Social media fatigue and the challenge for brands

You finally have Facebook working. You’re interacting on Twitter. You’ve got company blogs. And your social media staff or your agency has set you up with dashboards, a conversation strategy and analytics to measure everything from engagement, traffic and word-of-mouth.

But now there’s Instagram. Brands like Burberry and Olympus (a Mullen client) are getting more and more active. Should you? You’re getting pitched by Springpad, which just made it possible for users to filter their friends’ “likes.” Or perhaps you’ve heard of BlipSnips, which is anxious for you to create ideas that leverage their new video-tagging platform. There’s Klout, where you can tap into influencers. And, of course, let’s not forget all the check-in and and gaming sites.

And all of that is before you even consider Google+. Granted as a brand you’re not supposed to be on the new platform yet, but let’s face it, next month something big is coming for brands.

If you’re a marketer you may be feeling a little overwhelmed by social media these days. Perhaps even fatigue has set in.

Yet it’s important to keep in mind that while the proliferation of platforms can be exhausting – to users as well as marketers – social media is not going away. In fact consumers will spend more and more time in the new online spaces. And not just as viewers but as creators (witness the growth of Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram).

So what do you do? Do you focus? Or diversify? Do you jump on every new service that comes along? You probably don’t have time or resources for that. Do you wait until each becomes big enough to merit attention? On one hand that makes sense, but on another it risks being late to the party.

At Mullen, we’re recommending the following:

1. Focus on a few key platforms that align with customers and their preferred social engagement

It’s not about being on every platform. It’s about using them in ways that align with your marketing objectives and your customers. If you’re a retailer and you have teenage customers, be on YouTube and connect with the haulers. Try geo-based offers and rewards if you have physical locations. Stay with Facebook, obviously. And wait and see to what degree a younger community embraces Twitter. If, on the other hand, you’re in the world of sports or athletics, then obviously invest in Twitter. As more and more athletes use the service, they attract fans who are also your customers. For your big efforts, stay with the proven platforms.

2. Experiment with a smaller percent of your budget

Every company has an R & D budget to develop new technologies, products and manufacturing processes. Why not one for marketing? One of the big problems in the emergence of new social platforms is that we tend to evaluate them using the old metrics (reach, frequency, impressions, click-throughs). By those measures most will fail. But if we think in terms of experimentation and focus on learning how to leverage new services or get even better at understanding consumer behavior, it’s worth putting some time and money into the latest services. Take a look at what we’re doing for Living Language on Instagram: it’s a perfect example of trying a new app to showcase a brand. It may not have the scale of Facebook or Flickr, but it’s a great opportunity to see how much content we can inspire fans to spread around and talk about.

3. Concentrate on doing things worth sharing

On my Google+ page there’s a great comment from digital strategist Farrah Bostic that I’ll summarize here: Instead of putting resources against the creation of destinations – and that includes your Facebook page – that encourage you to spend time “marketing your marketing,” spend your energy doing things worth talking about. Make assets that are worth spreading across all the platforms. Or invent experiences that invite the creation of content that will migrate from one space to another. Remember that our real job in social media is to get others to do work for us – talking enthusiastically about our products and services. Here’s a perfect example, recently created for Tommee Tippee.

Whatever you do, remember this. You’re not supposed to work at social media as much as it’s supposed to work for you.