By George Farris
YOUNGSTOWN – In 2003, Harvard freshman Mark Zuckerberg became a campus celebrity by creating FaceMash, a website that students could use to vote on which of two randomly selected Harvard women was more attractive.
Unsurprisingly, it quickly ran afoul of both the administration and several women’s groups.
The following year, Zuckerberg launched “TheFacebook.com,” meant to connect Harvard students with one another.
He then expanded the service to other college campuses and then opened it up to the public. Now known simply as Facebook, it has over two billion monthly active users.
As social media platforms have matured, they have become much more marketing-friendly. They offer demographics of users so you can target the right prospects, as well as stats, feedback, and analysis of the numbers reached and their level of engagement.
And like other forms of media, social media present a way to reach large groups of people in one place or at least reachable through one platform.
Since your social medium is considered “owned media,” like your website or blog, it’s up to your organization to make it as marketing-friendly and successful as possible.
TEST YOUR STRENGTH
To use social media as the prospect-rich resource that it is, you need to be sure you’ve covered some important steps on each platform. Here are some key questions that will help you determine how strong your social media presence is:
1. Logo/brand colors/style: Is your logo, brand colors, and overall graphic style obvious and consistent across all your social media platforms?
2. Company bio/about info: Is your bio and “about” information current and complete on all social media platforms?
3. Post Frequency: Do you create, schedule and post at least one original and unique post on social media each week?
4. Likes: Do your posts receive a substantial number of “likes” on your primary social media platform?
5. Redundancy: Do you develop new content or styles for most posts?
6. Followers: Have the number of followers on your primary social media platform grown substantially in the last year?
7. Engagement: Do you often reply to questions and comments on your social media platforms?
8. Boost: Do you boost your posts often?
9. Surveys: Do you use social media to regularly survey customers and prospects?
If you answered “no” to more than two of the above questions, your social media will not produce the results that could help your organization grow. Focus on fixing those first.
Social media can be an effective form of marketing but it requires regular, if not constant, attention. If you don’t have the time, hire an experienced person or a marketing firm to handle it.
George Farris is CEO of Farris Marketing. Email [email protected].