Social media unravelled

Social media is today's hot topic! How to use social media for business, where to start and what socials are all about are some of the questions fired at Method's social media guy, Jamie, in the latest episode - tune in if social media feels a bit alien or you're looking to grow your digital presence!

Show Notes

Behind the madness is back and this time we've got a Q&A all-around Social Media, whether you're starting out or looking to grow then this one is for you! 

James puts Method's social media manager on the spot with questions on how social media works, how to utilise it for your business and ways to "win" on socials.

This episode is short, sharp and to the point so pull up a chair, pop in your headphones and enjoy a candid chat about social media, happy listening!!

What is Behind The Madness?

A podcast helping companies grow with marketing strategies, automation and time-saving tips and creative solutions.

James: Hello, and welcome to another
episode of Behind the Madness.

I'm your host, James Roberts, founder, and
owner of Method, a growth agency who are

hell bent on unlocking company's potential
through creative and marketing techniques.

Today, I am joined by Jamie
and we are going to be talking

everything around social media.

I'm going to give him some hard
hitting questions, and really combat

those, those kind of main points
want to know around social media.

So without further ado,
let's jump straight in

Jamie.

Welcome again to the pod.

Jamie: Thanks James.

I'm very, very excited for this one.

James: So as you are our social media
guru, I am going to take a step back.

people will be pleased to hear that.

And we, within about 13 or 14 minutes
are going to talk over everything

any business owner or marketeer
needs to know about social media?

Should we, should we
jump in and give it a go?

Jamie: No pressure

James: No pressure at all.

So, first off, I'm going
to go with some stats.

I'm going to see if you know
what you're talking about.

Now I could have teed you up, but
no, I much prefer to get a recording

going and put you right on the spot.

So how many people are on social media?

So as of the backend of 2021 there
are just under 3 billion people on

social media as whole, and then there
were 2.4 billion just Facebook alone.

So that kind of shows you the reach
they have considering this just

over half a billion on the others.

Um, incredible.

Wow.

So all the eyeballs are still on Facebook,
which is amazing and well done because

I had the numbers in front of me.

And, uh, yeah, you've done pretty well.

To be honest, there was a
spike, which was interesting.

There was a little bit of a spike in 2020.

Something must have been going on in 2020.

There was around an 8.8 increase
of social media popularity.

So let's, and I think you've
already answered it, but

let's jump into it a bit more.

What is the most popular social media?

Jamie: So popular in terms of
sheer numbers is just Facebook.

Since they launched back in 2003, they
have dominated the market in terms of

numbers, but in terms of popularity
because, of the content that is short form

at the moment, short form video that is.

TikTok and Instagram reels are exploding.

It's unbelievable.

The amount of attention TikTok is I
believe the fastest growing social media

there has ever been in terms of numbers.

They started in China with 500
million monthly active users

before they even came over towards
places like the UK, the US, Canada.

So those two are the real big ones
right now, are Instagram and TikTok.

James: What does short-form video mean?

Just

Jamie: Short form video is quick
digestible video that is normally anywhere

between 15 and 60 seconds, and it can be
a range of stuff like other content types.

So it can be educational, it can be
inspiring, it can be entertaining, I'm

sure you've seen the funny cat videos,
I'm sure you've seen the dancing trends.

If you haven't seen any dancing
trends or some of the funny things,

keeping an eye on our Instagram in
the next few weeks and, uh, James

will be busting out the moves and the
pointing and the different directions.

But, um you haven't jumped onto
a TikTok, jump onto an Instagram

reel and see what it's all about.

It's quick, quick, quick video.

James: Where can people find my
crazy dancing on Instagram, Jamie?

Jamie: They can find
that on our Instagram.

So it's a bit of a shameless plug
here, but if you head over to at hello

underscore method, on our Instagram,
you can see some funny reels, but

most importantly, some educational
content, super, super digestible,

carousels or reels, we want to
make business super, super simple.

James: So apart from watching my dancing
on social media, how long does the

average person spend social media per day?

Jamie: It depends if you're working on it.

I think if I looked at my screen
time, it was probably a bit

about four or five hours a day.

but funny enough, actually working
outside of it, it shown that now

people spend about four hours a day.

So between.

Screens that are in our pocket and the
screens, normally in our living rooms,

people actually normally spend four hours
watching TV and four hours kind of on

a social media platform on their phone.

So they spend a whole eight hours
a working day on those two devices.

So it shows you the power of digital
for one, but about anywhere between

two and four hours as kind of a
generic, because everyone's different.

Everyone has busy lives, some people
have kids, some people don't, some people

have free reign to go wherever they want
in the world and just take their phone.

James: Yeah, I think mine is I watch telly
and a lot of social media at the same

time, multitasking in my living room.

Jamie: Men are well known for it.

James: What's the best time
to post on social media

Jamie: Massive massive, pointless
one because we got a couple of normal

questions when it comes to socials.

This is one of the common ones.

It's case of how long's piece of
string you're going to have to test it.

I'm not going to give you a number and
say it's five o'clock for Instagram.

It's 3: 30 for Facebook, because
that won't be true for you.

Social media is a very
personalized experience.

It's what these platforms
pride themselves on.

So, test it,, But also consider where
your audience, who you're trying to

attract, their patterns, their behaviors.

If they work nine to five jobs,
then realistically they, okay, there

may be on a lunch and they may be
on around 10 30, 11 when there's a

coffee break, having a quick scroll.

But you thinking probably between about
six to seven, eight o'clock at night when

they have either fed the kids or they've
had dinner themselves and are sitting down

that in front of the TV, bit like James
in front of the TV, seeing what's going

on in Instagram, catching up with friends,
discovering new brands, new products.

