Not all Social Media platforms are appropriate for your business.

Recently, I was contacted to someone who informed me that they couldn’t be bothered with Social Media anymore because it was all so “predictable”! Well in my experience, Social Media is anything but predictable however, being the inquisitive (some would call it “nosey”) person that I am I prodded away further…….

What she actually meant was that she was fed up with attending workshops and listening to speakers extolling the benefits of Social Media in modern society without actually listening to the people they are supposed to be helping. I’m sure we’ve all experienced the following:

“You must get on Twitter …….. Facebook is a must have for any forward thinking business ……. Everyone should have a You Tube Channel”, followed up by a free gift of 7 / 10 / 63 / 137 (delete as appropriate) Easy Steps manual designed to hook people in before selling them something they don’t really need (or want).

You know what? I couldn’t disagree with her for in my opinion, no 2 x businesses are the same; even with 2 x direct competitors in the same b2b or b2c market place, their requirements will always be different, in the same way that websites are different and (dare I say it) people are also different.

That’s why it’s vitally important for all those of us with a passion for Social Media to remember to listen to our clients. Do they really need a Facebook Business Page? What benefits will Twitter bring the business? Will a video on You Tube or a blog really add value? Remember, Social Media is about communicating with people and in order to do that we all have a responsibility to listen. Yet whatever Social Media platform we choose for business, it must be measurable and demonstrate the return on time and resources.

Not all Social Media platforms are appropriate for every business situation ………. with maybe the one exception …….. my favourite ……… LinkedIn and yet this is often perceived to be the poor relation of the Social Media family in that those of us who are users, fans, evangelists of the cause even, don’t really take time to explain exactly in plain English how Linkedin can benefit a growing business in the modern world.

Yet I wouldn’t recommend throwing yourself into Linkedin without careful planning. There are plenty of Social Media Training courses and workshops available to help you get it right the first time. It’s also important to strike a balance between online content and personal contact, especially considering the busy world we now find ourselves in.

Maybe I’ll look at that as a future article but for the moment I’ve got connections to add, groups to join and recommendations to give. It’s great being linkedin !