Social Media Strategy
Maybe you’re not seeing the conversions you thought you would be, maybe you’re not seeing the right level of engagement—or maybe it’s a different social media goal entirely. Either way, the results aren’t what you want to them to be.
There could be a number of things contributing to your lack of results, but there are a few common culprits to an underperforming social media strategy.
Before we get into the usual setbacks, I want to emphasize the need for a strategy to begin with. Posting on social media without a plan will rarely result in sustainable growth and a converting presence.
If you have your social media plan outlined in your marketing strategy already, then you’re already off to a great start. If you don’t then this is one of those times that’s ‘better late than never’.
Getting started with a social media strategy might seem daunting at first but it’s as simple as just starting. Start by asking yourself a few questions! What do you want to get our of posting? What counts as success? What have you done before that worked (or it didn’t work)? Get into the details of what needs to be done then don’t forget to set some goals and ways you can measure the tactics you put into place!
1. Cross-Posting
Stop cross-posting on multiple social media platforms without optimizing for those other a platforms.
Scheduling can be both your best friend and your enemy. When done properly, it’s a great way to stay organized and on top of your posting—from Facebook to LinkedIn. Cross-posting is when you create a post in one platform and push it to the others.
However, each platform is different for a reason. They all have their own purposes, pros and cons, and posting requirements. Which means when you cross-post between them without optimizing your content, you are losing the quality and functionality in your post.
Sometimes these types of posts are easy to spot. A link in your Instagram caption and a reference to your ‘link in profile’ on a Facebook post? Other times it can show through in your engagement. Your audience on Facebook might not only be different than your audience on Instagram—they might be looking for entirely different content (and they’d probably benefit from different content too). We don’t want our audience to feel like they’re running into us three times a day and each time we tell them the exact same thing.
Action Tip
Recycled content and getting the most out of your ready-to-publish/share content is great but take the time to optimize for each platform so it receives the right attention.
Next time you’re drafting posts, batch creating content, or whatever process you have that keeps you active on social media, remember to take the time to optimize your content so you get the most out of your posts!
→ Adjust your images/graphics to the suggested sizes and formats based on that platform.
→ Edit out any calls-to-action that don’t make sense for the platform.
→ Be mindful of your audience and the platform their on so that when you reach your audience, it’s with something they can enjoy!
2. Writing Captions
Write captions that encourage your audience to do more than just scroll by (and be ready for what they do next).
Speaking of that pesky link-in-bio, have you put the same strategy into your landing pages as you have the content your posting? Just like every platform has its own purpose, it also has its own audience—and that’s something we can use to our advantage.
This goes for more than just the link you put in your bio or profile page. Tailoring the experience based on where your audience is coming from can improve overall marketing campaign success. Your Facebook followers might be a different demographic than your Instagram followers. Similarly, your email list segment of people who signed up for a freebie will be a different audience than those that have subscribed and are repeat customers. Cater to who they are and what they’re looking for—it makes it so much easier for them to enjoy a simple process and feel like they’re not just another customer clicking a link.
Action Tip
3. Content Dumping
Don’t let your posts turn into content and info dumps when you have the opportunity to connect with your community instead.
Social media is meant to be social and there are so many ways to balance engagement with your publishing schedule. When posting as a business, it’s easy to fall into a habit posting about business details—products, services, how to contact you—but we can’t let the community side of things fall out of focus.
People are on social media for connection so dumping information about your business and expecting something out of it is not likely to get you the type of return you need. Share content in a way that lets readers know you’re not just throwing your digital business card at them and expecting them to pick it up. If we want people to engage with us, we need to engage with them!
Often this means ditching the idea that we need to post everyday or multiple times a day. Pay attention to your social media insights to see when your audience is active and what type of content they seem to connect with. Rather than posting for the sake of posting, focus on sharing valuable content. Even if that means dialling back your posts—good content posted less frequently will perform better than poor content posted constantly.
Get into the habit of sharing content on social media as if you’re sharing it in person with someone. You probably wouldn’t walk into a room and say “Hello, I offer *a service* and you can buy it from me by calling me or emailing me, contact me right now to see how I can help you”.
