Social Media: Do Your Customers Care?

At Ideen, we research and write about small businesses and social media.  So, when we see someone else’s good research on these topics, we like to share it and acknowledge the good work.

Last week, the web site hosting company Endurance released its findings regarding very small businesses’ (VSBs) use of social media.  The bottom line: 90% of VSBs are participating, but don’t have a strategy or clear goals.

Facebook gets the lion’s share of VSB participation at 87%, followed by Twitter at at 53%.  About 50% of VSBs use LinkedIn, while YouTube and Google+ both attract 36%.   The laggards?  Pinterest and Instagram, at about 20%.

One of the reasons VSBs may be less social media savvy is because the person in charge of the online presence is the VSB owner (80% of the time).  VSB postings typically are haphazard, because of resource constraints and the lack of a social media calendar.  When there are just a few employees, social media become “another duty as assigned.”  Who has time to engage?

Now…fast forward to Monday, 23 June…according to findings released in Gallup’s State of the American Consumer report, only 5% of Americans report that social media have “a great deal of influence” on their purchase decisions.  At the other end of the scale, 62% report that it had no influence at all.  The results indicate that consumers are more open to dialogue or conversation – as opposed to advertising and a hard sell – and use social media primarily to connect with friends and family.

For VSBs, the message is clear: pick your social media channels carefully, develop a plan, and invest your time wisely.  Focus your efforts on engaging and discussing, sharing and helping.  Choose social media platforms that are the best fit for your brand.  Focus like a laser and make contributions that are relevant and helpful.  Otherwise, your customers just don’t care.

LinkedIn Maps: Useful or Merely Playful?

 At Ideen, we’ve been examining LinkedIn and assessing its usefulness for different types of people, different sizes of organizations, different types of organizations, and so forth.  Recently, we started playing with LinkedIn Maps.  

We like maps.  They visually tell a story and often are easier and faster to comprehend than words.  What type of personal story does LinkedIn Maps help us to understand?

First, LinkedIn Maps answers the question, “What does my LinkedIn network look like?” LinkedIn’s Chief Scientist explains in a video at the LinkedIn Labs site that each cluster and color represents a “different group within your professional world.”  It is up to you, however, to figure out what these colorful clumps mean.  So, you have to invest some energy into deciphering your own map.

Second, LinkedIn Maps helps you see where you’ve invested personal time and energy linking with folks.  Is your biggest clump centered upon a particular time in your career?  Does it display a large number of connections that are associated to your hobbies or volunteer work?  You may be surprised by what you see.

Third, LinkedIn Maps may help you see where there are gaps.  For example, if you’re looking to make a career move into a different type of organization or career field, it would be beneficial to create a number of links in that area.  Let's say you’re working in strategic communications in a large corporation, but your heart is pulling you toward applying your skills elsewhere, such as a nonprofit.  How strong is your network among nonprofit organizations?  How many connections do you have for the “cause” you seek to support?  How strong are your links to other strategic communicators? 

Fourth, LinkedIn Maps is very, very playful.  The colors are bright, so you get sucked in immediately.  Colleagues’ names pop up that you’ve not thought about in years.  Some of your associates have become the hubs of a discrete universe, perhaps to your surprise.  Set aside time to explore your map, both for the fun of it and for its professional benefits.  It's like GEOINT for your career.