So test it and understand where
your audience are and what time.

James: tips that I learned when I was
doing our own kind of social media

stuff was to think about where, as you
said, think about what your audience is.

Think about when you can post out to them.

So let's say, uh, most people have
appointments booked on the hour or on

the half hour, so rather than post on
the hour, on the half hour, think about

what that person is doing before then,
which is probably twiddling their thumbs.

It's probably waiting to go in somewhere,
and as we know when we're nervous,

we have this, this tendency to pull
out our mobile phone and jump on it.

And to be honest, what are you
probably going to go towards?

You're going to gravitate towards social
media, towards Instagram and Facebook,

and just see what's going on in the world.

So.

Posting just before those times,
is a great way of kind of getting

eyeballs on it when people
are, tend to be doing nothing.

But again, do your
research, as Jamie says.

So following on from when the best time
to post on social media is, and how

often should I post on a social media

Jamie: So the phrase kind of content
is king is very, very common, but

the big one is consistency is queen.

So this one comes about because how
often you post is up to you because

you dictate, what can you manage?

You want to make sure you're
not running around every day.

Thinking I've got to post today,
I've got to post now I've got to post

tomorrow And kind of putting out content
that you're maybe not happy with, or

it's overwhelming you and detracting
from other areas of your business.

This is one element of your
business, so make it manageable.

The other thing is how often your
audience gets used to you posting.

This is what consistency is key.

If for example, you choose a Monday or
Tuesday and a Friday to post, then post

show up on those days, your audience
will get used to seeing a post from you

on those days, new posts on Tuesday,
if they show up and you're not there

that trust that you've built in the
early stages or throughout your journey

with them will straightaway be lost.

So consistency is the key over
frequency pick when you want to do

it, test the best times, day and the
actual time, and then be consistent.

James: And I guess this ties into,
when we're talking about doing all

of our testing, the best, obviously
there's a number now of social

media platforms, but again, I guess,
which social media platform should

I use to promote my business comes
down to doing a lot of research

and testing as well does it Jamie?

Jamie: Massively, I think one of the
big things that people often happens.

They jump into social media, To
start with, find the strategy, work

out what's going on, like with your
business, why you want to be there.

So if you are thinking, okay, I want
to attract people because I'm a visual

first brand then Instagram is going
to be key for you, but you want to

know what you want to get out of that.

Are you doing it to build a community?

Are you doing it to convert sales or push
people to your website, up that traffic?

You want to make sure that you are
delivering for the people who matter.

So make sure you do your buyer persona
research, understand your demographic,

who they are, what pain points
they have, what their lives looked

like, what the behaviors look like.

The biggest thing with social or digital
anywhere is attention is currency.

The attention is What matters.

So you want to know where it
is, when it is, and why it is.

why is someone's attention on this topic?

Because they've got that pain point,
actually that aligns to our product.

We can help them and then you
can reach out to them on social.

James: What kind of content should I post?

Jamie: So right now, short form video kind
of, we mentioned it already earlier is

huge, stuff like reels, stuff like TikTok,
Stories even they are sort of short

form video that disappear after a while.

These kinds of things are huge, the
biggest thing with social is people

get frustrated with organic growth,
because these are a newer product,

there is still some organic growth.

They are becoming more and more
saturated, there is more organic growth

with them some of the older features.

So decide where you want to be.

So if you are a restaurant and you
have visually very pleasing food and

you've hired a good photographer,
then get that out there onto

Instagram, get it onto social media
that promotes that kind of topics.

But you also want to fit into one
of the, are you entertaining people?

Are you doing a funny dance?

Are you just being funny
with your content in general?

Are you, educating them?

is it how they're solving a pain point?

But then when you want to do that,
you want to take that content form and

you want to wrap it in a story that
is your brand and your audience, and

then push it to the various places.

James: So lastly, the question
on everybody's lips and the

first question we get asked.

How can my business get more
followers on social media?

Jamie: I love this question
because it is how we have been

shaped to think of social media.

It's almost like high school it's the
more followers, the more friends, all

of that kind of stuff, the better person
you are, the social status you acquire.

But people are more and more focusing
on engagement now, it's not so

much about the follower number,
it's how engaged our audience is.

Making sure the community is actually
giving a shit about what you do.

So with that in mind, there are a
few things you can do for a follower

number, but that is, be consistent show
up for them, show up for the audience

like you want them to show up for you,
create relatable, relevant, and useful

content, stuff that they care about.

Stuff that they can connect to, stuff
they can get behind, they can share.

They take use out of, there's nothing
worse than scrolling on say Instagram for

half an hour, I'm coming off and thinking
that's half an hour of my life just gone.

In the last episode, on behind the
madness, James spoke about the company

Tribe and he spoke about how he connected
with a brand and he got more out of that

product because of the mission behind
them then he thought going into it.

If you can do that every time someone
lands on your social account then

you are winning, the numbers show
it, so be consistent, be relevent.

And be authentic, be social.

Don't the social in social media,
I hate it when people forget it.

James: Amazing.

Thanks, Jamie.

We managed to do everything we needed
to cover around social media in a

whirlwind trip of about 14 and a half
minutes, which is pretty impressive.

If you have found this useful,
then we want you, we want you

to follow us on social media.

You are going to be the type
of person who is going to be

engaged in what we are offering.

So find us on Instagram at
hello underscore method.

And if you have any questions,
use the same place to kind

of give Jamie or myself.

Any questions, any kind of questions
you've got around social media, or even

just getting some growth within your
organization, then we are there to help.

So until next time bye-bye for now