The true power of social media still befuddles many, and it’s a real shame

This is a spur of the moment post brought on by a recent social media “strategy” that was pointed out to me through some friends. I won’t go into too much detail, but if you head over to the Atlantic Station Facebook page you will see what I am talking about. Check out the last few posts and you’ll see that many of them don’t really…make sense. At all. Atlanta Station, if you don’t know, is a shopping center. Their overarching strategy appears to be to get people to shop weekend deals and click other links promoting events and updates about the area. There is nothing wrong with this. The problem is content. Here’s a winner (to the right) that I personally enjoy:

A few problems with the post I see:

• The photo has no relevancy to what the post is about. There is no relation between the copy and the photo in any way.
• The photo is unbelievably fake and just wrong. Facebook will not be closing any of those days because (at least this year) none of those days exist.
• The link in the copy is promoting WKND (sorry, weekend) deals for the week this was posted, not the end of February…the timing is off.

Along with a handful of other posts on their page, one thing remains clear on the Atlantic Station page: they do not care how they get clicks, or what the content in their posts is…as long as they get views/clicks/likes/etc. And that’s where they, along with so many others, fail to see the true power in social media.

Social media, in the beginning, was all about who could get the most fans/likes/comments/followers/mentions/etc. Everything was measured quantitatively, with the engagement being measured by those numbers. But a truly successful content strategy doesn’t focus on those numbers [as much]. Instead, they focus on the actual engagement of your followers and fans.

If you can readily answer questions like the following, you are in tune to what you need to succeed in the social space:

- What are your fans saying about your brand on a daily basis, can you give examples?

- What types of conversations with your fans have you had recently?

- What is your brand voice and tone? If your brand was a person, how would you describe him/her?

- For brands you love, what do you want from them on social media? Do the brands you control in social satisfy the fans who love them?

The magic of social media is the relationship you build with those who love you. It’s said over and over again, but it can never be said enough: It is SO much more powerful to have a group of 1,000 brand advocates who promote your brand and stay loyal to you because of your efforts on social, than it is to have 100,000 “consumers” who came to your page to get a discount or free product if they liked it.

Stay true to your fans and, in turn, they will become true fans to you.

That’s what excites me about social media. The ability to connect with people all over the world as a brand, and create relationships that most forms of marketing aren’t capable of. Work psychologically, put yourself in the customer’s shoes, and embrace what they feel. Let them dictate your strategy (to a degree), and help you become successful. After all, they are they ones you are marketing to. If you embrace them, they will embrace you.

Unfortunately, some brands (including the example above) don’t seem to fully understand this yet. Hopefully this will change.