I’ve seen people make some pretty stupid mistakes with social media. You can probably recall major companies that faced major meltdowns over careless social media moves.
But I’m not talking about mistakes like those. There is one mistake that will produce even more damage and cause more harm than any others.
Unfortunately, thousands of businesses make this mistake. Worse, they don’t even realize that they’re making it. The mistake costs them hundreds of thousands of dollars, years of wasted time, and a social media mess that can take forever to fix.
What is this stupid mistake? It’s the mistake of not having a strategy.
No social media strategy: Mistake number one.
Here’s how social media usually works.
- Step 1: Business knows that social media is important.
- Step 2: Business hears about popular platform.
- Step 3: Business hires a social media specialist (or worse, a “guru”) to “do social media.”
- Step 4: Business hears about another popular social media platform.
- Step 5: Business hires another social media specialist to “engage.”
Have you ever seen this process unfold in your business or in other businesses?
Unfortunately, that’s how it typically works. It’s nothing more than social media shiny-ball chasing.
But now, let’s ask some business-focused questions:
- Who are the business’s customers?
- What is the target market?
- What is the best way to reach these customers?
- What is the goal of social media?
- Does the ROI from social media justify its effort and expenditure?
- What actions should the social media audience be taking?
- How does the social media strategy align with business goals and overall revenue?
Many of these questions are met with “Um, er” answers from businesses that don’t have a social media strategy.
It’s painful to behold. The fact is, this lack of strategy is doing damage to the business in real ways.
- Without a social media strategy, a business loses money.
- Without a social media strategy, a business surrenders potential effectiveness.
- Without a social media strategy, a business opens itself up to social media gaffes and missteps.
- Without a social media strategy, a business will never gain traction or ROI from its social media campaigns.
- Without a social media strategy, social media fails to become a profitable lead generation source.
- Without a social media strategy, a business doesn’t know what’s working and what’s not.
I could go on, but I think you see the point.
Lack of social media strategy opens the company up to all kinds of problems, not to mention the obvious ones such as hemmorhaging money and wasting efforts.
Social Media Strategy: Guess or Plan?
In this way, most businesses function on the hope-and-a-prayer approach to social media. They’re merely guessing at what’s working, and taking action accordingly.
Without a clear strategy, a business is forced to plan. There is simply no other option.
Guesswork seldom catapults any business to stardom or success.
Some businesses are tracking their social media goals and metrics, and mistakenly think that this constitutes a “strategy.” For example, 67% of businesses define social media success as the amount of engagements (comments, shares, likes, etc.) that their social media posts receive.
This isn’t “success” any more than someone admiring a business’s billboard as they drive down the interstate. Sure, the metrics can be quantified on social media, but that has zero direct bearing upon business revenue.
Another popular success metric is website traffic, such as page views and unique visitors. Again, such a number may feel good and track well, but its net revenue impact is negligible.
These are great numbers to track and measure, but they do not mean that you have a strategy.
So, what is a social media strategy, and how does it work?
The Solution to the Mistake: Develop a Strategy That Works
What does a solid strategy look like? Here’s a good starting place:
- Understand your users: who they are, what they want, where they are, and how they think. This is basic marketing stuff — demographics, psychographics, etc. This level of research is important so you can first answer the question of which social media platforms are most important. Besides, when you start targeting your audience, you’ll need to know this level of information.
- Identify what you want users to do. This is an easy step to overlook. Obviously, we want engagement, but what is the end goal of this engagement? I advise you to trace this action all the way back to revenue. How is your social media going to positively improve the business revenue? If this is going to happen, make it your goal to turn your social media audience into customers. This doesn’t have to be shoved down their throats, of course, but there should be a logical funnel that leads back to your business website and the correct action.
- Choose the right platforms. I think it’s important that every business at least have a presence on the four major social media channels — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. However, that’s only the tip of the social media iceberg. Devote the bulk of your time and attention to the channels that are most effective — i.e., where your customers are hanging out.
- Develop valuable content. An effective social media strategy should take into consideration the value of the content you are producing. No one wants to engage with a business that is 100% self promotion or no-value posting. Go back to the fundamental issue of your users, and give them what they want. Answer their questions. Solve their problems.
Conclusion
Finalizing a social media strategy is a huge relief. Finally, you can understand how your social media feeds your ultimate business goals, determine its effectiveness, and make strategic pivots.
Lacking strategy, you’re left to go off of guesses, whims, and moods. That’s a serious mistake to make.
What are some social media strategy tips that you’ve learned?
