Meet people where they are

When people ask me why I think they should use social media in their marketing my first answer is always, you have to meet people where they’re at.

My background is in print journalism and as much as I mourn the declining nature of the newspaper industry, it doesn’t make it less true that relying solely on traditional media just isn’t working like it used to. The audience for each medium just isn’t enough anymore. Like I mentioned in the last blog post, traditional media are turning to social media so why shouldn’t you?

People are online, that is an undeniable fact. With over 1,000,000,000 people on Facebook and the growing numbers on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, it’s no wonder business owners are taking advantage of this collective audience.

Realistically, if you stuck to traditional media the number of people you would reach would likely be confined within the reach of the newspaper, TV or radio station. With social media, the world is your playground and the more you do the more people you can contact and you control the reach.

Nowadays people confess that their main source of news is social media and a popular saying lately is that Facebook has taken priority over the morning cup of coffee. So you can meet them in the morning, on their lunch breaks, when they get home and before they go to bed, even on their phones when they’re on the go.

Depending on your business, you will have to play with your posting times so you can meet your target audience at the most opportune time. If your audience only uses social media on the weekends or in the evenings than shift your focus and don’t post at noon and expect to get a huge response.

Meeting people where they are is really the first step.  You definitely don’t want your efforts to be wasted so put all your energy towards something that really works.

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