Social Media – B.B. King Had It Right

social media

Social Media – B.B. King Had It Right

social mediaRemember B.B. King’s “I been in the right place, But it must have been the wrong time. I’d have said the right thing, But I must have used the wrong line”? There’s a nice version of it on You Tube.

Sometimes, it feels like that’s how businesses are wasting social media budgets.

Sure, social media is completely awesome – but the more things change, the more they stay the same. Targeting your business’ message not only to the right target – but in the right environment – is still the whole point.

Getting a great message about your high-yielding financial tools out to a group of teenagers in a mall isn’t a good use of your budget.

So, I need to share a couple quick thoughts.

According to studies quoted in Convince and Covert’s blog One Social Thing, Pinterest is best for selling clothing to women 18 to 34, and the largest percent of people using Twitter are 18 to 29 year olds.

Do I have a twitter account? Yes.

Do I believe it’s reaching most of my 40 – 75 year-old clients? No.

Should insurance companies sell life insurance on Pinterest or Twitter? No. Young people mostly do not purchase life insurance, yet that is mostly who is on Twitter.

Should clothing manufacturers have Pinterest pages? Yes. They are clearly getting results by doing so.

Should banks have a Pinterest page? Probably not. Or at least not yet. (Pinterest is still growing).

So think about it. People who are on the internet looking at pretty photos, clothes shopping, and relaxing are not going to even look at a bank page at that point in their mind.

However, the very same people who didn’t care about banks might truly be interested in the information if it were presented in a medium they use when they’re thinking about work or finance – like a banner ad on the Wall Street Journal’s online personal finance section.

Like every other part of marketing communications, the message needs to be presented in the right space.

Is social media good? Yes.

Is it always going to help your business? Not if you said the right thing, but you must of used the wrong line.

Judith Brower Fancher