How often have we really thought and pondered over this? How much of an array of opinions we have got over it! Sadly, most often prejudiced and sometimes even too conservational for something as dynamic as social media. No. I am not nudging you right away already. Rather, let’s talk about a few points that we can consider while trying to figure out the answer of this question for ourselves, or rather for our ‘brand’. We can think of it from the point of view of each of the main types of companies that we might be representing on social media.
For B2C companies:
Let’s get to the basics of modern day social media once quickly, as this group forms the majority of companies that have taken to social media so far. So as we know, social media is now more social than ever. And like we have discussed and figured already, it is a business’s best chance to connect with their customers, like never before. And how do you connect with anyone? Through the commonalities often, isn’t it? It is also referred to as micro-matching at times in psychology. Matching your behavior with the person in front of you, often results in establishing a better rapport with them. So instead of behaving like a cold representative of an enterprise who speaks diplomatically and like a trained bot, why not lighten things up by expressing the way your customers and audience is? 🙂
An important thing to note is as you are selling your stuff to an end user, it is likelier that the person who would make the decision to buy, is at his home or otherwise still probably in a casual mood. And that is one reason why your business page/profile might do well, if you engage in a more of casual lingo along with emoticons. 🙂
For B2B companies:
For B2B companies there are some considerations to be made, too. Your company might also be amongst those who have a target audience of an elder age group who are more accessible in and comfortable with clear, simple and responsible communication. If you are looking to impress people at higher posts in the companies that you are targeting to sell your product or service to, there would be a different set of tactics that you would need to engage while managing your own company’s social media avatar. Here your goal often is to establish credibility and win respect. Also another thing to note would be, there are more chances that the person you are trying to portray your image to, or sell your product to, is sitting in an office or is at work. Hence a clear or a little more of a formal language might help him relate to you and your services better. However, you can still try and be his source of stress-relief by being funny, casual and yet respectable, provided you have the resources, talent and the confidence to pull it off. This can especially work if you are looking to serve entrepreneurs and startups, as they often don’t have a bifurcated schedule and would enjoy something that could make them smile for a while as they work.Â
The factors that have been mentioned above, are only supposed to be pointers. They aren’t meant to be conclusions that you should rely on, but starting points to consider while you initiate developing your digital strategy. So think things through as you plan your social media strategy and consider the factors stated amongst the tens of others that you might have already. And then, I believe there should never be any formation of a very specific and predictable code when it comes to dealing with humans. If you are genuine enough and smashing enough with people and their concerns, there are no rigid rules for you at social media really. Many of us today, see the times coming, when more deals would be cracked by winning hearts than by winning minds, or winning at calculations. 🙂
Let's make social awesome! 