There is a
multitude of social media channels available, both mainstream and niche. So, how
does a business decide what channels to participate in? How many channels is
enough? The answer depends on a number of factors, including identifying your
customers, knowing which social media platforms they use and if they are open
to hearing from you in those places (Collier, n.d.).
It is also important
to evaluate your own capabilities, such as the time and staff to participate in
social media, and the availability of content that you have to share. Can you
generate fresh content on a regular basis? Does the content generate
conversation (Novak, 2010)?
Budget is another
topic entirely. One way to determine a budget for marketing and advertising is
to find out the advertising-to-sales ratio for the industry by looking at the
annual reports of public companies (McKee, 2009). Unfortunately, this may not
work for small businesses. McKee recommends another option is to start at 5% of
the company’s sales numbers and then adjust as needed based on the media costs,
how much competitors are spending and how quickly the business hopes to grow.
In the case of a small business that wants to focus in social media rather than
paid media, the budget can be less. McKee says:
The important
thing is intentionally and deliberately to set aside some rational percentage
of your sales to get out there. That way, the question you have to answer isn't
"How much should we spend?" but rather, "How do we spend most
effectively" (McKee, 2009)?
Businesses with
few employees may not have the resources to dedicate one person solely to
social media, or even to marketing as a whole. It is important that businesses
do not overextend themselves with regard to social media involvement. As social
media consultant Mack Collier says, “The worst thing you can do as a business
is to spread yourself too thin with social media” (Collier, n.d.).
One ice cream shop’s
experience
To explore the question
of how much social media a business should use, consider a small business that
produces frozen desserts in Philadelphia. According to the company’s website: “Little
Baby’s Ice Cream produces Hand-Made, Super-Premium Ice Creams and Non-Dairy
Frozen Desserts for open-minded, convivial Philadelphians” (Little Baby’s Ice
Cream, n.d.-a). The company started out in 2011 with a tricycle, “The Flavor
Blaster One,” that pedaled and peddled sweet treats throughout Philadelphia
(n.d.-b).
Little Baby’s Ice
Cream does not advertise, but they do use a variety of social media channels to
connect with customers. This variety presents options, but they have
overextended into too many venues and it is too much for the company to maintain.
On August 3, 2012,
the Little Baby’s world headquarters (WHQ) opened, as announced on the Little
Baby’s blog (Little Baby’s Ice Cream, n.d.-c), which included a link to the
grand opening event on their Facebook page (Little
Baby’s Ice Cream, n.d.-d).
In addition to the
company’s Facebook page, which has 5,880 likes, Little Baby’s has a Twitter feed that is active with
questions from some of the 4,267 followers that are answered within a few hours
(Little Baby’s Ice Cream, n.d.-e).
The brand also
maintains a YouTube
channel featuring videos produced by Little Baby’s, clips from local news
stations, and even an episode of American Hipster Presents (Little Baby’s Ice
Cream. n.d.-f). This social media channel furthers the brand’s unique
personality. One video ad
features a man covered in ice cream who begins to eat the ice cream off the top
of his head while staring straight into the camera (Little Baby’s Ice Cream,
2012).
http://youtu.be/erh2ngRZxs0
This ad was shared by the Huffington Post in article titled, “Little Baby's Ice Cream Shop in Philadelphia releases terrifying commercial,” and includes the line: “If the idea was to destroy viewers' ice cream appetites forever, they may have just succeeded” (Guarini, 2012). The video has nearly four million views, and the store continues to succeed despite this gory presentation. Unfortunately, although the video content is creative, no new content has been added in five months.
This ad was shared by the Huffington Post in article titled, “Little Baby's Ice Cream Shop in Philadelphia releases terrifying commercial,” and includes the line: “If the idea was to destroy viewers' ice cream appetites forever, they may have just succeeded” (Guarini, 2012). The video has nearly four million views, and the store continues to succeed despite this gory presentation. Unfortunately, although the video content is creative, no new content has been added in five months.
Little Baby’s also
has a SoundCloud profile
where the company posts mix tapes of ice cream-related tunes (Little Baby’s Ice
Cream, n.d.-g), and a Flickr
site featuring photos of the shops and of happy customers (Little Baby’s
Ice Cream, n.d.-h). Like the YouTube profile, these channels are not updated
frequently. The last time a mix tape was posted on SoundCloud was five months
ago, and Flickr was last updated in October 2013.
