“Which social network is best for business?” When I was asked this question last week, I was stumped. Not because a plethora of possibilities rushed to mind, but because this is the wrong question for a business to be asking, and it took me a moment to work out where to begin explaining that.
This question isn’t uncommon, though. Along with queries like, “How can I use Facebook for business?”, it reflects the growing desire of businesses to rectify past false starts with social media, and harness the possibilities they offer for branding and promotion.
What Business Assumes About Social Media
The question “Which social network is best for business?” assumes a lot of points about social networking, including:
- that every business must use social networking tools
- that there is a single social network that will allow a business to reach the largest possible number of audience members
- that any business’s social networking requirements can be met by a single social network
And that’s just for starters! To me, it also seems to imply that the business wants to tick the social networking box without actually committing to the realities of the medium, or its potential outcomes.
In Your Case…
The organization I was working with is a business-to-business industrial component supplier. Some time ago it established a Facebook page, but these days, not much happens on that page, and the team has realized it’s not sure how the company can use Facebook for business.
This company isn’t unique: many businesses set up Facebook pages when everyone was jumping on board to see what all the hype was about, and/or be part of the much-hyped “social networking revolution”. Yet they didn’t know what to do with those pages in the longer term, and now the pages languish, unattended, across Facebook. Of course, the same applies to other social networks.
To me, off the bat, the concepts of Facebook and an industrial component supply business didn’t really seem that complementary. And the more I thought about it, the more I found myself asking if the business of selling to industrial clients is suited to promotion or brand building via web-based social networks.
The Costs of Social Media
It seems hard for many who work in social media to believe, but social networking is not for everyone. It should be a conscious choice, not an obligation. Yes, your organization can get a free account on most social networks, but that is not a reason to use social media, nor does it mean that social networking is free.
Like any other branding and promotions tool, social media costs businesses in terms of strategy, execution, maintenance and review time. An ill-thought-out approach to social media can cost an organization valuable reputation and credibility, as well as precious promotional budget and team labor.
Step 1: Set a Social Media Strategy
In the case of the business I’m working with, there may be opportunities for promotion and engagement via social media channels, but they’re not particularly obvious or clear-cut. If this organization decides to use social networking tools, a well-researched, well-planned strategy will be needed to ensure the efforts stay on track and produce measurable outcomes that can be assessed with the rest of the promotional mix.
The fact that the business has a legacy Facebook page, visited mostly by its own staff, shouldn’t restrict or direct future strategy. There is no “best” social network for business. This organization’s strategy should depend on the company’s audiences and resources, and its ability to match these to social networking tools. But the business’s success will depend on its ability to implement that strategy and evolve it over time.
If an assessment of these considerations shows that the company doesn’t have the wherewithal to implement a social networking strategy now, I’d recommend they hold off. A review of the situation in six months’ time may well find them in a better position to make the most of social networking in a clear, strategic and successful way.
How important do you feel strategy is for businesses that want to use social media? What advice do you have for businesses that are inexperienced in this area?
Photo by stock.xchng user Patti
Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Social Media in the Enterprise
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