Aimee Savran and I are back with part 2 of our Debunking 3 Marketing Myths series! Today we will be debunking 3 social media marketing myths.
- Myth 1: You need to be active on all of the social media platforms.
- Myth 2: Organic social is only for the top of the funnel / awareness.
- Myth 3: The corporate social media brand is more important than your employees’ personal brands.
Read on to learn Aimee and my perspectives on these myths! Missed part 1? Check it out here.
Myth 1: You need to be active on all of the social media platforms.
Truth according to Aimee: Back in the early 2000s, there were not many popular social media platforms to choose from. Now, there are various options and many people with a smartphone have an account on every single one. From Instagram to LinkedIn to YouTube, it’s hard to determine where your “target audience” spends their time because of what I just mentioned: many people have an account on multiple platforms. As a result, you need to take the conversation one layer deeper. Ask yourself: “When I go to [insert social media platform], what is my intention for going there?” While Instagram might be fun for quick reels, LinkedIn is known for professional connection and education.
As you can see, both platforms are considered social media, but they each have a brand of their own based on the content audiences (mainly) want to consume there. Now think of your own company. Based on the type of content you want to share with the world (accounting for both substance and brand/tone), which few platforms make sense to start with? It’s better to build a loyal, strong following on just a few platforms rather than disengaged audiences across multiple. Focus on a few social media platforms you’re interested in, and build those up. Then, branch out once you’ve built a trusted following and your follower base cares about following you wherever you go.
Truth according to Elena: In our last post, Aimee and I discussed the importance of quality over quantity in marketing. This also applies to your brand’s social media presence! It takes time, budget, and human resources to manage social media accounts, develop content that is optimized for the platform/audience, post consistently, and do community management. Focus on doing this well for 1-2 platforms before expanding. Focus on the platforms where your audience is already active and that you have or can easily create new content for.
Above, Aimee encourages marketers to consider why people log in to different social media accounts. I also recommend considering the frequency at which people log in. When I had an executive who was hesitant about using Facebook for B2B marketing, I asked her how often she logs into Facebook vs. LinkedIn. She said she logs into LinkedIn a few times a month and logs into Facebook at least once a day. While Facebook may not be the first place that comes to your mind when you think of B2B marketing channels, I have been able to achieve a lot of success there!
Myth 2: Organic social is only for the top of the funnel / awareness.
Truth according to Aimee: Organic social is about free education, and education happens at all stages of the funnel. If what you’re sharing on your organic social media accounts is meant to educate your followers on different aspects of your industry, then you can go as low down in the funnel as you’d like. People follow people and brands on social media to learn about the industry, but also about that particular company they chose to engage with.
You have to remember that with organic social, it’s best to assume that someone knows nothing about you. Then, you have to assume that even once they know more about you, the chances they remember everything you’re teaching them or that your company provides is very slim. What I always remind myself is that no one knows my company better than me. When I think about that, crafting content for organic social becomes easier because I think about the value I need to convey using this free distribution channel. For example, if your company offers a free demo or assessment of some kind, how would someone know about it unless you post about it on your social media account? The angle isn’t about selling, it’s about informing someone (think: educating them) what value you provide them that maybe they otherwise would not have known about. Don’t be afraid to go lower down the funnel and test what your followers resonate with.
Truth according to Elena: Organic social is great for amplifying thought leadership, community building, and raising the share of voice of your brand. This may be controversial, but I truly believe that organic social can also be a successful lead generation tactic. Your followers have already indicated that they want to hear from your brand by following your page. Give them a variety of content types to engage with!
When I was managing the global social team at VMware, we were able to drive over 30% of the registrations for webinars from organic social! I’ve also had success driving form fills to access ebooks and reports, and even trial and demo sign-ups via organic social. However, the content works best if it is optimized for organic. Don’t simply post your paid ads organically. Have your webinar presenter record a short promo video about what the audience will learn in the webinar that you can post on both the presenter’s social pages as well as your brand’s pages. You can also have a subject matter expert create a short video to promote an ebook or report to explain what readers will learn! This is a great segue into the next myth…
Myth 3: The corporate social media brand is more important than the employees’ personal brands.
Truth according to Aimee: People trust people, they don’t trust faceless groups. While following a company’s corporate account allows followers to learn about a certain industry or the company’s specific offerings, following a person means you get to learn straight from an expert. With how much of our lives are online nowadays paired with the fact that many brands have similar messaging (based on industry of course), finding real experts on social media to talk about the topics that interest you is a golden opportunity. As people, even if we’re not an expert ourselves in something, we can often tell who is versus who pretends to be. It’s harder to do that when you’re just looking at a faceless company account than when you find a real person online talking about their experiences, solutions, and ideas.
Truth according to Elena: It is important to have a solid and consistent strategy for your company page. However, don’t underestimate the power of you employee’s personal brands! Microsoft has 22 million followers on LinkedIn and Bill Gates has 35 million followers. According to LinkedIn, thought leader ads (employee posts that you can amplify with ad spend) garner a 1.7x higher engagement rate and a 23% higher dwell time than ads from a company page. People trust other people more than they trust brands. Here are some points to consider:
- I’ve seen significantly better open rates when sending LinkedIn Message Ads and Conversation Ads from an individual vs. from the company page.
- I’ve seen more sign-ups for webinar posts on Reddit when an influencer posts about the event vs. posts from the brand.
- Your own employees can help spread your marketing messages through to their own social media followers! Invest in building an employee advocacy program so that your people can help market your offers. Word of mouth marketing comes off as more authentic and trustworthy.
- It is also worth considering working with external thought leaders and industry experts/influencers to promote your brand. Tap into your power users and top customers. Think win/win.
Stay tuned for Part 3: Debunking 3 Content Marketing Myths, which is coming soon!
