Size Doesn’t Matter

Editor’s Note: This post was written by guest blogger, Carolyn Maul of Savvy Socialist.

Or does it?

The social media world seems to have a major hang-up when it comes to size. Er, size of the business, budget and resources, that is. Most people are operating under the impression that, when it comes to social strategy, bigger is better.

Come on, now. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that it’s not the size of the ship… it’s the motion in the ocean?

Whether you are part of a start-up, small business, not-for-profit organization, large corporation or other firm varietal, the manner in which you execute your social media strategy is certainly dictated by the resources at your disposal and in that respect, bigger may indeed be better. However, the manner in which you approach and plan your strategy is not resource-driven. So bigger is not necessarily better. The playing field is even.

As long as you know what you’re doing, the process of crafting a winning strategy is the same, regardless of business entity.

1. Generally, you begin by understanding the business objective.
2. Then, you monitor the landscape & do a little research.
3. Now that you’re well-informed, you pull together a strategy road map that addresses the tactics you’ll employ and the channels you’ll use to execute said tactics (here’s a high level roadmap I completed recently). Remember: a channel is not a tactic!

Why the hell would this process be different for a large business versus a small one? (Answer: it wouldn’t.)

……….

The strategic difference comes down to the type and volume of resources that your organization has at its disposal to execute the tactics in your strategy.

……….

These resources will drive how you execute your strategy, not how you arrive at it.

For example…

Let’s look at two brands that have included content marketing via Facebook as part of their social strategy.

Victoria’s Secret has amassed over 15 million Facebook fans and offers an impressive array of content on their page ranging from deals & promotions to behind-the-scenes sneak peeks of photo shoots and the like.

When you examine the engagement on their posts over the most recent week, you can see that, although they have a fan base of 15 million+, their engagement rate for this week is only 0.29%.

Now. Let’s take a look at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. Jeni’s is dealing with a much smaller fan base (just under 30k) but has a higher engagement rate for the past week: 1.50%, or 5.2 times the relative engagement of Victoria’s Secret.

No doubt, there are a lot of factors to consider in evaluating engagement rates: quality of the product, brand equity, type of content, time of publishing, etc. Jeni’s may be using a free tool like Hootsuite to manage their Facebook content (or, perhaps they’re just working directly in Facebook); whereas VS may be using a larger enterprise platform such as CoTweet… but my underlying point is this: while I have absolutely NO sense of how many people are managing Victoria’s Secret’s social presence versus Jeni’s, or what tools each brand is leveraging, what’s clear is that a smaller, mostly local business can play just as effectively as the big boys in the social space.

(On a related note, Mashable has a great write-up on how to increase engagement on your Facebook page, with a shout-out to smaller brands at the bottom.)

.:.

Jeni’s: small but mighty, eh? So you see, the old adage turns out to be true: it’s not the size of the ship… it’s the motion in the ocean! No matter if you have three or 30 people executing and measuring your social strategy, your success boils down to the commitment, passion and momentum of your team, and of the community that your team builds and nurtures.

Myth busted: size doesn’t matter!