Success Advice
7 Lessons From the Most Influential Businesses on Social Media

Is social media marketing dead? Not only are some social media platforms shedding users and losing efficacy as marketing channels, but the bad press surrounding issues of privacy alone is enough to demoralize even the biggest champions of social media.
Looking ahead, however, it’s clear that social media isn’t going anywhere. Businesses that fail to embrace what’s good about Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the other major platforms will miss out on opportunities to engage with customers and create a valuable buzz.
The truth is—as noted in Fundera’s “The 30 Most Influential Companies on Social Media in 2019” report—lots of meaningful conversations and important issues are not only being raised, but addressed, by influential companies on social. The medium is still quite effective for companies looking to become leaders in their field, and even plays a major role in helping boost profits and market share for some industry-leading businesses.
Business owners, marketers, and social media professionals everywhere would be wise to take notes from some of the most influential businesses on social media today.
By taking note of the seven lessons below, you’ll understand how to use social media to positively impact your business:
1. Vary your presence across platforms
There are a handful of important social media platforms that almost certainly require your presence as a business: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Depending on your business, industry, and market, you may also want to post on Snapchat, or Pinterest, for example.
If you are familiar with these platforms, you know how different they can be in terms of content, demographics, and efficacy for driving traffic or engagement. That’s why it’s important to have accounts with each, and to post tailored content to each one as needed.
Having accounts on every major platform not only increases total reach across social media, but hedges the risk in case one site changes their algorithm and decreases your ability to impact followers.
2. It’s okay to focus your efforts on one platform
Yes, it’s important to be present on all major social media platforms. That being said, if you’ve identified one or two platforms in particular where your content most resonates—maybe you’ve tapped into the perfect demographic match on Snapchat, or found that posting your best content on LinkedIn gets the most engagement—then by all means, lean into it.
Uber, for example, tops the list of companies in the “Transportation, Logistics, and Warehousing” sector with 24 million followers. Of that number, an incredible 21 million are on Facebook alone.
On the other hand, fellow sector-topper Tesla has just a few hundred thousand Facebook followers, with millions more on Instagram and Twitter. These imbalances aren’t accidental—clearly, both companies see better engagement on these respective platforms, and perhaps see better customer acquisition, retention, and engagement as a result.
3. Every kind of business should be on social
Lots of businesses, including B2B businesses, think that what they do doesn’t translate well to social media. There’s no way to make selling a service fun or sexy, many think, so they create social media handles but do nothing with them, or ignore the entire practice altogether.
But any kind of company can have a robust and buzzy social media presence. From UPS to UnitedHealth Group to Rio Tinto (a London-based mineral and metal mining company), businesses across the spectrum can and do have hundreds of thousands of social media followers.
“Social media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.” – Brian Solis
4. Make the impersonal personal
It’s easy to say that every kind of business should be using social media. The question is, how? One of the best ways that more “impersonal” businesses—namely, service businesses, rather than product-based businesses—can make an impact on social is to find ways to make themselves, and their stories, more personal.
What does that mean? For UPS it means highlighting the stories of their drivers and other employees. For Lyft, it means celebrating rides as “connections” rather than, well, rides. For BHP, that means showcasing how the company fights climate change and champions social responsibility.
Remember, no matter what your company is, does, or produces, it can be much more than that. It’s also a place where people—your employees—come together to make a difference. Demonstrating that will go a long way towards making your impersonal service feel like a personal mission.
5. Large followings don’t equal big engagement
It’s easy to get caught up in the race to collect as many social media followers as possible. That’s why some brands resort to buying followers, even if they are bots or ghost accounts. The problem with this method is that if you accrue followers who don’t engage with your content or account, it kind of defeats the purpose of having social media accounts in the first place. Plus, platforms like Instagram will rank your content lower on people’s feeds if you have a low engagement-to-follower ratio.
Comparing the follower counts and engagement levels of Barrick Gold to BHP, you’ll find that even though Barrick Gold has more followers, BHP gets more engagement on their posts. You should aim to be more like BHP—because, to paraphrase the old saying, if a tree falls in the forest, and none of your social media followers comment on it, does it make a sound?
“Content Doesn’t Win. Optimized Content Wins” – Liana Evans
6. Interweave individual accounts with your business accounts
Your business’s social media accounts don’t have to operate in isolation. Part of what makes the accounts of Tesla and The Boring Company so popular is that they are tied, in more ways than one, to the accounts of their CEO, Elon Musk.
Use your personal account to promote the content posted on your business account, and vice versa. Ask employees, influencers, and friends to engage with your content. The bottom line is that your business account doesn’t need to do all the heavy lifting. Let your personal brand contribute to the impact your business account makes.
7. Social media can be a difference maker for your bottom line
Many business owners think of social media as a fun, if not particularly effective, marketing channel. And while that may be true for many businesses, that doesn’t have to be the case for yours.
Take Domino’s, for example. For years, Domino’s played second-fiddle to Pizza Hut in the fast food pizza business. As it turns out, social played a major role in helping Domino’s supplant their rival.
Domino’s blew past Pizza Hut by developing an effective digital marketing strategy, which included giving customers the ability to order pizza through social media. Did you know you can order Domino’s through Facebook’s Messenger app, or via Twitter with a hashtag and emoji?
Not only did these ordering methods increase engagement and build buzz, but it helped boost Domino’s digital sales. Social media can simply be a way to attract and entertain customers, or it can drive a major new revenue stream for your business. As Domino’s demonstrates, you’re only limited by what you’re willing to try on these platforms.
Making an impact on social media is difficult, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort. We can see just how important each social media platform has become to some of the world’s most influential companies—and how those same platforms can change the way your business appears to customers, engages with other brands, and even operates. Take these lessons to heart when building your social media presence and you’ll see the difference.
How do you use social media for your business? Do you engage in social selling? Share your ideas and thoughts below!
Success Advice
Mastering Self-Management for Success: Lessons From Peter F. Drucker
With careers no longer following a straight, predictable path, self-awareness and adaptability are essential for success.

