In 2003, a Harvard freshman named 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. Not surprisingly, it quickly ran afoul of both the administration and several women’s groups. Still, the History Channel reports “FaceMash was short-lived but popular, leading Zuckerberg to consider the value of creating a campus-wide social network.”

The following year, he launched “TheFacebook.com,” meant to connect Harvard students with one another. By the next day, over a thousand people had registered, and that was only the beginning. He expanded the service to other college campuses and then opened it up to the public. Now known simply as Facebook, has over 2 billion monthly active users.

Zuckerberg now says he just wanted to connect people and communities. Cue the song ”We Are The World.” and celebrities singing “We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let’s start giving.” However, looking at Zuckerberg’s path, the lyrics from the Pink Floyd song “Money,” seem more appropriate. “Money. It’s a hit. Don’t give me that do-goody good bull****.

As marketers, we have little interest in why it or any of the social media platforms were started. What we care about is the large group of potential customers social media offers. 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 practically instant stats, feedback, and analysis of the numbers reached and their level of engagement.

And like other forms of media, social media presents a way to reach large groups of people in one place or at least reachable through one platform. Those people are juicy targets for your marketing efforts.

Since your social media is considered “owned media,” like your website or blog, it’s up to your business or non-profit organization to make it as marketing-friendly and successful as possible.

TEST YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA 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 today.

The Test consists of nine “Yes or No” questions and it will reveal whether your social media program is helping you grow or holding you back.

Here are the questions:

1. LOGO/BRAND COLORS/STYLE — Is your organization’s logo, brand colors, and overall graphic style obvious and consistent across all your social media platforms? — Y or N?
2. COMPANY BIO/ABOUT INFO  — Is your bio and “about” information current and complete on all social media platforms? — Y or N?
3. POST FREQUENCY — Do you create, schedule, and post at least one original and unique post on social media EACH WEEK? — Y or N?
4. LIKES — Do your posts receive a substantial number of “likes” on your primary* social media platform? — Y or N?
5. REDUNDANCY — Do you develop new content and/or styles for most of your posts? — Y or N?
6. FOLLOWERS — Have the number of followers on your primary social media platform grown substantially in the last year? — Y or N?
7. ENGAGEMENT — Do you often reply to questions and comments on your social media platforms? — Y or N?
8. BOOST — Do you boost your posts often? — Y or N?
9. SURVEYS — Do you use social media to survey customers and prospects on a regular basis? — Y or N?

CHECK YOUR RESULTS

If you answered “no” to more than two of the above questions, your social media is not going to 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. Use it to grow and allocate a budget for it, but also plan on spending time on it. If you don’t have the time, hire an experienced person or a marketing firm to handle it. With a little success, you should be able to take Pink Floyd’s advice, “Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.”

INTELLIGENT OPTIONS

FREE SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN CONSULTATION  — Farris Marketing can help you develop a super strong social media program and manage it for you including ongoing consultations and advice as well as our. award-winning creative. Just contact Makenna Ozenghar, VP Client Services at 330-770-9627 or email mozenghar@farrismarketing.com.

AUTOMATED SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT  — Check out our automated social media division BOPsocial.com. You’ll get ongoing creative content, scheduling and posting of your social media program on all the most popular social media platforms for as little as $299 per month.

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