Is Your Brand social Enough?
Is your brand being social enough? Social media is an important aspect of advertising and marketing that is not easily achievable for every business owner especially those without a dedicated team focused on activating in the channel daily. Before you get overwhelmed, or jump on the latest bandwagon, or social media trend to maintain a presences on the platforms that are right for your brand here are three (3) key questions to help determine how social your brand should be and relieve yourself from trying to implement strategies and maintain posting cadences that don’t align with your goals.
If you’ve been finding it difficult to carve out your place in the world of socializing and content creation, consider this - you don’t have to do too much to be active on social media. Go ahead, breathe a sigh of relief but know this article won’t let you completely off the hook. Read on and consider how you to readjust your thinking and answer the questions below during your next brainstorming sessions to have real conversations about your progress - online and off.
Ready? Let’s go.
ONE || What goals can your social media platform help you reach?
Goals are extremely important, especially when you’re realistic about setting them and understand the effort it will take to see it through. Setting small goals are just as important as large one and your social media platform can be a great tool for meeting your business goals for lead generation, increasing engagement, establishing a referral program or staying connected with clients, If you’ve jumped into the platform with immediate expectations that exceed your effort, it may be hard to find a good place to start and force you to give up too quickly. On the flip side, your overactive social media presence while it allows you to show up for current clients may not be as productive as you think if you’re messaging isn’t directed at them, or intentionally created to generate more sales, increase engagement or conversions.
TWO || How are your CURRENT customers engaging with you on social media?
The perfect question to pose piggy-backing on question #1, but consider, are you actually talking to your customers? It’s important to know who’s following you and how they’ve engaged with past content. When you are able to see what pushes your clients to like your posts, and engagement with you off and online you’re in the best position to adapt your strategies to this knowing and build a social media presence that supports people you know are willing to spend their hard earned money with you, You’re also intimately aware of what they relate to, their why’s and their why nots.
THREE || What content can you organically create - and build upon?
It’s much easier to execute when your plan to take action includes actions you already take and you and your team know telling your story is something you can do naturally. Layering in your process through thought leadership pieces, and behind the scenes activities customers don’t generally get to see but undoubtedly will appreciate can set you apart from your competition. Integrate brand communications, offers and education.. Your content doesn’t have to be a copy and paste of the latest trends or an attempt to be “cool” - you’re cool factor is one that you should always be willing to fight for even if that means leaving the trends for the band wagon trendy and being the trendsetter all on your own. Being an authentic brand is an integral component of your social strategy, so even when you’re running out of brand new ideas staying true to the basics will ensure your creating campaigns that are easier to maintain.
What’s next?
Start here. Build out a sample content plan by thinking about what you can post and talk about on your social channels over the next two week.
Don’t allow your FOMO (fear of missing out) move you too far off your center. The ever changing landscape of social media can make it difficult to create a plan that’s easy to follow and doesn’t take the joy of out marketing a brand you love and believe in and requires your time. The bottom line is, your social strategy should be unique to your goals, messaging, and the products or services you offer - and it should be monitored and adjusted over time so you’re spending your time well. So if you’ve been considering whether you’re doing too much, too little or not enough on social media, review this list again, and have an important conversation with yourself, your team and future partners about what’s social enough for you.
What goals can your social media platform help you reach?
How are your CURRENT customers engaging with you on social media?
What content can you organically create - and build upon?
If you’re prepared to set aside time to manage your social media marketing on your own, creating the right strategy and content schedule will save you a lot of time and help you get the traction you’re looking for from the work you do.
If you’re looking for support or want to consider how to make social media a more integrated part of your business, contact me today.