Social Media Should Tell A Story
Two years ago, one of our clients asked us to take over their social media marketing. And frankly, we thought they were joking. What did we know about the social media marketing industry; fragmented as it was with hundreds of digital media outlets - how could we hope to break through the clutter and create an effective social media campaign? The answer was so simple; we could do what we had already been doing; we could use social media to tell our client’s story!
There are thousands of digital and social media marketing agencies, scheduling and posting content that fit into their in-depth study of analytics, algorithms, metrics; but what is their message? Do these agencies create and post impactful content for their clientele or are they just posting a wallpaper of words that have to be scheduled 6 times a day, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and once a month on Tuesday?! Marketing is so much more than 2 + 2 = 4. Audiences gravitate toward stories that stick with them. Of course you need to be strategic about where and when you post; but we believe that you also need to create a personality with your posts so you can stand out from the background noise!
And that takes us back to telling stories. If a business doesn’t create a personality and simply relies on someone else to post cookie cutter nonsense at regular intervals, how does a potential customer get to know the business, and determine whether they want to work with them? Carefully crafting your story across social media is essential; peel off the layers of who you are by creating compelling, interesting and sometimes emotional posts so your followers can get to know you!
Remember the word SOCIAL in Social Media; you need to create conversations that help build relationships! Even if a person doesn’t like or comment on every post, they are still responding in some way, tucking away the information about your company for that time when they need someone who does exactly what you do!
Building an effective social media campaign is not a sprint… it is a marathon. It takes TIME to attract an engaged following – and this is important – ENGAGED means followers who find what you do and say as being relevant to them. For example, if you are a manufacturer and most of your followers are financial planners or pop culture wannabes, you are not reaching an engaged audience. Don’t waste your efforts on a huge volume of posts, trying to attract followers; instead, make your posts ENGAGING and relevant, then people will RESPOND with likes, retweets, shares and comments. Once you have a consistent response rate, you’ll know you’re on the right track in building a truly engaged social media audience. And once you have that, the cold math of 2 + 2 = 4 evolves into a platform where your story can be told to the perfect audience.
