There’s a huge, giant, massive, yawning (I can’t stress it enough) disconnect between what business think people want from them on social media, and what people really want. For whatever ill-conceived reason, business think people want to hear them talk about themselves, which is absurd. I don’t want to like a company on Facebook just to see them post about how great they are, for the same reason no one goes on YouTube to watch infomercials (unless it’s to laugh at the ShamWow guy). I don’t want to be talked at, and I’m not going to deliberately consume advertising. I see enough of it already and it’s almost always an unwelcome interruption.
So what do people want, then? They want companies to listen. That’s the great equalizer, the opportunity to tell businesses what they like or don’t like about their product. Whether a business is small, medium or a multinational behemoth, it can get feedback directly from its customers and address their concerns. Businesses keep pretending complaints don’t exist and that people don’t do so online (see chart), which is crazy. Of course people will complain, no matter how great your product is. Would you rather let those people poison the rest of your client base, or address them directly and maybe even improve your product or service in the process and turn those complainers into happy customers? Why not go to them where the conversation is, on Facebook or Twitter?
That’s the real strength of social media from a business perspective, not talking about yourself. If a person walks into your office you don’t greet them with a sales pitch – you shake their hand and ask them how they’re doing today and if there’s anything you can do for them. Think of your business’ Facebook page as your office, not as an infomercial.