I’ve been involved in marketing in some form since 1999, but I officially started Altrincham HQ, our social media marketing company, in 2009
It was fresh, it was new and I literally knew 2 other people who worked in social media marketing when I started. 1 was inhouse at Henri Lloyd Jeans and 1 was like me, a small social media business who adopted social media and got in early
Nowadays Social Media Marketers are as common as Pound Shops on the high street and every business is using social media to some degree
I was chatting to a partner of ours recently and we discussed how social media is harder in 2020 than it was when we 1st started. It is still enjoyable and great content still flies, but it’s harder
After 30 minutes of talking about this we distilled it to these reasons
1. Client Expectations Are Higher BUT Client Budgets Haven’t Increased
Sometimes we have to break clients / potential clients hearts when we tell them their £300-500 budget isn’t got to get a 4 day photo shoot, 2 day video shoot, 4 articles and social media posts every day
Clients expectations have gone to Hollywood Blockbuster size whilst their budget wouldn’t even pay for a half day rate
The rise and rise of social has seen smaller businesses looking at National Chains and not realising the sheer manpower and social media marketing budgets the national and international chains have. We had one client recently who’s 1st line on the email was “I don’t have a huge budget” … but went on to mention they’d like their social media to be like a national chain with 4 branches in Manchester alone. The conversation didn’t last long
I won’t deny that our monthly Social Media Management fees have increased from 2010-2020, but client expectations have raised far higher than the budgets have
2. The Noise The Noise The Noise
Back in 2010 I used to stand up at networking meetings in 2010 and asked for a show of hands as to who used social media for business
Only 20% max put their hands up
In those days social media training was about not just getting business better on social media, but actually getting businesses ON social media
Nowadays 95% of the room will put their hands up and the majority aren’t using it well
Social Media has got noisier and noisier and therefore it’s harder to be seen – either because of the algorithm or because it’s so noisy people tune out
3. More Platforms / Options
Think back to the start of 2010
Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok hadn’t launched
Twitter and Facebook were on fire
LinkedIn was … well … dull
Most businesses weren’t blogging or producing videos
And now look to how the landscape is in 2020
We never recommend a business tries to do everything, but for a lot of businesses the choice and range of platforms are overwhelming
4. Lack Of Respect For Experts
I’m saying this a lot lately – respect the experts
Show the same level of respect for those working in marketing as you’d expect respect shown to your profession
A photographer is not a social media marketer … and social media marketer is not a photographer
A graphic designer is a not a social media marketer … and a social media marketer is not a graphic designer
A videographer is not a social media marketer … and a social media marketer is not a videographer
Whilst all of the above will have basic skills in the other fields, they are not experts
In 2010 a company would have paid a photographer to do photos; a videographer to produce videos; a graphic designer to produce artwork and a social media marketer to manage the social media
In 2020 I’m seeing a worrying trend of expecting social media marketer to do all of the above and not be paid for it … or even worse get a photographer / videographer / designer to manage the businesses social media without any marketing experience. Both of these options fail in the long term
5. Social Media has Less WOW moments
I work in social media – I still get excited about every single thing that happens in social media
I’m like a big child when it comes to social media
But for the average social media user they’ve got to the stage where they’ve seen it all. Social media is just something that’s there, that’s passively consumed in moments of boredom and it’s become so much of a norm it’s harder for brands to truly stand out.
Ask yourself which social media post you can remember that truly stood in the past 48 hours – you’ll struggle
NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?
Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation
We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you
Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services
We offer Social Media Training on
* Twitter
* Facebook
* LinkedIn
* Instagram
* Blogging
We can do this
* 121
* Corporate Workshops
* Group Workshops
* Face to Face or Via Skype
Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk
