Your business has too many social media accounts! Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Instagram, Vine… With over 200 social networks the list is truly endless. Take a long introspective look… what are you really doing with 12 social media accounts? Are you really killing it on any of them? Yes? Awesome! Seriously, it’s tough to do! No? Well let’s explore why maybe, just maybe, having too many accounts may just be the issue.
Why is it so hard to manage plenty of accounts solo? How about…
Time
If you’re a small business owner or marketing director without marketing agency help, who has the time? Seriously there always seems to be more pressing issues during the day than responding to a Facebook post or blog comment. If you feel as though you don’t have the time, it’s because social media hasn’t become a priority in your workflow.
Cheer up big guy! We’re here for ya!
Social media is the new soapbox. It’s where consumers go to sing your praises or drag you through the dirt. For that reason alone, you should be finding time to monitor and nurture your social media networks.
So we’ve figured it out. It seems like you have too many social media accounts because you don’t have the time. But Brian, you say in that cool-calm voice of yours, I want to be everywhere my potential customers are. That makes sense! By all means create your accounts, but make it very clear where the bulk of your activity will be. Too many unmaintained accounts lead to...
Poor User Experience
Every time a potential (or current) customer interacts with your company, it creates a chance for you to provide an exceptional experience. Unresponsiveness or extremely slow response times, because you have too many accounts to manage, creates the sticky situation of subpar customer touch points. This happens when your customer comes away from the experience feeling less impressed by your company than when they began the interaction. Mismanagement of social media creates waves of these subpar experiences. As you know, first impressions are everything.
A similar analogy might be to think of your social media profiles as extensions of your website. When customers visit your website they expect to find the useful information they are searching for in an easy to navigate and responsive way. When your customer visits your social profile and it’s blank… Well you’ve just failed at that experience. They weren’t quite able to get the information they desired in the manner they wanted.
Unless you’re investing in Social Media Management it will be difficult for you to manage and grow every single community on every site. Social media still has to be social. Customers expect to have a real interaction with your company. Using accounts to simply spam their feed with links is not social.
Hey, at least they know you’re there.
If all else fails and you absolutely must have a presence on the particular platform, at least leave some sort of “coming soon” message. That way, they know you may not maintain this account actively and won’t waste their time contacting you on this particular channel.
Where to go?
Start with customers
So… how to decide in which basket to put our eggs? Use your customers! Intent Data suggests we study where our target market congregates online and start from there:
Find out what social networks . . . readers use the most, where do they tend to engage. You want to be there too, sharing your content and inviting them to come visit for more. If you want to attract 18 – 29 year old urban residents, get your blog on Twitter and Instagram. If you are blogging for women, particularly of the youngest adult age group, Facebook or Pinterest might be better bets.
This makes a lot of sense. Who better to show you where to focus your efforts than your current customers, fans, and followers? Set up an informal poll or make a quick question post. Use Facebook Insights. Go to their profiles and do deep dives into their habits. The data is there for the taking.
Start with content
Use your content! Social KNX points out that we can start our decision making with the kind of content we intent to publish:
Take time to plan out the kind of content you will be creating for each site BEFORE you set up shop. You need regular photos if you are using Instagram. Lots of tips and short nuggets on Twitter. Product pictures for Pinterest, and so on. It’s not the same content on every platform.
Different social media platforms are designed around different styles of information consumption! Tweets are limited to 140 characters so why attempt to write a novel? Either adapt your content to the platform or choose a platform designed for your style of content. Then focus in on those that fit your style.
Conclusion
You may have too many social media accounts. It’s ok, happens to the best of us. Take some time to survey your accounts or email us for a Social Media Audit. We’d be happy to help you out for free. Note whether you’re actually adding meaningful interaction to the platform. If not, consider putting the account “to sleep” for a while until you’re able to find the time to show your customers the attention they deserve there.
After you’ve put some accounts to bed and narrowed your list, start with either your target audience or your content to find 2-3 social media sites to focus your effort on. Create awesome experiences for your customers and they’ll keep coming back!
