Lately, I’ve had several conversations with people who deem themselves marketing “experts” and then singularly focus the conversation on social media marketing as if it’s the only piece of marketing that matters.
The conversation is often a long one and absent of the questions that truly matter when thinking about a marketing strategy.
They ask these types of questions as if they can be answered with a simple yes or no:
“What do you think is the best platform to be on?”
“Do you think user-generated content (UGC) is valuable or not?”
“How much should ___ be spending on social media?”
I still have yet to understand how this narrow sight is created, but it appears to be one that is fairly widespread throughout these “marketing experts” and the businesses I encounter that have worked with or been pitched to by them.
Perhaps it’s that social media is accessible to all and that has led people to believe they’re great marketers by being familiar with the platforms? Or everyone's ability to be a content creator?
It doesn’t matter how much time I spend on Robinhood’s app I am not approaching others about managing their stocks for them or telling them what they should be doing. I recognize that their ability to invest involves quite a few other variables they must consider before diving in.
The same is true here.
I would never say that social media marketing is not a powerful tool for any business – but it is a piece of a larger digital strategy – it should never be looked as the marketing universe.
Back to the questions above, it sounds like a cop-out, but I would say in every scenario, “It depends.”
Let’s take a closer look at two of the questions and what I mean.
What social media platforms should I be on?
Well, who is your audience? The natural reaction for many businesses is feeling the pressure of a new platform and believing they have to be on it without considering the larger audience on that platform.
Let’s start with TikTok as an example. I think you could pick any TikTok user out there and they would talk about how addicting it is -- truly a neverending scroll of content that feels so personalized to them that people often say,
“The algorithm knows me.”
Short bursts of content and dopamine to the brain keeps people engaged for hours and constantly coming back for more. The outside vendors or contractors looking to make a quick buck with any business say, “You should be on TikTok. You’re missing out. Look how much people are using it? Or I bet you know someone who is always talking about it?"
But is that the audience you’re looking to reach? Almost 50% of TikTok users are under the age of 24 and while the United States has the largest amount of users that might not be who you’re after if you're selling vitamin supplements for men over 50.
Or think about the content side of it. If you’re considering what platforms you should be on in your social media marketing approach, you have to be realistic about what you can create. There has to be hundreds of thousands of business profiles on social media networks that have not published a post in over a year because they never considered this before getting started. They felt a pressure to be on the platform, made a few posts with what they had, and then never came back to it.
Measure your success not on how many social media platforms you are on but how consistent you are posting and the level of engagement you are getting.
When thinking about content, decide who you want to talk to, and then you need to tell them something they want to hear/show them something they want to see.
And, going back to the TikTok example, it might not be realistic – based on your bandwidth, team, or product – to make a ton of short videos consistently. You might be better suited for static photos of your product accompanied by a story then some flashy.
It’s not to say your content should be lackluster, but it has to be true to who you are and what you’re capable of creating on a consistent basis.
Because this all kind of doesn’t matter if you’re only going to do it once a quarter and forget about it.
Be weary of an outside vendor that attempts to wow you with their knowledge of a platform without asking these questions first about your business.
Alright, next question.
Is user-generated content valuable or not in social media marketing?
The way I wrote the question – based on the way I’ve heard it asked before or had it asked to me – comes with the assumption that you can just have it if you want it.
It’s a radio button on Instagram that you just flip on when you’re ready to start seeing UGC.
UGC is people talking about your brand and posting it online – who wouldn’t want that?
When it’s great content, it lightens the load of the need to create and instead gives you something to repost and share to your larger audience. Not to mention in resharing from the brand handle it creates an amazing tip-of-the-hat moment to the person that posted it that I would argue builds brand loyalty.
We’ve all probably heard of one situation or another where someone in the friend group had something reposted by a brand and was jazzed about it.
But when it’s bad content, it creates a liability for the brand that requires follow-up or moderation of some kind. It could be someone posting something bad about the product or it could just be a really sad looking photo that unfortunately is getting a lot of visibility.
If you had it your way, knowing that many people were going to see it, you would have looked for some better lighting or not had the annoying reflection in the background.
You get the point. It’s not all great.
And just like with content that you’re creating, making UGC a part of your ongoing social media marketing strategy requires intention.
How are you going to prompt people to create content? In a way that’s valuable to you and on a consistent basis? Do people engage with your product in a way that inspires UGC? What is the ideal experience you’d want them to recreate or story you want them to tell? Do you have a budget to incentivize that?
Once again, there are questions around the original question that force you to consider your larger digital marketing strategy and consider if this is what is best for your brand. If this is where time is well spent.
Because it will take intention to make it a consistent and rewarding piece of your marketing strategy versus a flash in the pan when you happen to get something good.
There’s much more to marketing than social media
“Designing a winning strategy is the art of asking questions, experimenting and then constantly renewing the thinking process by questioning the answers. No matter how good today’s strategy is, you must always keep reinventing it.” Constantinos C. Markides
Be weary of any marketing tactic that ignores the larger questions that your digital marketing strategy should be designed around.
“Who is my customer?”
“Where can I find them?”
“What problem does my product solve?”
“What is unique about my brand?”
(“What data do I have to support the answers to those first four questions and how is it changing?”)
“What is my budget?”
“What tools and talent do I have?”
Businesses continue to look for a silver bullet in marketing and have yet to find one.
Social media is a channel for your business that may or may not be your greatest opportunity at the moment. Because it is now doesn't mean it will always be and because if it isn't now doesn't mean it will never be. Healthy, growing businesses understand their core customer and in the search for more of them, they ask themselves if social media marketing is what will help them find more of them.
Need help in crafting your digital strategy or optimizing your social media marketing? Check out my services here and let's create a tailwind for your business.
Comments