Many philistines believe that they are social media experts. They hear one or two things about social media and assume that they “get it”. It can be a trickier landscape than you would think. On today’s blog, we are going to bust some common social media and general myths WIDE OPEN. Your life may never be the same. It probably will though. I wouldn’t worry.

Customers aren’t on Social Media

“My customers are not on social media”

Boy, oh boy have we heard this one before. As of the third quarter of 2014, Facebook had 1.35 Billion, yes a BILLION monthly active users! Twitters last release of their numbers in 2013 revealed they had 232 million monthly active users (wouldn’t be surprised if that number had doubled by now). Instagram (as of October 2014) had 300 million monthly active users & for all you B2B marketing enthusiasts, LinkedIn revealed they had over 300 million users in over 200 countries and territories back in 2013.

You mean to tell us that amongst those billions of social media users, there aren’t potential clients waiting to be found? Of course there are! With the right strategy implemented and the appropriate amount of time/money invested in to the use of social media you could start to find new customers in a matter of weeks. If that wasn’t the case, the wonderful world of digital marketing & the agencies (like us) that prosper from it wouldn’t be around. Your customers ARE on social media. You may be late to the party, but the party is raging and it is never too late to show up. Ask a family member to drop you around the corner though. It is totally embarrassing getting dropped to the party by a parent.

You can see the Great Wall of China from space

Sorry folks. Next time you are at a dinner party, best leave this fact behind. Just pray that someone else brings it up so you can take them down a notch. I bet Debra will bring it up. Debra thinks she is sooooo smart…..

Debra: “That reminds me of the time I went to see the Great Wall of China. Do you know it can be seen from space?”
You: “Sorry Debra! It can’t! It can actually be only seen from a low earth orbit and not with an unaided eye!”

That will teach her.

I need to be active on every social network

We can all (well most of us) name multiple social media platforms, even people with the most basic knowledge of the digital world; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest… The list goes on. Naming and knowing these wonderful platforms, each wonderful in their own way, doesn’t mean we have to be active on every single one of them. The key to successfully marketing your business online is being specific. Specific in targeting your audience, specific in the content you post & specific with what platforms you plan on using. Of course, this raises the question, how am I supposed to know what platform suits me best If I haven’t tried them all? By all means, create accounts on several platforms & give them a try but don’t commit to all of them. Become a master on the platforms that will benefit you most rather than a novices across all. If you’re still stuck, send us a tweet (@chcdigital) or drop us an email (info@www.chcdigital.com) telling us what your business is and who you’re looking to attract and we’d be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Don’t eat and swim

“Do not go for a swim for an hour after you eat” our parents used to yell. Food does not actually increase the risk of cramps. A full stomach will leave you short on breath however. Who are these people who want to go for a swim after they eat anyway? After a meal, I prefer to wallow in self pity.

I need to choose only one platform

Yes, we said being active on every social media platform is unnecessary and yes we did say that you should be specific. We meant what we said, but lets be more clear. Social media platforms all have the same basic principles, a social space the allows people to easily connect with other social media users easily & interact with them. But then again, we could argue that all foods have the same basic principles, it’s all there to be eaten, right? Lets stay on the topic of food. Protein, helps our body grow and repair itself. LinkedIn, one of the more formal social media platforms, allows us to grow our business network & interact with other professionals. Fibre, it helps us digest our food. Twitter, with its 140 character limit, helps us digest information by making sure it is limited in size. You get the gist. The point we are trying to make is that social media platforms are fundamentally all the same but each have a different purpose & each have different styles. Some will suit you and your business, some won’t. We recommend finding 2 or 3 that suit your business and using them. Although it may not sound very ‘specific’, it is when finding those 2 or 3 platforms amongst 10’s of others.

Bulls hate the colour red

Bulls are actually colour blind. Bulls are merely reacting to the movements of the bull fighter as an interpreted threat. So, the bull does not hate the red, he hates you waving that annoying piece of cloth in his face.

You don’t have to hashtag everything

If you hadn’t already noticed, we’re food lovers here at CHC and you guessed it. We are going to bust this 4th and final social media myth in a food related style. We’ve all been guilty of overindulgence in the past and will most likely be guilty of it again in the future. We, as food lovers know all too well, the challenge is knowing when to stop. Overindulging in your food is very similar to the overuse of hashtags. It is great to have a small amount of keyword hashtags when posting on platforms like Instagram & Twitter; It can help you tap in to a wider audience/conversations that are relevant to your content and most importantly, you and your business. Great! Then people start to get carried away, they can’t just stop at 3 pieces of cake. They have four, then five and before they know it the enjoyment of eating such tasty food has disappeared and already forgotten. All they can concentrate on is hoping that the nauseous feeling will pass much sooner than it did the last time they overindulged & ensuring they definitely don’t eat anymore food. Unfortunately, when people over do-it with their hashtags, they don’t have their stomach forcing them to stop. That’s why we’re here to tell you! In a typical post it’s best to limit yourself to a maximum of three hashtags and if they can be included in the caption, as opposed to after, that’s great too! Including them in the caption isn’t crucial, we just think it looks much better to do it that way. By limiting yourself to 3 hashtags you’re ensuring that they are relevant, capable of tapping into a larger audience and aren’t being overused. As for the overindulging on that cake, we can’t help you on that but next time it happens, send us a tweet & include 3 relevant hashtags. It’ll pass the time!

