As social media has evolved, so have our expectations of what it can offer us. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and other platforms were once used mostly to keep up with friends and share news with the world. However, social media is used today to build brands, grow businesses, and even find jobs. But is all this time spent on social media worth it?
Maybe your employees are glued to their phones and computers, watching cat videos and scrolling through social media feeds instead of working, or your customers are complaining about how long it takes to get an answer from your company. Or you are posting across all platforms without much luck and slowly losing motivation?
Quite rightly, you might be starting to question whether social media is worth the time you’ve invested.
In this podcast, I’ll explore this topic, and whether it’s a waste of time or an important part of your B2B strategy. I’ll also share some tips on how to best use social media to increase your company’s reach and generate leads.
Let’s dive in!
Links in this episode:
It’s a B2B Comms Thing Listen to the whole thing
Listen to why you need networks
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Full Transcript (unedited)
As social media has evolved, so have our expectations of what it can offer us. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other platforms were once used mostly to keep up with friends and share news with the world. However, social media is used today to build brands, grow businesses, and even find jobs. But is all this time spent on social media worth it?
Maybe your employees are glued to their phones and computers, watching cat videos and scrolling through social media feeds instead of working, or your customers are complaining about how long it takes to get an answer from your company. Or you are posting across all platforms without much luck and slowly losing motivation?
Quite rightly, you might be starting to question whether social media is worth the time you’ve invested.
In this podcast, I’ll explore this topic, and whether it’s a waste of time or an important part of your B2B strategy. I’ll also share some tips on how to best use social media to increase your company’s reach and generate leads.
Let’s dive in!
Social media is a powerful marketing tool today, but it can also be a waste of time if you’re not managing it properly. The best social media strategies will help you build a strong presence and generate leads, but they will also help you build rapport with your audience and generate meaningful engagement.
But is it really all it’s cracked up to be?
Too often B2B businesses get no value return as social media is used in broadcast mode like it’s just another way to get seen. And what happens is you get no value because there is no value in what you’re posting.
On the algorithm front, it makes no sense IN the way it’s not one thing but plural. There was a really interesting infographic on the Instagram BB2 Documentary I re-watched recently where they showed what the algorithm is with little cranes, etc. It was the first time I have seen this presented in the way it’s a continually morphing, moving beast that self-learns. So no one knows what it’s doing. and anyone who tells you they do is basically lying.
For example, I had a post on LinkedIn with multiple likes and shares get under 300 impressions and one that got 2 likes getting more than 2000 – go figure.
I started to take a different take about 4-5 months ago after I had Helen Reynolds on the podcast, and she reminded me that social media was, in fact, social and that it would just be really boring and dull if it was all work work work – and I think this is what happens for B2B as it’s becoming hard work.
How often should I post, what’s the algorithm prioritising this week, who has seen my posts, how will I measure effectiveness, how much time should be spending on it, etc etc.
So I decided to make it a place where people could predominantly get to know me, with a few posts on what I do, as well as engaging with other posts and people and making connections and sharing interesting information.
How do you know you are getting value?
Have a plan and be clear about how it fits into what you’re doing. I changed my approach, as it was tiring and time-heavy, into being more organic and personal. The result is far more awareness and interest for a wider group of people on LinkedIn, which means more people are seeing my posts.
The point is you actually have to be genuine, and the algorithms knows if you’re not. People do business with people, not brands.
And if you’re just posting with no strategy and it’s not a test of any kind, then stop as you are getting no value from it.
Basically; is your audience there, is there a purpose for you to be posting, and what’s your goal?
Social media isn’t a magic bullet, it takes a while, and requires consistent effort and ongoing management to become effective. I’m not saying that doesn’t happen, but it’s hard work to create an ongoing, strategic plan and ensure that you are sticking to it.
What can you do differently going forward?
I’ve been focusing on being more personal and also working on my networks offline, which I find is working for clients as well as building my email list.
One of my goals for social media is to focus on my podcast and build my email list. Where this works well for me is building a specific offer; so honing in on one thing and providing content around that. But you need to have the right audience there viewing it, so research your platforms and see who’s there and if they are your ideal client.
Secondly, I have been working on my networks through joint ventures and partnerships, like ‘It’s a B2B Comms Thing’, and some others with other agencies, and also building stronger relationships with those I already know to offer deeper and broader services.
If someone has already worked with you – provided it went well – they will likely work with you again. I would say that 90% of my work comes from referrals which is very high I think. I have a very wide network and people who see my posts on social media may not take up my services directly but if someone is looking they will recommend me. And that’s one of those intangible outcomes of social media, someone saying oh you’re Emma you have a podcast at an event or something, so it’s working but they can’t be a metric as they may not be a follower of mine online, for example, they may have seen someone in their network like my post or something.
I am taking breaks from social media too, and making sure that it is valuable time I am spending online and I not just scrolling all the time. My social media screen time is 4 hours a week. Facebook and Twitter mainly, followed by LinkedIn. Not sure how this compares.
So finally
Social media can be hard work. Is it worth it? Well yes, it can be, but it requires time, dedication, and a lot of creativity to build a following online. After you build a following and have a strong presence, social media can be a powerful tool to make people aware and get them interested in what you’re doing. But if you’re not in it to make connections and build that awareness initially, you will struggle to build a brand online, even with paid ads.
Make sure you listen to last week’s podcast about why networks are important and catch Helen Reynolds’s interview from earlier this year all about how to be more social on social media to. I will put the link in for those in the show notes today.
If you want to know exactly how to make social media work for you, then talk to me about developing your social media strategy.