Reasons to NOT use Social Media for your Client

Social media is around every corner. Clients often use social media to raise awareness about their brand and to increase revenue or even attendance in certain cases. But social media isn't a good choice for everyone. Below are a few instances where social media probably isn't the route to follow:

Brand loyalists don't equal brand evangelists: Just because someone "likes" your brand on Facebook, it doesn't mean that they will be going around advocating for you. It's easy to assume that anyone who supports your  brand on social media sites is going to continuously support it. While this is sometimes true, it is not foolproof, and can be deceiving when evaluating success.
Facebook is great for reaching broad audiences, but not niche markets: This goes for all social media sites. Frankly, not everyone uses social media. And, depending on what kind of organization you are, social media just does not hit your target audience. Sure, some might catch on, but your goal is to use a tactic that will reach the majority of your audience.
An untended blog is a negative advertisement: Appearance is everything. If your company hasn't posted on its blog in months, then that reflects badly. The whole point of a blog is to engage your audience. If you are creating content that is mainly sales-focused, or none at all, then what is the point of a blog? In that case, then a blog is probably best at a later time, if at all.
Public feedback cuts both ways: While it is normal to receive some negative feedback, if it becomes an issue in the sense that it is overwhelming the positive, then it may not be worth having a social media presence if there is a low ROI.

How do you feel about social media and brands? What are some companies you think could do without social media? Let us know!

We Are the Twenty Percent!

In the world of business, ROI is everything. In order to increase your ROI, you need to ensure you are delivering the right message, to the right audience, through the correct channel.

Online, there are seven types of audiences: altruists, selectives, passionates, connectors, trendspotters, provocateurs, and careerists.Of these consumers, only 20% are high sharers, active users, like us, whom generally create original content and whom are loyal to online brands, and the other 80% are considered low sharers, consumers not loyal to a specific brand and whom are not very active on social media. In general, campaigns should be tailored to your company's or organization's high sharers. Below, I will highlight the characteristics of each type of high share consumer and how to cater to them.

1. Altruists account for the largest percentage of social consumers. They re-tweet, post and share because of a desire to help others. Altruists are especially important to focus on for non-profits and fundraising endeavors. The most effective way to engage altruists is through Facebook and email.
2.  Selectives make up the second highest percentage of social consumers. They strategically share information and content with specific users. These consumers use email most frequently to share content.
3. Passionates share content and information because of a common passion they share with their followers and friends. They can be frequently found on Facebook and on customer review sites.
4. Connectors share information in order to create opportunities. They generally will link multiple account to optimize their social experience. They are most commonly found and can be reached on Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and Facebook.
5. Trendspotters want to be in and let others know they are in the know. They attempt to increase their credibility via multiple social channels and can be found on YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, foursquare, Flickr, Facebook and Delicious. 
6. Provocateurs are always looking to get a reaction. Bloggers are generally included in the this category and can be reached on YouTube, Wordpress/Blogger, Twitter, LinkedIn, foursqare, Flickr and Delicious. 
7. Careerists general use social sites for business and networking purposes. In general, Careerists utilize YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and Facebook.

The number of followers and analytics of your company's page are no longer an appropriate measure of a campaign's success. Targeting high share consumers to generate recommondations and inspire creation of content is the appropriate means to increase engagement, brand loyalty, and ROI.

This post is based on the Huffington post article written by Jennifer Nagy,  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-nagy/social-media-marketing_b_1695186.html