Today there is an ample amount of free social media platforms to choose from when making a marketing decision for your company. Yet the question at large remains which social platform to choose and should only one social media platform serve as the main point of communication and engagement between the business and customer? In my opinion derived from experience with this process, several social media platforms can be used to boost customer engagement as long as their purpose aligns with company goals and reaches the desired audience. The content that needs to be promoted should also be nurtured on the selected platform and fit within the features offered. Therefore it is important for the company to first identify their target audience and become familiar with the social platforms available, as well as the desired features that each platform can perform. This thought process is supported by a 2016 Marketer’s Guide on social platforms for businesses as it claims, “If you want to create a successful social strategy, you need to familiarize yourself with how each network runs, the kinds of audiences you can reach and how your business can best use each platform,” (Helmrich, 2016).
According to the 2016 Marketer’s Guide, the top social media platforms consist of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. With Facebook currently maintaining their position as the largest social network with over 1.55 billion active users, it has been identified as “…a great starting point for your business, regardless of your industry,” (Helmrich, 2016). Although Facebook may be a starting point for a company looking to dive into social media marketing, choosing the right platform however is not a process that should be carried out at random. In order to identify the right platforms to allocate marketing resources and to find where the focus of customer engagement should be, Lake’s List of Social Interaction Metrics/KPIs can be taken into account along with identifying company goals and the brands key audience as previously noted. With Lake’s list of KPIs, (including comments, followers, email subscriptions and direct messaging) a company can decide which of these metrics would best fit the desired functionality for audience interaction and tracking this engagement through the social platform that contains these tools.
Ironically, during my employment with Lindale Independent School District I have implemented all four of the social platforms that the 2016 Marketer’s Guide identifies as the top social media networks. In order to make the marketing decision of which social media platforms would be best used for our school district, the process of choosing the social platform that fit best was similar to the path a larger company or business may take. With a staff of 550, a student population of 4,000 and a community made up of business owners, parents and stakeholders of the school district, the goal after identifying this range of target audience members was then to find the tools and social platforms that met the needs of this audience.
With such a large audience range for our district, I knew that a wide range of social platforms would need to be implemented in order to offer this audience different methods of interaction. With this two-step process in mind, a specific focus then needed to be identified for content output, and what kind of content would be applicable enough for the district to generate engagement. A focus that was then identified for the Lindale ISD was on parent interaction and engagement with student focused content. According to a summary of findings regarding parents and social media, 75% of parents use social media and are more likely to respond to postings and answer questions. (Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, and Lenhart, 2015) Parents also use a variety of social media platforms, and from the Pew Research Center statistics included below it can be seen that Facebook is again not only the biggest social network amongst social users, but amongst parents as well. Pinterest follows next as a distant second, while Instagram and Twitter bring up the lower half. Instagram also proves to be a social network followed by a younger group of parents, “Younger parents (those under 40) also are more likely to use Instagram than older parents, 33% vs. 18%,” (Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, and Lenhart, 2015)
With this data in mind, Lindale ISD has a primary focus on Facebook with over 2,000 followers and daily interactions from parents and community members regarding pertinent school information and student accomplishments. The Lindale ISD Twitter account is also linked to the Facebook account creating unanimous social postings and content output. The Lindale ISD Instagram account is a relatively new account implemented in the last year with a focus on our younger students and gaining followers daily. This social network that allows for the sharing of photos and short video clips is used for generating content pertaining only to Lindale ISD students and not the added school information content. The photos and video clips of our younger students have received thus far much positive reaction from parents and community members alike with the occasional comment. The Pinterest account for the district pertains to staff and parents where the boards created range from classroom décor ideas, to summer learning activities for parents. With this brief overview of Lindale ISD social media platforms and how several networks were chosen for the marketing mix over one platform specifically; it is important to also note that with Facebook as the biggest network, it is also the main point of content promoted conversation for Lindale ISD.
The Facebook social media network has provided a large space for Lindale parents, staff and community members to engage in conversation regarding the output of student-focused content. Statistical data shows that “94% of Facebook-using parents share, post or comment on Facebook (as opposed to simply reading or viewing content), with 70% of parents doing so “frequently” or “sometimes,” (Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, and Lenhart, 2015). In this weeks readings on content vs. conversations, Novak provides support for the phrase that “Content is King” yet also makes the point that conversation is just as valuable. This is a notion that I also strongly agree with, yet even with an excellent output of content, the platform on which the conversation is intended to take place is equally as important, (where is your biggest social target audience?) Lindale ISD has a larger parent audience grouping and focus on the Facebook social platform; therefore we generate more content for this group of social users. Without this outflow of engaging content and without considering where this content should be shared, enduring conversations would not take place, “Content without conversation is just broadcasting, or just advertising,” (Novak, 2010).
Yet content (no matter where the content is shared), cannot just be “content,” there has to be a strategy and a reasonable amount of desired knowledge or interest behind the postings in order to generate this type of social conversation. Taken from a real content post example, Lindale ISD could make a post about the Speech and Debate Team winning the 5A State Championship, with a photo of the student champions. This would result in much social engagement, post likes and post comments ultimately leading to a conversation about the accomplishments and success of the district. Lindale ISD could also hypothetically make a post about the High School’s lunch menu for that day, which from a marketing perspective and knowing the focus of the content output, would not generate a great amount of interest from LISD’s social following.
Therefore content vs. conversation when being taken into the decision making process can simply be narrowed down to ultimately where the content focus and biggest engagement platform is for a particular business. This however factors into the decision making process only after a company’s goals and audience has been identified in order to learn what content is best used, and what platform is this content best shared on in order to promote the desired conversation.
References:
Duggan, M., Ellison, N., Lampe, C., and Lenhart, A., (2015, July 2016) Parents and Social Media. Pew Research Center (Online) Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/07/16/parents-and-social-media/
Helmrich, B. (2016, Jan. 29) Social Media for Business: 2016 Marketers Guide. Business News Daily (Online) Retrieved from: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7832-social-media-for- business.html
Novak, C. (2010, July 27) Why Conversation, not Content, is King. Social Media Today (Online) Retrieved from: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not- c
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