While it's imperative to create conversations with your audience on social media, most of the "humanizing" advice revolves around the content. However, if we really want someone to reply or engage with our brand, does it create a barrier if consumers feel like they're talking to a logo?

I think it does (especially with a significant presence of tweet bots). It may not be a huge challenge for the big and globally-known brands, but what about the rest of the world?  I thought about this for a while and came up with an idea:

What if your social media manager could be the face of the brand on platforms like Twitter?  This would require a simple tweak in the photo and the title/name space on the platform. If you try this before your competition, it could be a differentiator.

How does it look? Check out this short video to find out.

Developing a social media strategy for a small business can be challenging, especially if you have limited time, resources and people to make it work. When you consider the number of social media platforms, choosing the best one can be stressful - but it doesn't have to be.

When businesses first started realizing there could be marketing opportunities using "social" media, the strategy was was just to figure out how to create a profile on all platforms and start promoting.

However, that was before:

• You had an easy way to track social media ROI
• You could find studies showing that "advertising" on "social" media wasn't effective
• You had tools to help you with social media optimization

Nonetheless, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start, but let's simplify the process by starting with deciding which platform is best for you.

A few years ago, I was working through an online Social Media Marketing Certification program from Northwestern University. The lead instructor, Randy Hlavac, shared a story about a question he got at a conference.

A new social media platform had just launched, and a couple of attendees asked him if they should put their business on it.

He asked them if their target audience would be on that platform.

They said no.
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They answered their question.

• You don't have to be everywhere.
• When you have limited time, money and resources - you can't be everywhere.
• If your audience doesn't consume content on a platform - you don't NEED to be there.

You can find plenty of reports on which demographics are on what platform, including this 2022 Social Media Demographics report from Hubspot.

Many small businesses would have an immediate advantage when they launch their social media pages - if they chose to utilize it. It's incredibly likely others in your space view social media platforms as advertising billboards while putting all of the rest of their attention on SEO ranking and automation.​

As Mark Schaefer points out in Marketing Rebellion, most marketers aren't evolving as the marketing world changes. 

"They think they are because they’re attending conferences about artificial intelligence, blockchain, marketing automation, content curation systems, social media war rooms, virtual reality, voice search, and other technologies changing the business landscape."

Couple that with his insight on old SEO optimization vs. new competitive advantage opportunities, and suddenly - a social media strategy becomes less stressful.

Once you find out where your audience consumes content, find ways to create engagement, relationships and community. If you can do that, your audience will ignore the automated sales pitches of your competition and trust you with their needs and challenges.

Ideally, they'll turn from customers to advocates who talk about your brand on social media. When that happens, they're doing some of the marketing for you.

If I can help you develop a social media strategy for your small business, let's schedule a time to talk about your business and specific challenges (free of charge).

Just reach out, and we'll schedule a time that works best for you.