Social Media Success – Think of the Four C’s

Setting the trend

Facebook set the trend for social networking and will be hailed as the beginning of social networking, but is it the future? On the eve of its 10 year anniversary are there lessons to be learnt from Facebook?

We’ve all seen it, people in our social networks posting about what they had for lunch, their baby photos and how amazing or dull their lives are. But does this interest you?

A damning report issued by Princeton University suggests that Facebook may lose around 80 per cent of its teen users over the next three years and iStrategyLabs suggests that Facebook lost 3 million users in the age group of 13 and 17 between 2011 and 2014.

The New Yorker reported how the University of Michigan found that Facebook actually makes people feel unhappy. Facebook is an ego-centric platform and even its picture editing app, Instagram, is a very status driven app; it’s all about telling the world what you’re doing rather than inviting others to join in the discussion.

Be a trendsetter – Be an innovator

Google+ has been one of the fastest growing social networks in the last few years and is now more popular than twitter. Nearly 390 million people use the platform to communicate either via video calls or message posting and even though it’s well behind Facebook’s user base of 701 million, the social network is making moves.

Google+ has a range of different online features that complement each other and tie in with their vision of “Owning the Internet”. Google now have the two largest search engines on the planet, in Google and Youtube, they have an email service (Gmail), a social network and web optimisation services that all coincide through one username and password.

Google+ is very similar to Facebook, however, one of its key differentiators is how it enables the user to tailor its content via circles. As a user you are able to publish content to your family, friends or to your football team mates or your golf society, for instance.

Essentially, Google+ poses the question of what audience is most relevant for your content?

You’re the problem solver – so what’s the problem?

After recently attending a business networking event, it was made clear as to why people network; “to find a solution to a problem”, and this can happen in one of two ways.

A)     You, and your business, are the solution

Or B) you refer someone you think could be the solution

This is a fundamental process of businesses that has been around for centuries, in fact I’d go as far to say since the evolution of man. Simply because it’s based on one core facet of mankind – relationships.

Building Bridges

Social media has created the opportunity to build relationships on a global scale and to-do-so from anywhere in the world. Just because it doesn’t involve the physical face-to-face interaction, should that mean we should neglect the perennial element to all business – relationship building.

So many companies think of their social media as selling. Jay Bayer, from convinceandconvert.com, puts it down to the difference of two letters – “selling and helping”.

The focus of an effective social media marketing strategy should be simple – be helpful and add value.

Your social media management should support this, so think about your content.

Firstly, is it helpful to your audience, does what you’re talking about help solve problems?

Secondly, remember the four C’s

Content – is the message relevant?

Creativity – how will you break through the noise that surrounds your audience?

Clarity – is it clear what you’re saying or portraying?

Consistency – is this message continuously conveyed or is there confusion as to what your brand is saying?

Consumers are becoming more sophisticated, researching across a plethora of online material before making a purchase in the physical world.

Social media is not a slam dunk with each post published, instead think of it as a helping hand through centre court to a better shooting position