Businesses miss crucial link in rush to use social media

Businesses miss crucial link in rush to use social media platforms

Many businesses are rushing so fast to get “social” with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest or LinkedIn that they’re ultimately setting themselves up for failure or wasting their efforts. So says HaloBiz’s General Manager, Julie South.

“Social network accounts are free to set up and therein is the first trap” says South. “Business owners mistakenly believe all they need is a Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, G+ or Pinterest account to get online and have social presence that’ll get the phone ringing”.

Because social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, G+ and LinkedIn are free to set up, anyone with an email address and access to the internet can open an account. South understands most people probably know someone who’s had a website built that’s gone over budget, over time and then failed to deliver; it’s therefore no wonder the I-don’t-need-a-website-to-get-my-business-online attitude exists.

The harsh truth, however, is with free social platforms the business doesn’t have any legal claim to the assets (eg, ‘likes’) on a site. If a Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest or G+ account were to be shut down all the investment in that platform by the business would be wasted with no recourse for compensation. All ‘likes’ on a Facebook page belong to Facebook - not the business.

The last thing any business needs is to have its (perhaps only) social platform shutdown because of a breach. “Sadly, some kiwi businesses think it doesn’t happen in little ole New Zealand because we’re too small for a giant like Facebook to worry about” says South. “They fail to realise is all it takes is a pissed off competitor with a bit more Facebook knowledge to hit ‘report this page’. Hell’s Pizza knows what it feels like to turn up to work one morning and discover its Facebook page shut down. It does happen in New Zealand”

Every social media platform must first be leveraged from a website that’s positioned to maximise every social update. Merely having a website isn’t enough, which is why South of HaloBiz was invited to join forces with 10X Hamilton’s Jennifer Myers and create the One-Byte-At-A-Time online/offline marketing workshop.

Myers contracted HaloBiz because she wanted to ensure everything 10X Hamilton did online and socially was positioned for maximum impact and asset-creation. “I thought it was just a matter of setting up say, a YouTube channel and that was that” says Myers. She soon realised many of 10X Hamilton’s clients, and businesses owners generally, ran the very real risk of wasting time and money with their current online efforts.

The One-Byte-At-A-Time workshop is spread over two Friday mornings. All workshop participants are guaranteed their website will be worth more to their business at the end of the workshop than it was when they started. Attendees will learn how to position their website so that if a horror event like a Facebook or YouTube shutdown occurred it would be a mere blip on a business’s radar, not a full blown catastrophe.

Click here to find out more about the HaloBiz / 10X Hamilton One-Byte-At-A-Time workshop

ENDS

© Scoop Media