This article is a casual commentary on the mistakes that social media professionals, agencies and therein, clients are making that has dented the efficiency, impact & productivity of social media... particularly in India.
Unhealthy Competition
One of the biggest drivers of this deterioration is the sudden boom and popularity of social media. What this boom has resulted in is the rapid burst of social media agencies and digital companies cropping up. Although growth in industry players catering to the demand is welcome, unplanned infusion of capacity has impacted the quality of the services rendered by a majority of the new players.
This unhealthy competition in a cluttered marketplace has lead to only reducing the returns for agencies. The dearth of talent and experience combined has, in fact, reduced the efficacy of social media, which in turn has wrought bleakness on its effectiveness as a whole that jeopardizes the entire industry going forward.
Reduced Quality & Mundane Creativity
This has thereby led to the quality of social media content, be it images, videos, copies, being reduced due to a variety of reasons. One of them has been that social media agencies just can’t afford to put in the resources or the time to maximize the platform that various social media players like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat etc., allow us. Social media demands a level of expertise and strategic planning to execute a tangible campaign that harnesses the true possibilities. Otherwise, social media is just another vehicle that remains unfulfilled and underappreciated.
Majority of the content that we see on social media are just repetitions. Once we see a post doing well by one for a particular page, we are sure to see them being redone by almost everyone else, which after some time becomes cumbersome to the bane of social media itself. Although customer benchmarking is needed, and being inspired for good work is encouraged, no one comes to social media to see the same thing over and over again with different colors and icons. Today social media is being blamed, particularly some over the others, for being boring and irrelevant, for which we are all responsible to some extent.
Ignoring The ‘Social’ In Social Media
What most of us seem to have forgotten is that social media has always had the answer in its name itself. It has always the social part that has drawn us to social media. It’s the relationship that is formed on social media that has attracted us to it and continues to entice us to log back in every time. It is this aspect that we seem to have neglected which has resulted in us deviating from the most efficacious part of social media.
Social media experts and agencies seem to have fallen to the trap of looking at posts as advertisements and not communication that makes the interaction more social and less preachy. The communication has been rendered somewhat robotic, with the emphasis being more on making sure a particular post has to be scheduled at a particular time, rather than ensuring that every post needs to be meaningful. It is our responsibility to add to the overall experience of the visitor and make them feel that the time they have been kind enough to invest with us has been worthwhile... as that is the true success of social media.
Squeeze On Value & Innovation
Also, some earnings has been squeezed to such as extent that it allows little room for creative experimentation and innovative application of social media content. Winning a client has taken preference over not just providing what the client wants but also ensuring that we give is what they need to thrive. So allowing some leeway for these much-needed experiments could well prove the difference between the prospering and the mundane.
Balancing Marketing, Creativity & Engagement
Another important part that should not be overlooked is the financial wellbeing of the client. Although maintaining a creative and engaging presence is vital, the financial aspect of the association needs to be catered to too, particularly when the client has desired it. This is where finding a balance between relationship-building, engagement and offering an attractive proposition that allows for engagement to take place, that enables leads or conversion, is very important, and that is the marketing side of social media that can never be sidelined. This goes back to my first point where expertise, experience, and skill are of prime importance for agencies, without which a balance cannot be struck and results in detrimental outcomes.A good social media campaign gives us interaction, engagement, conversion, leads, customer loyalty, brand recall, and perhaps most importantly – relationships that transcends barriers and ensures a long-term thriving association.