In today’s dynamic professional world, self-management has become increasingly important. With careers no longer following a straight, predictable path, self-awareness and adaptability are essential for success. (more…)
Success Advice
How to Ignite the Spark Within for Future Success
All of us come to this world with our own reserve of magic unfortunately, not everyone can unleash it

What is it that makes some people great leaders while others remain followers? What magic do they have that others don’t? What special blessing gives them the power to bring significant change? (more…)
Success Advice
How Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success
Your life is dictated by beliefs and biases that drive your thinking, behaviors, and decisions

Pause for a moment and ponder two pandemic-era beliefs: First, closing schools will control the spread of a serious virus. Second, the consequences of such school closures—particularly social interruption and the prevention of immunity—are worse than becoming sick with the virus. (more…)
Success Advice
How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness
There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.
I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.
I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.
As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.
I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.
Everything legal must come through the matrix
I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.
Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.
The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.
Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.
The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.
Every matrix has an incubation process
While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.
In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.
What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.
However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.
Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.
“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier
You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time
When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.
The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?
First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.
In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.
For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.
For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.
Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.
You must manifest your greatness
As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.
I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.
There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.
Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.
When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.
-
Success Advice4 weeks ago
Toxic Leadership: 5 Ways to Identify a Bad Leader
-
Success Advice4 weeks ago
Here’s a Young Man’s Antidote for the Uncertainty of the Modern World
-
Success Advice3 weeks ago
How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness
-
Success Advice3 weeks ago
How Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success
-
Life2 weeks ago
If Your Work/Life Balance is Out of Tune Here’s What to Do
-
Entrepreneurs3 weeks ago
The Blueprint to Becoming a More Mindful Leader
-
Life2 weeks ago
5 Surprising Ways to Turn Imposter Syndrome into Your Greatest Ally
-
Entrepreneurs2 weeks ago
When It Comes to Selling Your Business, Make Sure to Have This in Place
1 Comment