SAAS (Software As A Service): What You Need to Know About Social Media's Popular Virtual Assistant

Being active in social media is a struggle for many organizations. Even those who understand the importance and genuinely want to be involved often lack one key necessity: time. Enter software as a service. Many of our clients are familiar with Luna's Social Media Module (SMM), and in fact, it's one of our most popular software offerings.

Social Media Meets SAAS (aka Software as a Service)

In the case of Luna's Social Media Module, as well as other similar SAAS offerings, the value is found in enabling a user to draft one update, and post it to multiple social networks. As with our SMM, for example, it can even link to your company blog and automatically notify followers of new content. For small businesses in particular, the time saved is priceless.

So, what's the problem?

Familiarity Breeds Contempt... Or Worse: Laziness

When dealing with social media, familiarity and ease makes it more likely that your online presence will be all automated, all the time... To be blunt, it's easy to get lazy. It may not seem like that big a deal, right?

Wrong.

Put a Ring On It

Translation for those who aren't rocking out to Beyonce: engagement is a must. It's been talked about time and time again, and while you may think I sound like a broken record, there's a reason: it's true.

There's no doubt that the use of social media SAAS platforms are designed to make your life easier. While they certainly do serve that purpose, it's imperative to understand that your social media presence must be cultivated and nurtured by a real person.

Community Building

For our Utah-based clients, you're probably familiar with recent ads, produced by Stevens-Henager College. Their most recent campaign features that to which they as their 'Good Neighbor Initiative'. Long story short, the focus is on presenting the school as part of the community as a whole while featuring some of their free offerings.

While I am not endorsing the service(s) they advertise, from a marketing perspective, they have the right idea. Social media, whether it's FaceBook, Twitter, or Vine, the members are a community of their own. In order to reap the benefits, you've not only got to join in, you must do so in such a way that jives with the rules and guidelines already set in place.

SAAS Designed to Assist, Not to Replace

Although Software/SAAS certainly aids in producing links and content, it's meant to be used as a tool to help, not replace. At the end of the day, remember this: even the best software platforms cannot replace genuine and personal interaction.

Are you active on social media? What types of interactions have you experienced that have made a strong impression on you?