Little Baby’s is off
to a good start
Little Baby’s Ice
Cream broadly defines its audience as “open-minded, convivial Philadelphians.”
When you consider the local neighborhoods where scoop shops are located, the
audience is more defined as residents are in their twenties and thirties, artistic,
college or graduate school students, hipsters, vegans, anarchists. Little
Baby’s knows its audience and has built a social media plan that meets
customers where they are.
The messaging
presented by this company follows guidelines set by Greenberg: “Have something
to say. Say it often. Be interesting” (Greenberg, 2009). Little Baby’s may have
a marketing calendar, as Greenberg suggests, or they may simply have established
the cadence to offer information to consumers at appropriate intervals. Content
shared by Little Baby’s via Facebook and Twitter includes store hours, flavors
and upcoming events. When followers message the company on these social media
sites, they receive a response within hours.
The social media
representative(s) who represent Little Baby’s follow many of the best practices
recommended by Brian Solis (Solis, 2010). A few of the items he mentions are
listed below in bold, with notes about how Little Baby’s does it well.
·
“Determine
the identity, character, and personality of the brand and match it to the
persona of the individuals representing it online.” Little Baby’s is fun,
nontraditional and creative, and that personality is evident in Facebook posts
such as:
o World Headquarters 2311 Frankford Ave *Closed* Today. Philly
Public Schools are *Closed* Today. Councidence? (sic) (Little Baby’s IceCream,
2014a.)
o Tomorrow going to be so cold that we're doing BUY ONE GET ONE
FREE ICE CREAM CONES at World Headquarters. Cedar Park Embassy is closed srry. (Little
Baby’s IceCream, 2014b.)
·
“Earn
connections through collaboration and empower advocacy.”
o Little
Baby’s partnered with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in January
2014, as reported in a blog post (Little Baby’s Ice Cream, 2014c). Customers
could purchase a “Paper CHOP Icon” to “Help Little Baby’s help little babies”.
·
“Establish
and nurture beneficial relationships online and in the real world as long as
doing so is important to your business.” In February Little Baby’s is
partnering with next-door neighbor Pizza Brain for a speed-dating event, as
noted in this tweet:
o *Fri
2/7* First Friday "It's Just Pizza & Ice Cream: A Speed Dating
Event" @LittleBabysIC & @mypizzabrain Matchmakers http://ow.ly/sIBjD
(Little Baby’s Ice Cream, 2014d)
Small businesses
should keep it small
Catherine Novak
suggests that businesses that want to engage with consumers via social media
have to be conversation starters, not merely informers (Novak, 2010). So while
it is appropriate for Little Baby’s to tweet shop hours and post special events
on the Facebook page, it is also important that the company engage customers in
conversation. That does not happen on these channels, which may be the result
of being a small business with limited resources.
Mack Collier says
that small businesses should do less with social media because once you are on
a social media site, customers expect you to be engaged (Collier, n.d.). As
noted above, Little Baby’s has profiles on YouTube, SoundCloud and Flickr, but
it seems they have been forgotten. YouTube and SoundCloud are creative channels
that require time to share content. This company just doesn’t have the time to
generate that. Posting new photos on Flickr could be easy, but leaving the site
unattended appears careless.
I would recommend
that a small business focus on two or three social media sites to build
relationships and have conversations with customers. For this particular
example, Little Baby’s Ice Cream should maintain its Facebook page and Twitter
account. The brand should also continue to use its blog as the main
communication channel.
In addition to
limiting the number of channels it uses, a small business should focus on
establishing a conversation with customers. For Little Baby’s that means moving
beyond responding to comments posted on the company’s open Facebook wall or
questions tweeted about store hours to offer more meaningful content.
Returning to
Solis’ list of best practices, there are a few areas that Little Baby’s could focus
on to increase the success of its social media marketing (Solis, 2010). Once
again, Solis’ suggestions are in bold with notes related to Little Baby’s
following.·
“Consistently
create, contribute, and reinforce service and value.” Little Baby’s currently offers information about its
stores and events. The brand could increase engagement by offering more content
about products or recipes. The brand could also ask customers to share input or
ideas via social media channels.