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Snapchat is yet another great way to ensure your business is ‘in tune’ with your target market. The use of it can allow you to go to them and allow them to see your content in a way that suits them. Not the other way round. One of the main benefits of social media is being able to go to the customer. It’s much easier to showcase your business to someone in an environment they’re comfortable with and an environment where they don’t have to do anything to see your content. People will be checking their social media platforms and be active on them with or without your brand’s’ presence, this means that by building a presence and coming to them, you make life easier for them. It takes the consumer less time to look at your social than it does for them to look at your website… you get the gist.

We thought it’d be a good idea to show you how brands are using snapchat as opposed to just telling you so here we go… 5 brands that are using Snapchat, enjoy!

McDonald’s

McDonald’s, one of the biggest if not THE biggest fast food chain on the planet, have embraced Snapchat and clearly understand its value. They’ve been using the platform to broadcast behind the scenes footage and give their customers an insight in to life behind closed doors. No, when we say behind the scenes, we are not referring to pictures of them cooking their cheeseburgers and frying their chips. They’ve used it to post pictures and videos of well known celebrities and behind the scene snaps of their adverts being filmed using the ‘stories’ function of Snapchat. Snapchat allows you to show an image for 10 seconds. Ironically the same amount of time that it takes me to inhale a McDonald’s meal.

MTV (UK)

MTV used Snapchat to promote the new series of Geordie Shore (The British version of the US hit Jersey Shore). They, like most of the large brands on Snapchat, used the ‘stories’ function to post pictures of the cast before the show premiered & remind their audience to tune in. Geordie Shore makes me sad. I hope it ends soon.

Heineken

Heineken went one step further than most other brands, they used Snapchat to make one on one interactions with their customers and rewarded them with exclusive content. They launched a competition, exclusive to their Snapchat, called ‘SnapWho?’. People who correctly guessed the artist were given early confirmation of an act scheduled for the Heineken House stage. This made the brand more personable and rewarded customers for their interaction. A great way to generate positive conversations about your brand and remind people how tasty your beer is! How many times have we received a text message from a friend suggesting a beer which awakens the thirst?

Michael Kors

The fact that Michael Kors is popular amongst young girls is well documented and makes Snapchat a perfect place for them to be marketing their brand. Snapchat’s main age demographic is between 13 & 23. This makes Snapchat the perfect place for Michael Kors to be interacting with their fan base, that is exactly what they’ve done. MK have already accumulated over 25 million followers across multiple platforms so it was no surprise that their Snapchatting was a hit. Yes, numbers are great, but with a large audience comes a large amount of pressure for them to succeed. They did exactly that. They executed the launch of their snapchat excellently, right down to the timing. They announced their account just hours after their London fashion week show, meaning they capitalised on the conversations surrounding their brands and translated them into numbers. They then posted behind the scenes shots of the fashion show and made users feel like they were getting an exclusive insight in to the world of Michael Kors. An excellent example of a brand recognising their target market, what platform their target market are most active on and capitalising on it.

GrubHub

GrubHub used the story feature to post a series of tasty photos that act as a trail, leading to promo codes for their online takeaway service. Making this exclusive to Snapchat allows the brand to do two things. They are able to monitor how successful their marketing is on Snapchat and incentivise customers/potential customers to add them on Snapchat so they can access exclusive promo codes. Not only are the promo codes encouraging people to interact with them via Snapchat, it incentivises customers to purchase from them too. Snapchat removes your ‘story’ every 24 hours, this means users would be aware that the promo code would only last a certain amount of time, an excellent strategy when looking to increase sales over a short period of time.

Rewarding customers for interacting positively with your brand seems to be the common feature throughout. Whether it be financially, with exclusive content or by giving them an insight in to your business. Snapchat is proving to be a dark horse in the world of digital marketing and the brands we have listed are proving that it can be very effective when used properly. Depending on your target market, Snapchat could be a hugely beneficial platform for your brand.

Be sure to get in touch! with us if you want to take your business to the next level!

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