A common mistake I see young businesses do is post on social media for the sake of posting. Either it’s a task that is checked off a to-do list or they simply jump the gun and post out of pure content excitement. It’s all fine and dandy to find your posting cadence (you need that), and you should be excited about your companies content, BUT you absolutely, positively, need a social media strategy.
In this post, I’ll introduce you to five reasons why it's worth your while to have a strategy in place for your social media marketing. You can thank me later.
EDITORIAL CALENDAR = INTENTION
So the million dollar question is, ‘What do I post on social media?’ Entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations alike, all ask the same question somewhere in their social development journey.
The quickest way to get bored or fed up with social media is to post for the sake of posting. Might I add, it’s the quickest way to lose your audience as well. I firmly believe it’s better to post nothing then to post something your not proud of. Get rid of aimlessly posting. Please.
Where the magic happens: Once you have a strategy in place, posting becomes something your brand can build upon. Your strategy can marry your email campaign, Instagram feed and website update. Most importantly, a well placed strategy can rid the stress of posting. With intention, you know exactly what content to post every week. Master scheduling, and your accounts have a pulse. A.K.A develop an editorial calendar.
According to Social Media Week,
“Social media is now a key component of organizations’ marketing strategies and for good reason. 74% of shoppers make buying decisions based on social media, according to Sprout Social. And this shift isn’t specific to B2C companies. B2B businesses are benefiting from social media’s purchasing influence too.”
HELLO TARGET AUDIENCE
A marketer’s worse nightmare is potentially spending valuable time raising and releasing a unicorn of a marketing piece and it following dead because it never had a chance in the real world.
Any great piece of content can burn out fast due to the wrong audience. The amount of times I’ve heard, “But Karrisa, everyone is my target audience…” [insert eye roll emoji]. That’s like attempting to convince a bald man he needs shampoo. Your product or service isn’t for everyone and it shouldn’t be.
The entire point of social media is to be social. A successful marketer, social media manager, business owner - should take it one step further and be social with its target market and its industry peers.
Target Audience Equation:
Look at your current customer base.
Check out your competition.
Analyze your product/service.
Choose specific demographics to target.
Consider the psychographics of your target market. #marketresearch
Evaluate your decision. #edit #repeat #adapt
When you’re strategic about building your social media presence, you won’t waste time creating /posting content in places/platforms where your target audience is absent. Also, you won’t waste valuable creative resources or budget trying to make fetch happen.
POSITION YOURSELF AS AN INDUSTRY THOUGHT LEADER
Using social media strategically has the potential to open doors to new selling opportunities and establish different types of working relationships with your audience. When your postings have a cadence and you are consistency creating content specific to your target audience, you become a go-to source in your industry or network. With purposeful, high value and relatable content, I bet my bottom dollar, your audience will soon label your brand as the best source for learning more about your industry. Or your business pages become a place people can find a solution to their problems. (Insert potential SEO opps.)
Remember you’re not just posting to remain active or present with your following, but it can also assist you in reaching your goals - whether that’s , lead generation, brand awareness or customer acquisition.
Pro Tip: Get your sales team on board. Mimic, share, engage and repeat with company content and watch as your sales team becomes mini industry thought leaders out in the world, slinging your products / services without spending a dime.
CONFIDENCE IN PROFILES.
What good is social if you’re not confident in the workflow? Your profiles should be optimized to convert. The goal should be to direct your followers to take an action off that particular platform - whether that’s clicking over to your blog/ website, subscribing to your newsletter or email list, purchasing a product, or making an inquiry for your services.
Action = Conversion
Believe it or not, each social network can be optimized so that you get more conversions. By being intentional / strategic with your profiles and the content you decide to post / share and promote, you will accomplish more conversions.
According to my friends at HubSpot, some of the leading Call to Action buttons are:
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ROI FROM YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING.
In a perfect world, your content should be goal-oriented. It lives and breathes for your target audience and is showing up exactly where they are. Your profiles are optimized for the types of conversions you’re dreaming up and the CTA is crisp and clear.
By approaching social media strategically, you’ll begin using it as a business tool and thus greatly increasing your chances of your desired ROI.
The best thing about living into days world, is your social media business profiles have the ability to track conversions RIGHT NOW. This allows you to not only report on social media ROI but allows you to further analyze your target market developing your business plans for the next quarter/ year.
Let the findings feed creativity and drive your next promotion or campaign, further enhance your editorial calendar and empower your sales team and overall brand messaging.
Do you feel like your social media presence isn’t doing your business justice? Or that it is not inspiring your clients to take action? I’d love to collaborate on creating/developing a strategy.
Thanks for reading!