You MUST Have This in Your Social Media Strategy
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi! Welcome to this week’s podcast. I want to discuss the one thing that is an absolute requirement to a successful social media strategy. Before I share what that one thing is, we need to first define success because contrary to what most believe, it’s not how many likes or followers you have. A truly successful social media strategy means more paying customers and clients.
THE ONE THING
With that out of the way, here is the one thing you must have: PATIENCE! Now don’t stop reading (and I see you rolling your eyes lol). I’m not just throwing this out there. I’m going to give you the literal strategy and time it takes for my local clients.
FIRE ME IF…
Not only am I a course creator. I’m also a social media strategy, marketer, and manager. I’m very selective with who I work with. I have to believe in what they do and like them. Integrity. Kindness. Friendliness. All of those things are what I look for.
When I meet with a potential client to discuss their social media strategy, I tell them, first, to look at their current numbers. Get a baseline of profits so that we can compare them in a year. Some have a percentage or number they’d like to see. Others have no idea how much more they want to make.
Then I say this: “If I’m not making you more money in one year, fire me.”
A YEAR?!
Yep, a year. Now most of my clients start seeing really good results in about 6 months. But it’s usually in a year where we really see the effectiveness of our social media work like, for example, 18% increase in profits in one year or a $9,000,000 increase in one year for another client. Of course, our social media strategy isn’t ALL that’s involved in profits. You have to have a great staff, good business practices, etc. But when everything is the same except the social media strategy, you can come to the conclusion that that plays a significant role in the increased profits.
Social media is a mystery to most and often works unseen so much so that you wonder if it’s even working until you look back and find out you made more money.
“But the fact is that social media is a marathon—you cannot reach the finish line without patience and determination.”
how I do it
Here’s what we do:
A consistent posting strategy (notice I said strategy because it’s more than just posting stuff) that includes behind-the-scenes, your staff’s faces, your face, helpful information, infotainment, humor, etc. It’s at least three times a week consistent with your brand and includes both photos, videos, and sharing of content that is relevant to your audience. Create and curate.
Run Facebook ads for two weeks at $5 a day each month. We usually don’t see more customers in the door for at least six months from our ads. But when you do them consistently, you get results. We use videos (least expensive), pictures of product or behind-the-scenes, giphys, and carousels.
We respond to EVERY comment.
We also create a unique strategy for each business. Some of my clients share useful video tips every two weeks along with helpful posts. Others it’s all about the food and community so we have live videos of live music, behind-the-scenes, and highlight the staff. Others wanted to promote other local businesses and have giveaways.
IN SUMMARY
This strategy has worked very well for my local clients. Remember, success is increasing your profitability. But I do have one disclaimer. If you’re in an online course business like I also am, it can be trickier. In a local community, word-of-mouth still plays a huge role in our strategy because our target market is local and recognizes these businesses. When you have an online business, you’re just a stranger. It can take more time, more strategy, and more patience! But keep it up!