12 truths about social media you should know

Friday, April 24, 2015

Many experts are great to tell you how to manage your social networks. Eventhough there are some good tips out there, here's a list of 12 truths you need to know about how to manage your Facebook page (and other social networks):

The number of persons who like your page doesn't matter

Yes, it can help to have 10000 Likes on your page, but in reality, you're better of having a page that's only followed by 500 persons who are really interested in your product than 10000 bots and persons only looking for contests.

You don't need to be on all the social networks

Not all companies need to be on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. Yes being present everywhere is a good thing. But if you don't have/take the time to manage all of them properly, you're much better of only taking care of 1 or 2 social networks to begin with.

You are the one who knows about your customer, not a so-called social network specialist

Yes a specialist can help you manage your Facebook page. For example, he can schedul posts to display pictures of your rooms, invite people to come over at your restaurant, etc. But a specialist is never on-site and isn't capable of creating promotions on-the-fly. It's you (or your employees) who are able to post a picture of the first snowfall, present the latest dish by your chef, talk about a last minute promotion to fill the last remaining rooms for the week-end, etc. To have a great Facebook Page, you need someone in-house who participates by puting some content on your social networks.

Yes, all of your clients are on Facebook

Of course, there are over 1.4 BILLION people who connect on Facebook each and every day. It's safe to say that your clients are part of that. Maybe they don't use it to promote their business, but they do to stay up-to-date with family and friends, know about when the next Star Wars movie is coming up and to find out more about their local businesses.

Social networks aren't free

Even if you don't promote your page and never spend a dime, if you take the time to manage your Facebook page properly, you're spending money. As everyone knows, time is money!

You don't need to be a young genius to manage your Facebook Page

Facebook's goal is to be the most intuitive possible so that everyone can use it. All you need to do is take a couple of minutes to try it out and you'll see, it's not rocket science!

No, your nephew can't manage your Facebook page for you

Sure he might be able to build a castle in Minecraft or maybe even change the hard-drive in your computer, but does he know anything about your business? Would you trust him to call your biggest client to sell your product? If not, you shouldn't trust him with your Facebook page either.

Yes, you do have time to manage your Facebook page

Everyone says they're busy and don't have the time. To be honest, EVERYONE is always busy. The key is finding the time to do it. You can always watch less TV, post articles  during commercial breaks, on the train/metro/bus, or even take just 2 minutes during your lunch break! You can always find some time.

Yes, you can create good content

Although we're not talking about flawless punctuation... ;) But when we talk about content, have you ever talked about your company or the latest advancements with your team? Made a presentation to some clients? Talked about your work to anyone at anypoint during the day? Yes? All you need to do now is put it in writing and you've got your post!

A blog can be anything you like!

As mentioned earlier, a presentation you've made to some clients can be a blog post. It can also be nothing more than a list of useful links. As long as it's useful information, it's a good article. Even though it's just one paragraph!

Yes, your clients are curious and want to know more about your personal life

We're all curious by nature. And we all have some clients with whom we get along pretty well, not only at work, but in real life as well. Have you ever talked about the Habs last playoff game, your favorite game or your latest bike ride to a client? If so, it shows you they're interested not only in your professional life, but your personal life as well.

Yes, you can do it all by yourself!

It's not complicated. Just start small (E.g.: on Facebook) and build from there! What's important is to have fun and talk about things that would interest you. If your clients see that you're having fun and you're posting good content, you can be sure that they'll listen to what you have to say. Mission accomplished!