If you need help getting started creating meaningful content for social media, I have a workbook that walks you through five different topics to pull content from for posting: 5 Day Workbook – Content Planning for Social Media.
Action Tip
4. Inconsistency
Posting sporadically when all you need is a consistent schedule and content plan.
Sometimes it feels like we need to be everywhere at once—maybe it’s the entrepreneur in us and we’re used to wearing so many hats—but this can sometimes cause more damage. There are so many great social media platforms out there but unless we can commit to sharing consistent content in a way that represents your brand properly then we need to focus on what we can manage and works for us.
Maybe you’re killing it on Instagram but you dread getting posts out on Facebook—remember that these are two entirely different platforms and just because you post every on Instagram doesn’t mean Facebook needs the same content schedule.
This is where having a social media marketing plan can save you time, effort, and that awkward feeling that you’re doing social media wrong.
Plan for what your time and content allows, either using a scheduler or something as simple as a social media calendar. If you have thirty products in your store but only a couple hours to snap photos, write captions, and post—don’t stress if you don’t post about all thirty products in a month. Instead, create a plan that can showcase your products in their best light and if that means only posting one great post about your products in a week, so be it! Mix in other content to keep your business active—share customer reviews, behind-the-scenes, and stories that people would never know about your brand if you didn’t share them.
If you’re struggling with creating content and/or posting it, your plan might just need adjusting:
→ Take a stab at batch content creation. Block out an afternoon to take a ton of photos for social media then block out a different afternoon to take those photos and draft captions. Having content to pull from helps when you’re in a posting lull (or when you’re too busy running the other side of your business to post on the fly).
→ Never neglect your content calendar! You can get as general or specific as you need to on it, just as long you have it. Knowing what content you have ready to post and what content needs to be created will help keep you on track for actually posting it.
→ Pay less attention to what other people are doing. If you can only manage a few posts a month, do that! Balance out less feed posts with story content and engaging with other accounts instead.
→ Remember that just because something gets posted on one account, doesn’t mean it needs to go on another. If you’re wildly good at keeping up with Facebook but dread the Instagram grid, play to your strengths while you work on managing it all.
5. Social Media Insights
Keep a close eye on how your posts are performing as well as how those insights translate to website traffic and business transactions.
If you can’t tell by now, I love looking at the data and always encourage other business owners and social media managers to look at it too. If you feel like you’re bending over backwards to create content and post constantly but find little or no return on your website, store, or in your community—it might mean it’s time to adjust your content, posting frequency, and take a look at where the disconnect is happening with your ideal audience versus the audience you’re reaching.
We’ve all heard it before—vanity numbers are not usually the tell-tale signs of a successful marketing campaign. So that means it’s up to us to take the time to go into the insights section of our social media platforms and head over to go Google analytics to get into what’s really going on after we post.
Sometimes it’s tough to swallow and sometimes it’s super exciting (and sometimes it’s a bit of both).
→ Great engagement on social media but poor performance on your website might mean there’s an inconsistent message that loses your audience after they click through. This can even go deeper if you look into how many people make it to your products or services page and drop off before buying or inquiring.
→ Maybe you get a ton of traffic on your website but can’t seem to grow a social following to branch out to a larger audience—look into your audience demographics to see who the people are that are constantly returning, then compare that with who you’re target audience and who you’re ideal customer is that you’re marketing to. Switch up your workflows and marketing to connect the two.
→ Know what your key performance indicators (KPIs) are and keep track of posts that perform well (or don’t) so you can reference them when you’re creating new content.
→ Take advantage of knowing when you’re audience is most engaged on different social media platforms and create your marketing calendar around that so all your scheduling effort can go into posting when you’ll be able to reach your community.
Last of all, remember that social media marketing is fluid. Algorithms change. The social climate changes. Unplanned products are launched. Impromptu events are held. Having a social media plan is meant to strengthen your brand, not limit it. A calendar can keep you on track but being adaptable to the market is equally important.
5 Common Social Media Marketing Roadblacks and How to Get Past Them
- November 7, 2021
- 7.5 Minute Read
- Social Media Marketing