·
“Un-market”
by becoming a resource to your communities. Little Baby’s has some
relationships with other businesses in the communities surrounding the shops,
but it does not share a lot of information about those partnerships. The brand
could build its connection to the surrounding neighborhoods by offering
products for fundraisers, donating to community festivals and opening doors to
local events. It could also share information about other events happening in
the community.
In conclusion
When a company
considers building a social media presence, it needs to determine who its
customers are and what platforms they use. Then it needs to make decisions
based on resources of people, time and money. A company without any experience
in social media can start with one site to gain confidence, and that may be
enough. The company should also search itself on social media sites to see if
people are talking about it. If there is buzz, the company should set up a
profile and join the conversation.
References
Guarini,
D. (2012, September 25). Little Baby's Ice Cream Shop in Philadelphia releases terrifying
commercial. Huffington Post. Retrieved January
26, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/little-babys-ice-cream-commercial_n_1738616.html
Greenberg,
M. (2009, October 20). Content is king of social marketing. MultichannelMerchant.com. Retrieved
April 12, 2012 from
http://multichannelmerchant.com/social-media/1020-content-social-marketing/
Little
Baby’s Ice Cream. (n.d.-a). Little Baby’s Ice Cream. Retrieved January 26, 2014, from http://www.littlebabysicecream.com/
Little
Baby’s Ice Cream. (n.d.-b). Who we are. Retrieved January
26, 2014, from http://www.littlebabysicecream.com/about-us/
Little
Baby’s Ice Cream. (n.d.-c). Little Baby’s Ice Cream — The grand opening of our
world headquarters [blog post]. Retrieved January 26,
2014, from http://www.littlebabysicecream.com/little-babys-ice-cream-the-grand-opening-of-our-world-headquarters/
Little
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world headquarters [Facebook event]. Retrieved January
26, 2014, from https://www.facebook.com/events/299800260118720/
Little
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Retrieved January 26, 2014, from https://twitter.com/LittleBabysIC
Little
Baby’s Ice Cream. (n.d.-f). YouTube page. Retrieved January 27, 2014; from http://www.youtube.com/user/LittleBabysIceCream?feature=watch
Little
Baby’s Ice Cream. (n.d.-g). SoundCloud. Retrieved January
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Little
Baby’s Ice Cream. (n.d.-h). Flickr site. Retrieved January
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Special Time” [YouTube video]. Retrieved January 26,
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Little
Baby’s Ice Cream. (2014a, January 22.) World Headquarters
2311 Frankford Ave *Closed* Today. Philly Public Schools are *Closed* Today.
Councidence? [Facebook status update]. Retrieved January 26, 2014, from https://www.facebook.com/LittleBabysIceCream?hc_location=timeline
Little
Baby’s Ice Cream. (2014b, January 6.) Tomorrow going to
be so cold that we're doing BUY ONE GET ONE FREE ICE CREAM CONES at World
Headquarters. Cedar Park Embassy is closed srry [Facebook status update].
Retrieved January 26, 2014, from https://www.facebook.com/LittleBabysIceCream?hc_location=timeline
Little
Baby’s Ice Cream. (2014c, January 6.) Fundraising is a feeling: Little Baby’s
Ice Cream & Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia team-up for the little babies
of Philadelphia. [blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.littlebabysicecream.com/events/event/fundraising-is-a-feeling-little-babys-ice-cream-childrens-hospital-of-philadelphia-team-up-for-the-little-babies-of-philadelphia/
Little
Baby’s Ice Cream. (2014d, January 26.) *Fri 2/7* First Friday "It's Just
Pizza & Ice Cream: A Speed Dating Event" @LittleBabysIC & @mypizzabrain Matchmakers http://ow.ly/sIBjD
[Twitter]. Retrieved January 26, 2014, from https://twitter.com/LittleBabysIC/status/427510081270595585
McKee,
S. (2009, February 10). What
should you spend on advertising?
Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved from January 27, 2014 from http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/feb2009/sb20090210_165498.htm
Novak,
C. (2010, July 27). Why conversation, not content, is king.
SocialMediaToday.com. Retrieved April 12, 2012 from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king
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B. (2010). 21 rules for social media engagement. Mashable. Retrieved January 2,
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