9 Timeless Truths for an Effective Social Media Strategy That Delivers Results
You do need the right strategy and tactics too, but ignoring these 9 fundamentals will hurt your results.
Ever felt like you were screaming into the social media void?
Why do some companies have dozens or hundreds of likes and comments and you . . . well, you got nothin’.
There are unique approaches and tactics for how to use the multitude of social media platforms to reach your audience.
Tactics and strategy are only part of what makes you successful online.
Successful companies base their social media strategy on these 9 fundamental truths.
For a quick highlight of the main point, check out my Too Long; Didn’t Read video.
1. Know Your Audience
All marketing advice begins here.
You aren’t going to succeed by trying to attract everyone. Who are your people? Your tribe, as Seth Godin likes to say.
Know your customers. Understand what makes them tick – what they’re afraid of. They're hopes. They're aspirations.
Delight them.
For social media, you need to know what platforms your audience enjoys most. Where are they? YouTube? Facebook? Pinterest? LinkedIn?
Meet your audience where they are.
2. Quality Content
First, a mini-rant; it feels like we’re getting close to a generative AI tool just skipping the intermediary and going into business as itself to sell marketing, writing, and editing services.
AI is great.
AI is also a tool.
A power tool, but like any tool, only as useful as the person using it.
There are lots of AI snake oil salesfolks arguing some variation of “all you need is AI to create all the content you need.”
What they don’t tell you – and maybe don’t know or even understand – is that there’s no “intelligence” in artificial intelligence. When you have any AI tool “write” something for you, it’s simply cutting and pasting existing content together. Granted, sometimes this can produce surprisingly good results.
(Also Google and the other search engines are going to figure out straight up AI articles created by ChatGPT and friends).
OTOH, not even the folks who create these tools understand exactly how they arrive at the answers. Plus, AI will “hallucinate” and flat out make stuff up.
Literally.
[Steps off soapbox.]
Content that addresses a need for your audience is gold.
Create useful content based on what your audience needs and wants to know.
3. Show Up Every Day
Consistency is key.
You have to spend time every day (sometimes even the weekends) sharing, commenting,
By being there you show yourself over time as a trusted resource. You’ll be seen as someone who wants to help as opposed to a different company that drops in and blasts “we’re great” and “buy our new thing now” messages. Then they disappear again, until there’s another thing to sell.
No.
Don’t do that.
4. Enjoy Yourself
Learning from peers, customers, potential customers, and even competitors can be a ton of fun.
Learning is fun!
Don’t be afraid to talk about things that aren’t directly related to sales/marketing. Make a connection over your hatred of the Falcons (Saints! Whodat!). A hobby. A movie. A joke.
Just because you’re connecting for a business reason doesn’t mean you have to be a soulless automaton.
5. Stop Talking About Yourself
Repeat after me: No one cares about you.
What they care about is how you can help them with whatever your product is.
I’ve lost track of the number of calls I’ve been on with sponsors of different types of content – webinars, ebooks, whatevs. The smart ones have always focused on answering a customer’s question. The dumb ones always wanted to talk about their product. I used to have the stats that showed which approach was more successful. On webinars, there was always a dip of around 30% in ratings (immediate post event survey) when a sponsor decided to go on about the glory of their product.
Don’t do that.
Share you knowledge. Spotlight your employees who are thought leaders in blog posts and video and ebooks and et cetera and etc.
Become a trusted resource.
Once you’re trusted, they’ll be more likely to buy from you.
6. Be Yourself
Life’s too short to be anything but who you are.
From a small business to the largest organization, you have a brand/culture, show that to the world.
Let me back up a moment, if you’re a pretentious ass – you probably don’t want to be that online (unless that’s your schtick of course).
Be helpful. Be useful. And do so through the spectrum of who you are. As a small company, that will reflect the values and personality of the owner/president. For larger orgs, adhere to the brand.
No one wants to interact with a stuffed shirt.
7. Share
The rule of thumb varies by social platform, but share educational/useful content at a 5 to 1 ratio of 3rd-party content versus your own content.
For sales-specific content, that ratio is more like 10 to 1.
You need to understand how the various platforms work differently to create a sharing strategy that will work.
Regardless of whatever the exact mix of content you share will be – share things you think your audience will enjoy, find useful, etc.
Most importantly, share stuff that isn’t yours.
Nobody likes that guy at the end of the bar who only – and loudly – talks about how awesome he is.
All this said, don’t forget to share your own knowledge and expertise via blog posts, infographics, webinars, comments on LinkedIn content, etc.
You have expertise and a point of view. You DO NEED TO SHARE YOUR STUFF, just not ONLY your own stuff.
8. Have a Conversation
Talk to people.
This is usually written as “engage with your target audience.” Which translated means “talk with people who might buy your shit.”
Do this through comments on LinkedIn or Facebook, DMs on Instagram or Twitter (sorry, “X”), or even, gasp, picking up the phone and calling someone.
And remember, talk WITH, not AT.
9. Be Nice
That’s it.
Be.
Nice.
These 9 Truths Work
I’ve been producing and sharing content since 1994 – from a faxed newsletter to today’s social media platforms.
Following these principles has helped me grow an online professional community, create websites that attract people, and to even make friends (actual, IRL friends).
The tactics and strategies around sharing content will always be in motion. That’s just life in the fast-moving IT world of today. However, regardless of the tactics in your social media strategy, I hope this high-level overview of these 9 fundamental principles helps you focus.
New platforms will continue to pop up like mushrooms after a spring rain.
Every social media interaction is an opportunity. An opportunity to gain trust. To make a connection. Even to make a sale.
When you follow these nine underlying principles, your odds of success will skyrocket.
And when the next hot new social media platform hits our app stores, you’ll be ready to take advantage of it because fundamental principles don’t change.
Struggling with the right mix of social content? Click here to schedule a conversation to explore your sticking points. I look forward to learning together.
Insightful