Do You Understand How To Use Social Media Properly?

Do You Understand How To Use Social Media Properly?

Today I’m going to be discussing one of my personal pet peeves when it comes to small business marketing. It’s so vile it makes me want to tear my eyes out of their sockets every time I see it. So what is it that repulses me more than anything else in the small business marketing world?

It’s when businesses that have no idea how to market themselves jump on the “whatever marketing thingy is popular right now” bandwagon without stopping to think, “Is this marketing thingy a good fit for my business?”  In this particular case, the marketing thingy is Social Media, a simple marketing medium that often mesmerizes business owners with its newness yet leaves them completely baffled on how it should be utilized by their business. Ooooooo so shinny!

So what I am talking about? Well, I’m getting to that. While walking down the Las Vegas strip last year, I noticed that some of the big daddy hotels along the strip had their Facebook and Twitter information posted underneath their signs or on poster size flyers in certain areas of the hotel (yeah, not so much in the casino areas – guess they don’t want you on your phone when you should be gambling). Smart. Anyways, each hotel was making it easy for people to like the hotel or mention it using social media. You know something along the lines of:

“I’m in Vegas partying the night away at Tryst nightclub. It’s in the Wynn and I’m winning!”

“Just met my future wife at the Bellagio bar. It’s going to be a magical Vegas wedding!!!”

“The pillows at the Venetian must be made of angel feathers because they are heavenly soft.”

“If you have not seen the Cirque Sol Lei show O, it’s crazy good!”

“Just won $500 playing Blackjack in Ceasar’s Palace. Feeling great.”

I’m sure the signs these hotels posted were there for more than just getting a quick “Like” on Facebook. They were there to remind people to share what they were doing with their friends using social media and in the process to also mention the awesome experiences they were having at these hotels.

Just one person mentioning a great experience to his Facebook friends or Twitter followers could lead a few of them to come to Vegas for that same experience. I mean how many times have you wanted to go on vacation to a specific location because you saw a friend post pictures of his trip on Facebook? I know I’m NOT the only one!

Getting back to my point, while walking around at one point I noticed that I had wandered out into no man’s land (Las Vegas the city). About a mile from the strip, I saw a dinky old hotel (I won’t mention its name because I don’t know who owns it and I really don’t want the mob after me). Anyways, underneath its sign the hotel listed its Facebook and Twitter information. This rinky dinky hotel out in the middle of nowhere! Are you freaking kidding me?!?

The owner of this hotel obviously didn’t get how social media could be used to help or in this case “hurt” his business. He was taking a “Me too! Me toooooo! Look, I have the Facebook and the Twitter!” approach to marketing his business. His feeble attempt made me imagine one of those funny cat pics you often see online. And then my imagination created the image below.

This particular hotel owner didn’t understand that Facebook and Twitter are mainly communication tools. They can be used to market a business as well, but that’s more of a byproduct of the communication. And that got me thinking, “What would people say about this particular hotel?”

Did the hotel owner want people to talk about how unkempt the hotel was? Did he want them to mention the dirt and leaves in the swimming pool? Did he want hotel guests to discuss the unvacuumed carpets and bad lighting?

I’m sure he never stopped to think about it. He probably saw what the “big guys” were doing and decided he would do it too. But he never stopped to consider the consequences – that people might actually share their dreadful impressions of his hotel. Ouch!

I’ll end today’s article by asking you not to be like the hotel owner. Instead, every time a “new marketing thingy” appears, ask yourself how it applies to your business. Take a few minutes and really think about it. Keep in mind that the “marketing thingy” is always changing, so don’t just look at it in terms of the social media example above. The “marketing thingy” could be anything. No matter what it is next month, year, or decade – ask yourself, “Does this new thing genuinely have a place in my business or am I just jumping on the bandwagon?”