What is business social media grief?
Business social media in some organizations come with a few challenges and obstacles. However, few challenges are met when the business has the knowledge and experience to design a well-thought-out, competitive social media marketing strategy. This also includes a content marketing strategy that focuses on the brand and its story.
But, this scenario is not the norm for many companies. Most organizations do not have a structured marketing team, communications department, or public relations personnel. If they do, the team may be built in a way that doesn’t come with enough time or experience to develop, produce and manage your business’s social media.
This results in companies dealing with ‘business social media grief.’ Companies go through these stages when they decide to take on business social media with the staff they have on hand. At some point, almost all companies will go through all five of these stages.
Stage One: Business Social Media Denial
Think about your brand that has gained customer loyalty from old-fashioned ways such as word of mouth and television commercials. Before social media became a household name, social media marketing wasn’t a priority with your staff. Maybe your company thought it was a fad that would disappear.
But, social media marketing did not disappear. It has gotten bigger. Other brands have developed a social media following. Not having a business social media has become a public relations problem for your company. Without having a social media presence and community, new consumers will more than likely assume your competitors are the top-market leaders because of their business social media and online presence.
When you decide to build a social media brand and create a new marketing initiative for your company, you may think the problem will solve itself. But, your company just moves to the next stage of grief: frustration.
Stage Two: Business Social Media Frustration
Even though you have gotten over the first hurdle and created a social media presence, the success that comes with it takes time. If a strong presence develops overnight, it is likely not a credible social media following.
Many companies expect that the results are immediate once you create a business social media account. This mindset is because of years of quick and traditional marketing campaigns that result in a surge in sales and brand awareness. But, this is more often than not short-lived. Building a solid social media presence can result in longevity in brand awareness.
The company’s leaders become impatient when waiting for results, which can turn into frustration. They ask ‘why?’ Why aren’t we getting more likes, comments, and shares? Why doesn’t our page look like our competitors? And so on.
The problem isn’t about the content being good enough. Instead, it is about expecting business social media to show instant results.
Once the leadership team realizes that the staff on hand may not have the experience needed to run business social media, the next stage comes into play: business social media bargaining.
Stage Three: Business Social Media Bargaining
You start posting listings for a social media manager position after your business sees some results but not the expected results.
The problem with this is that many candidates will claim they know social media marketing. After interviewing candidates of all ages and backgrounds, the leadership and HR team move forward with a qualified candidate.
The first difference that shows is the consistency and quality of your company’s social media posts and content. The consistency will most likely satisfy leadership for an extended period. But, they expect a level of quality in the content that represents the brand. They want a return on investments and expect the social media manager to deliver on that.
Why are the competitors creating higher quality content and visuals, such as written content, videos, and photographs? Why does your social media content not result in more engagement from your users?
Your social media manager does just that, manages social media accounts, including Facebook and Instagram. However, they aren’t skilled at creating content that represents the brand. Your social media manager is not a photographer, experienced graphic designer, a professional videographer, or video editor.
This results in leadership realizing that business social media is not a one-person operation. It requires a team of marketers and creative content producers. Having a well-established and active team is beneficial in building an authentic social media community.
What if the company president has no intention of investing more money, time, or resources into a creative team when there is no guarantee of success? This thought moves your business into the fourth stage of grief: depression.
Stage Four: Business Social Media Depression
This stage of grief comes with feelings of defeat. A sense of apathy about social media marketing develops within the leadership team that used to believe business social media would propel them to the next level. The mention of any social media platform comes with groans and shaking of heads.
Your social media manager, who was excited about developing your brand’s social media presence, now questions their role. They start to wonder if they need to find another job because this social media experiment is on its way out of the company.
This stage may make your company and its leaders feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. But, this stage is more often than not short-lived. It is situational depression that will pass. This occurs when your business moves into the last stage of grief: acceptance.
Stage Five: Business Social Media Acceptance
In the last stage of business, social media grief is the most important. This is when your leadership team accepts the time, energy, and resources lost in their unsuccessful attempt at social media marketing.
The leadership team again recognizes the importance of business social media, and so do the other workers within the company. Ideally, no one feels resentment towards the past, and they now want to focus on moving forward.
Your company is ready to build a well-established professional brand on social media. This renewed sense of enthusiasm toward social media results in the leadership team investing in the right tools to develop and execute the right creative resources and a proper social media marketing strategy.
Selecting the right social media agency can provide your brand with an all-in-one solution to your business’s social media grief. Now you have an agency that handles everything relating to your business’s social media, including analysis and social media strategy, content creation, and management.
Where the five stages of grief will lead you
Going through the five stages of business social media grief is essential to understanding the importance of social media and its management.
These stages will likely propel your business and brand to a prominent social media campaign and following.
If you find yourself stuck in one of the stages of grief, try and remind yourself that you won’t be in that stage forever. Every company, at some point, goes through each stage. Of course, some are stuck on a stage longer than others. But, allowing yourself to go through these stages will help your social media accounts, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and help your brand establish a devoted following.
