It’s been said that life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes and, if we want to avoid sadness, we can’t resist them. The adage holds true in the world of social and digital media where the pace of change is constant. To succeed we must constantly change what we do and how we do it.
Keeping up is not easy. It takes time and resources. Understanding and managing an ever-expanding set of digital channels can be a 24/7 process. It takes digital knowledge along with solid marketing and communications experience.
Despite sinking time and resources into social media, many companies are not seeing the results they want. Bringing in a certified social media consultant can turn things around quickly. Click To Tweet
Your strategy is off (or non-existent)
Surprisingly, one of the most common roadblocks to social media success is a lack of strategy. A social media consultant starts with an assessment of the alignment between social media activities and business goals and objectives. Tracking follower growth, likes, clicks and impressions, is an important part of social media management, but it’s not goal setting. To drive business progress, social media objectives need to be tied into the organization’s strategic plan.
You’re doing things wrong
An outside consultant brings a fresh perspective. The social media expert will identify the activities that hold a client back.
One company needed to engage millennials for campaign success, but was struggling to build a following on Instagram. It turns out a personal profile had been set up. This limited how Instagram could be used. It meant no promoted content, a limited use of stories and no analytics. Converting the profile was an easy fix and the company saw immediate gains.
Another company was failing at getting earned media coverage, despite using reputable newswire services to distribute its news releases. The new approach was to develop relationships with some online influencers with large and loyal social media followings. Focusing on high-impact, high-value relationships turned things around for this campaign.
You’re doing the wrong things
Companies often focus a lot of resources on three or four major channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, because that’s what they know. But there are hundreds, thousands even, of social media channels and platforms each one serving its own niche and purpose. A social media consultant has a deep knowledge of these and can recommend better ways of reaching the right targets.
One company had spent more than year updating and promoting its Facebook page, but wasn’t getting the engagement needed to raise awareness of important policy issues. The problem was the target audience, researchers and academics, was not taking part. The combined solution included influencer outreach and content curation. Soon productive online conversation about important issues was taking place.
You’re doing the same things
Most companies don’t do enough monitoring and don’t understand the data. That’s why they fail to make incremental adjustments on the fly. Being nimble and making changes as you go is important to social media success. A social media consultant has the tools and knowledge to track progress and analyze and understand trends.
One company had a lot of organic activity on its Facebook page. The analytics revealed that Facebook wasn’t referring any traffic to the website and so no online lead generation from a highly-engaged community. The answer was to adjust calls to action in Facebook content and put in place a targeted ad campaign. Almost immediately Facebook became the main driver of website traffic.
Want to get real business benefits from social media? Contact me to set up a time to chat.
