Defining your Social Media Strategy
As a marketing agency, we see all kinds of social media strategies. Working with businesses of all shapes and sizes, some have a more organized social media plan than others. Coaching a business through creating and putting an actual strategy in place takes time. It also takes a shift in mindset.
Just as there are two ways to host a barbecue, there are also two ways to structure a social media strategy. For the sake of having some fun with this illustration (and it’s finally feeling like summer in Lansing, MI), we are going to compare a spontaneous, unplanned barbecue to one that is organized. What does a barbecue have to do with social media? Everything.
An Unorganized Social Media Strategy
Spontaneous barbecues can be fun, but they can also be chaotic and unorganized. Picture this: one afternoon you decide that you are going to have a barbecue that evening. You pull some random people off the street and from the grocery store parking lot– where you also bought frozen burger patties. You grab a blow torch, toss the burgers on the sidewalk, blast the flames in the general direction of the meat. You cross your fingers and hope that they cook.
The flame is uncontrolled, unfocused, and quite frankly – a little dangerous. You might end up with some fully cooked burgers, a few incredibly charred burgers, and with raw ones too. With no rhyme or reason, you scoop up the burgers and start launching them at your guests, rapid-fire style. Some hit people, some miss people – it’s a complete mess. There’s no consistency in your barbecue, and people likely will not attend another one of your events.
Similar to an unorganized barbecue, an unorganized social media strategy can be just as messy.
But there’s an alternative.
An Organized Social Media Strategy
A memorable barbecue is one that takes time preparing a grill, using high-quality charcoal, and carefully selected high-quality meat purchased from a locally owned meat market. You marinade your burgers to ensure good flavor. Invitations are sent out to friends with a set time for everyone to arrive. The day of the barbecue, you start your grill and get it to temperature, and place your burgers around the grill so they cook evenly. You monitor the burgers throughout the cooking process and right when they’re perfectly cooked, you serve your guests. They enjoy your burgers, and even request you come man the grill at their barbecue next weekend! You become known for your grilling skills, and people continue to come to your barbecues all summer long.
Can you see where we’re going with this? There are two different strategies when it comes to social media. There’s a rapid-fire, “spray and pray” approach, which is convenience based. This isn’t an effective strategy. Occasionally, you might land a good piece of content on a hungry person’s plate potential customer’s feed. But “might” isn’t exactly a solid strategy, is it?
Then there’s the “test, tweak and repeat” strategy. There’s a plan, a goal, and strategic reasons behind each piece of content that is published. This is effective. Your consistency will pay off and you’ll reach those hungry customers more often. It may take more work, but the work is worth it.
Now, the point of this blog is not to make you hungry. All too often, we see business owners adapt this rapid fire, convenience based “strategy” and then give up on social media because it’s not working for their business. But the business owners who take the time to strategize (or work with an agency like us) and develop a plan and create legitimate content that will drive results.
If you’re currently using the flame thrower method and are ready to start planning out a better barbecue, send us a message. Let’s set you up with a free consult to find out where you stand, and what we can do to make sure you end up with the best burgers, or content, there ever was.