Have you noticed?
There's a new trend emerging on the social media front, one we can sum it up in one word: Streamlined.
From consultants to conglomerates, businesses of all sizes are opting to consolidate, simplify and rein in their social media reach. I'm seeing it in every sector, and it's particularly prevalent among micro, small and medium-sized businesses.
Briefly, the essence of the new strategy is:
- Emphasize the website as the business center.
- Use targeted, quality content to revive neglected business blogs.
- Radically reduce the number of social media venues.
On average, the typical business appears to have slashed the number of social media outlets from a high of six or seven to a more manageable list of two or three. Why?
The first goal, according to one owner, is to refocus on their core business and customers. Juggling an ever-growing list of social media venues fragmented their focus, splintered marketing strategies, created endless churn, and produced disappointing results compared to the cost and effort involved. They were attracting traffic and attention rather than customers and clients.
Equally important is the desire to improve and centralize communications. The social media scattergram approach was inadvertently driving people away from rather than toward their websites, and leading to very public missteps, contradictions, dropped balls and promises that couldn't be kept.
As a result of these endless distractions, the business and bottom line suffered.
Instead of producing and planning, they were tweeting and facebooking. Instead of nurturing relationships, they were pursuing fleeting digital friends. They were "liked," but not selling.
Their eyes were so glued to the small screen, they'd lost sight of the big picture.
This is a development worth watching. It signals a new level of online maturity and a recognition that by trying to be all things to all people, many businesses lost sight of the essentials, something they're striving to rediscover.
