A worrying trend has emerged since the pandemic outbreak - just as people are flocking to social media channels, business are shying away from them. In fact, Maybe* profiled 300K businesses and organisations across 1300 towns and cities in the UK and found that though 78% of businesses were not active on social media on a daily basis pre-lockdown, that number has rocketed to 88% since. Consumers, on the other hand, are now spending 40% longer on social channels than they were pre lockdown.
Businesses can reverse this trend by becoming active on social media even if they are unable to serve. Listening to and engaging with the local influencers in a conversation about a place is a great place to start for businesses wishing to identify local influencers and capitalise upon the opportunity to stay connected to a captive audience.
Who’s influencing the conversation about Sheffield?
by Amy RountreeWho’s influencing the conversation about Sheffield?
Steel city, Sheffield ranks 2nd only to London in Maybe*s benchmarking of UK towns and cities for social media performance. 60% of the city's businesses have social media accounts, 20% of them are active, and collectively the city’s organisations have over 629 million social media followers.
Listening to the conversation about #Sheffield helps the city’s businesses to identify the most influential voices within a very active, loud and proud local conversation so that they can build positive relationships with local tastemakers, and prioritise the voices with the most impact.
The conversation about Sheffield is the most influenced by OwlsTalk, a fansite for local football club Sheffield Wednesday. Despite no matches being played while lockdown measures and social distancing rules have been in place, the fan discussion site has continued to engage Owls fans, and created the most content, and the most engaging conversations about #Sheffield.
Building buzz
Local businesses such as Leighton Vans, My Clothing Warehouse and The Blo Lounge have also created influential content. In the case of Leighton Vans, and the Blo Lounge, a vehicle business, and a hair salon, customers are unlikely to be able to use their services at present. But despite this, both businesses have created relevant content that serves an audience. By using the #Sheffield hashtag and contributing to the conversation about the area, the businesses are using social media to build relationships and buzz within the local community.
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How to explore this data for yourself in Maybe*
Your who’s got influence report allows you to see who has the most influence in the conversations you're listening to. The bigger the circle, the greater their influence.
Key takeaway
Public social media consumption is going up, but business use of the platforms is going down. There is an urgent need for businesses to listen and engage with the conversation about place to maintain connection to customers online, if they are unable to do it physically.
Identifying the most influential voices within the #Sheffield conversation allows a business to follow and engage with the social media users driving the most impact with their messages. Identifying these advocates or detractors enables a business to build positive relationships with the voices that could have an impact on business and brand perception, and performance.
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