As business owners, we often start with the best intentions and then if we get too busy or it doesn’t seem like a method is working for us, we stop allocating time for that task. But when using social media, that strategy can have negative repercussions.
Case in point: I have been searching for a service that would allow me to sell the video recordings of my past webinars. It had to be inexpensive, easy to use, and able to upload an entire video all at once. I also wanted the result to look like a real online store, attractive and with the ability for me to sell each episode individually as well as in a group series. After trying many different possibilities I found one that I really liked.
But there was a problem. I was having trouble customizing my video store, so I emailed their tech support. Since customers these days expect almost instant replies, I started to get worried when I didn’t hear anything within the first few hours. After all, I’d given them my credit card information and what if they weren’t who they said they were? So I clicked on their blog to see what I could find out. It hadn’t been updated for a long time.
Now I was feeling a little panicky, so I clicked on the link to their Twitter account. There hadn’t been any activity there for months. By now, I was feeling a little sick. Actually, more than a little bit. All because their social media accounts were started and then not kept up to date. At this point, I scribbled an email saying I would cancel my account immediately if I didn’t hear something.
You may be shaking your head by now at how impatient and lacking in trust I was. But that’s exactly how an online buyer responds. They want immediate service, or at least acknowledgement, and they are wary because the Internet is a scary place sometimes.
Anyway, that evening I got two emails back from the company and realized that they were a group of young people working on their online business after their regular work day ended. So my trust was restored, I became an advocate for their company, and I love my new store. I was even able to customize it so that you can’t tell that it isn’t really even on my website.
Moral of the story: Even if you can only update your social media accounts once a week, do so. Don’t start using a social media platform and then abandon it. Sometimes no visibility in an area might be better than a neglected space.
What do you think?
Carol
Update – As much as I loved Mindbites, they were a small company run by students and have since closed. All of the episodes of my ‘Imagine the Online Possibilities’ webinar series are now available on the Udemy platform. Why not see which ones might help you with your online marketing?
