ask yourself, what type of clients are you trying to attract? Which platforms do they use? (here’s a hint! They’re very likely using the same social platforms your current customers are using.)

Finally, ask yourself, which social platforms are you using now that are a complete waste of your time? Which can you jettison, so you can focus more of your attention on serving and adding value to your customers where it makes the most sense?

~Noah

P.S. If you’ve read this far, we have a couple of important postscript notes today.

My new book, The Customer Loyalty Loop, comes out in under two weeks. You can pre-order a single copy for $9.80 (CRAZY!) to help support the launch of the book, or purchase multiple copies for your company and take advantage of some of the great bonus offers listed HERE (bonus offers available until November 25, 2016.) This book has already hit #1 on Amazon in the Customer Service category.

Many readers have asked me how they can spread the word beside taking advantage of the bulk offers.

Well, in the spirit of irony related to today’s Tuesday tidbit, you can join this Thunderclap campaign, and pledge to share a single tweet or Facebook message the day the book comes out! As of right now, the social reach of all those who have pledged to support is 1,670,355 people!

I hope you’ll join in.