Posting on Social Media isn’t a Strategy, Unless It Is
September 5, 2024Often, when a new team takes over a company’s marketing, one of the first things they start to do is to post on social media. They sometimes believe that by putting something, anything, “out there,” they are doing a good thing for the company by letting their customers know they’re still around.
This is a mistake because we’ve spoken about branding and marketing strategy in the past and have explained that “just posting on social media” isn’t going to get you anywhere from a marketing standpoint. You won’t be winning any successes outside of the vanity metrics of likes and comments.
That said, there are absolutely valid and legitimate ways to use social media as part of your marketing strategy.
Set Your Goals
Part of the reason that posting company products and services on the company Facebook page doesn’t work is because normally there is no goal associated with it outside of “it’s what we’re supposed to do,” or “posting equals money/engagement/customers”. While this can work for an established brand for a short time, it will not work over time and it often doesn’t work at all for trying to build their brands online.
If you take the time to set goals for what you want to achieve through social media, you’ll be able to measure success or lack thereof. And measurement is essential to every successful marketing campaign. Once you have data, you can adjust tactics.
Examples of measurable, meaningful goals for social media:
- Increase website traffic
- Build brand awareness
- Increase sales
- Increase qualified employee applications
IMPORTANT: All of these should be combined with “by X over Y” statements.
There are a variety of ways to use social media for marketing, but whatever goal you choose should guide what you post.
Choosing Content and Tactics
At Crossroads, one of the reasons we use social media in our marketing is to humanize our brand. We want people to see us, see the kind of team we are, and make their decisions based on that. We believe our social media content is a confirmation of what and who we are to the decision makers seeking to do business with us or to join our team. Our measurable metrics for this include new lead generation, talent pool applications, newsletter signups, and website traffic.
If that is your goal for social media, your marketing tactics will be different than if you want to increase sales directly from the platforms. In that case, you might use ads and photos of your products to entice customers to buy from you.
So as an example, if Crossroads were to create an ad for a service, and we didn’t tie it, at all, to our humanizing campaign, it would be out of place and more than likely, turn off our audience. It wasn’t part of our goal, so our tactics weren’t in sync and thus, we failed the objective.
Always Look Back to the Strategy
To avoid mistakes and become more successful, you have to always be able to tie your tactics back to your strategy. If what you’re attempting to do doesn’t, in some way, help to complete the objectives set for your goals, then you shouldn’t do it. Even on social media — maybe especially on social media.
Successful Social Media Marketing Strategy Example
Recently, I was watching my husband scroll through YouTube on our TV and he landed on a really nice knife. I do not like knives that much, but it caught my attention and I told him it was nice. I liked the design and the curve on the handle. He immediately went to look for the maker of the knives who lives on social media, SavageXCreature.
The maker has no website and, in fact, does all of his business by utilizing a Facebook group and an Instagram page. It works for him because 1) His work is beautiful and stands out on Instagram. 2) It creates a scarcity that other brands and makers don’t always have or know how to create for themselves properly. 3) It makes it feel special because if you aren’t in that private group, you have to wait for items to go up on Instagram, and that doesn’t appear to happen often!
His is an example of having a strategy that works on social media. He doesn’t just post for posting’s sake, he has created a strategy that meets his goals; selling product.
Measure, Measure, Measure
After you’ve created your goals, set your strategy, and used your tactics, be sure to measure everything against that goal. You can always adjust tactics and even the strategy, but your goals should always guide your next move.
If you’re ready to take your marketing to the next level with a marketing team dedicated to understanding your journey, setting up a successful strategy, and helping you reach your goals, let us know. Set up a call with Mandy to discuss your goals today.
-Roxanne
