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Social Media Lite – why less isn’t always more?

It was a trend we started seeing towards the 2nd half of 2011 and something that sadly seems to be on the rise in early 2012 – the onslaught of the Social Media Lite packages farmed out by new companies who either A) Don’t understand Social Media or B) Fully understand Social Media but hope that you don’t

So what is social media lite?
It comes in many forms (bronze, beginners, lite, starters are often common terms used) and is often designed around a 3 package system.

Traditionally the lite package will offer 2 or 3 tweets a week for a low cost monthly retainer and often appeals to those who are sceptical about social media but feel the cost alone is worth a punt

And…
There’s several problems with this and the main one is that Social Media can’t be put into a handy pre-made package.

The clue often is in the name and the Social aspect of social media implies interaction, engagement, building and strengthening relationships of which broadcasting 3 times a week is simply not enough

Engagement is key and what these lite package often avoid talking about is the point when a tweet starts a conversation. What happens then? Do they ignore and lose a potential customer? Do they interact and go over their 2-3 tweets a week allowance?

You only get out what you put in – so if you put a little in you only get a little out

What’s the offline equivalent of Social Media Lite?
Many of you will go to Networking Meetings and realise the importance of Meet > Like > Know > Trust

It’s that building up of a relationship through time and online you can build up a relationship that blossoms and develops and often goes offline

So back to the original question Social Media Lite is the equivalent of going to a handful of networking meetings, broadcasting your sales pitch at people, but never listening or interacting.

And we all know that technique is so so successful – doh!!!

So what should you look for in a Social Media Manager?
As you can see from the above – a true commitment to the understanding of Social Media and a belief that it can’t be packaged into an easy bite size package

When Altrincham HQ sits down with both training or managed clients we talk about their business, their goals for Social Media and build a strategy around that

Each business is different and while some may require simply 9-5 Monday to Friday, other businesses peak social time is often at weekends or late at night.

We also discuss the interaction and how we handle specific incoming enquiries and make sure the client has the tools and know to respond if it’s a question ourselves as an outsourced service simply can’t answer – often it’s as simple as is XYZ in stock which only those on site can answer

And finally we discuss how we are going to monitor the return on Social Media and what mechanisms we put in place to do so

So before you consider an lite package look at what we can offer on our full Social Media Management package here

LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW….

Tell us about your thoughts on Social Media Lite packages
Have you ever used one and what were the results?
What do you expect from a Social Media Manager or Trainer?

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Alex McCann

Author Alex McCann

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