When Everywhere Means Nowhere

Social media planning comes with a lot of questions, and one of those questions often is, “Are we present on enough platforms in the social space?” There’s Twitter, Facebook and others, but now, Pinterest and Tumblr are gaining attention.

There are a lot of tools out there. Some might help your brand. Others probably won’t, but that’s why setting strategy with goals and objectives is so important. It will be your go-to guide when it’s platform decision time.

It’s vital to maintain that level of focus.

Everywhere Can Mean Nowhere

When hearing about the growing popularity of Tumblr or the referral traffic potential of Pinterest or even after seeing a competitor take off with a Facebook Page, it can be difficult to stay focused. Instead, brands can find themselves feeling that they need to present on every platform out there, but that’s not the answer.

Time, money and resources are limited, and every platform must be evaluated through that filter. Maybe referral traffic from Pinterest is really important, but it might be less resource intensive to incorporate more tactics that will drive referral traffic in on an already established platform like a Facebook Page.

New platforms don’t come with new resources, and without the people, processes and tools in place to support them, brands can find themselves with such a light presence on multiple platforms that they’re not being effective anywhere.

Evaluate and Re-evaluate

Social media isn’t stagnant. Brands should always be evaluating their current efforts, thinking about additional opportunities and identifying if what they’re doing is as effective as it once was or could be more effective.

It comes down to a few key questions.

First, what budget, time and resources can be devoted? If there’s just enough for a small number of platforms (or even one), that’s fine. Invest in them to their fullest, measure and prove their value to earn additional investment for more.

Second, follow the customer or prospect. Don’t jump on a tool because it’s new and grabbing headlines. Jump on it because your audience is.

Third, think about the story your brand has to tell and how consumers interact with it. Some platforms are better than others, depending on the brand and the content it has to share. The type of media has a big impact. More visual brands might look to a more niche platform like Instagram (pending the qualifications above, of course), while brands that connect with customers through thought leadership might look at corporate blogging as a potential outlet.

There isn’t a magic formula. Some brands can and should be present across multiple platforms, but brands shouldn’t try this unless they have the infrastructure in place to maximize each of the platforms’ potential. Social media marketing is an investment of much more than money. It takes a lot of time, too. Invest where it matters.

Brave Ad World - Episode 60

Another week, another podcast, and this week's episode is full of some big developments for marketers, including the rollout of Twitter's self-serve ad platform and Timeline coming to brand Facebook Pages.

This week’s headlines: Social TV Momentum Continues, Zynga Reports Stable Financial Earnings, Twitter Not Ready for an IPO in the Near Future, Twitter Rolling Out Self-Serve Ad Platform to 10,000 Businesses and Facebook Timeline Coming Soon to Brand Pages.

The week’s news quick hits cover: Facebook for Windows Mobile Gets an Update, Apple Lowers the Cost for iAds Again, Twitter Admits that It Too Uploads Your Phone Contacts, Facebook Introduces Verified Accounts Program, New Open Graph Apps Come to Facebook, Mac OSX Mountain Lion Resembles iOS with Twitter Integration and More, Yelp’s IPO Scheduled for March 2 and Groupon Announces VIP Program.

Check it out on iTunes, or visit the podcast section to get a link and add it to your preferred podcast player.

Let us know what you think. Leave a review, find us on Twitter or send us an email to braveadworld [at] gmail [dot] com.

Marketing Without the Platform

Imagine Facebook, Twitter and all social channels have disappeared. Poof. They’re gone. That mindset would go a long ways in helping marketers develop social media strategies that achieve objectives that move the business forward.

Social Media Marketing Is About Action

Social media marketing isn’t about media at all. It’s about behavior—either amplifying it, encouraging it or making it spread. The reason marketers use social media platforms for marketers should be driven by the desire to influence consumer behavior in one direction or another.

That behavior might be sharing a brand or service with a colleague, discovering your brand’s content over someone else’s, contributing thoughts or ideas to make the business better and so on. All of these behaviors exist in the offline world. Social media’s potential is amplifying the reach these behaviors can have and the speed in which they reach others.

A Facebook Liker means nothing. Another follower on Twitter is worth $0.00. One more YouTube view does nothing for the business. It’s the behavior that these channels can drive that has business benefits.

Don’t Be Driven by Platforms

A social media marketer’s job isn’t to establish a brand’s presence across multiple online properties. Anyone can do that. The job of social media marketing is the same as any other marketing channel—affect consumer behavior. Our job is to tell the brand’s story to the people who will care about it through the right channels. Platforms don’t affect behavior.