Is X still a
viable platform?
There has been a lot of uncertainty about X, formerly Twitter. The acquisition of the social media site by billionaire Elon Musk has made waves since he took the keys in October 2022 (Yes, it's been that long). Mostly not in a good way. According to Fidelity, his unpredictable dismissals of whole departments and questionable posts on his own site have caused the company's value to be down 71.5 percent from its purchase price.
But what does that mean for businesses looking to market their business and/or products? Not a whole heck of a lot. Reach is still strong on this platform, and with it still being the only true "live" posting platform left, it makes it easy for users to use this platform to find out what's going on in their area. Therefore, if you keep a consistent posting schedule, there is a good chance they will see your content.
All in all, Elon is proving that the saying "there is no such thing as bad press" is not ALWAYS true, but when it comes to the output of his social media site, the Schmoes still recommend it as a platform for your business.
Have Algorithms
ruined social media?
In an ever changing world, social media remains a constant. At least for now. Social media has changed how the world receives news, whether it be political or entertainment. Instead of picking up a newspaper at the local store or tuning in to a news program, everything we need to know is fed into a feed for us. But has that feed changed for the worse?
When Facebook started to pick up steam in 2007, the world was met with quite the phenomenon; access to the thoughts of your friends, family and closest peers 24/7. It didn't take long for a dying industry of print media to jump onto this phenomenon and give access to the news of the world in this newsfeed.
Fast forward to 2009. Facebook starts to rank and sort posts in your newsfeeds. Not a whole lot of people really noticed at first, but it became increasingly noticeable in the years following that some people and some pages were no longer appearing in your newsfeed. They did have the option to sort by “most recent” but they have recently done away with that option. So now, your newsfeed is catered to your “interests” instead of showing you a chronological feed.
What does that mean for the average users experience? This should be a good thing right? Not necessarily. Just because you haven't clicked on Grandma's posts in a few days, does not mean you never want to see her in your newsfeed again. Yet sadly, the algorithms are just that touchy. Why would they do this? Money. Sure, Facebook is a free-to-use platform, but they also utilize the sale of ads and boosted posts to create a revenue stream. Are they stacking the deck a bit here? It certainly seems that way. Now with Facebook's purchase of Instagram, that platform too has introduced an algorithm-based newsfeed, however, not as invasive in nature. Funny enough, the only true live newsfeed is X, formerly Twitter. But with an owner that clearly has no idea what he is doing, X can be a volatile platform at times, with it's own shenanigans taking up interest on the platform instead.
What does this mean for small businesses trying to use these platforms to advertise their businesses? Strategy. Analytics are more important than ever, and research must be done to find the ideal days and times to post, especially on Facebook, to be successful without paying an arm and a leg. This is a time-consuming practice, but has been deemed necessary in order to be successful on these platforms. It's unfortunate, as these platforms are almost essential to be successful, yet the platforms themselves are making it harder on the small guys.
Yet another reason why you need to #JustGoWithASchmoe
Why are
reviews so important?
You are in a city you are not overly familiar with. You want to go for dinner. What’s the first thing you do? Google restaurants in your area, right? From there, where do you go? Reviews. That simple little process is what makes reviews so important. It has become almost second nature that when we are not familiar with a business, we Google it and check out the reviews to see what everyone thinks of it.
This subconscious act is something that you bank on as a small business. Encouraging your clientele to leave reviews when they have enjoyed their experience, could enable potential clients to shop your website or even drop in. Thus, having a good review presence, especially on Google, is essential to your business’ success.
