From time to time a question pops up related to a business owner’s feeling the money they spend on a social medial community manager is wasted if their promotional content is not posted at the exact time the majority of their consumers are online. The question being asked..do we need to be present online at the same time as our consumers?
Answer: Yes…No…Maybe…it depends
For local businesses who offer products/services to a small portion of a geographical area it is very important and reasonably easy to be present online to with local consumers.
However, the problem comes from the growing number of businesses who deal with the global markets. These businesses feel they are forced to have to..let me repeat, HAVE TO… be present online 24/7/365. This is where many of those business fail miserably with their digital marketing strategy.
Google+ Works for Both
A debate has developed over the worthiness of automated ‘scheduled posting’ being the solution to reaching specific consumers when they are online. Fortunately, on June 2011 that debate was ended when Google launched Google+.
Google was forward thinking enough to see the move consumers were making to searching Google first for the information they are needing. This move made Google+ the place to be for businesses since Google searched Google+ first for search information. Being found on Google Search was more productive than banging the drum over on Facebook and Twitter.
When Google launched Google+ posting promotions at a specific time of day, as recommended by unvalidated sources, came to a very slow and painful death for many businesses who spent millions have content posted 24/7.
Sure, having content posted to the social platforms 24/7 gives a brand the impression they are available anytime, but are they fooling the consumers? Answer: Not Really!
Since the buying consumers use Google to find what they are interesting in purchasing it makes the around the clock posting of promotional content moot.
Drip Marketing
The most productive way to supply the buying consumer content is through a ‘Drip Marketing’ strategy. This means, content is supplied to a businesses blog or Google+ making it convenient for the Google Search spiders to quickly find it. Posting to other social platforms at odd hours of the day just delays the business from being ‘Found’.
Being present where your consumers are located is the correct strategy. Since the consumers are using Google to find what they are needing this would translate into the need for businesses to have their content found on Google. Now that Google+ is the first place Google goes to find search requests it would make total sense for businesses to be present on Google+. Is your business on Google+? Why Not?
