I’ve been preaching for the past few weeks about how social media is a marathon not a sprint. I’ll be honest, there are certainly days in my career where I feel like I’m simply running on the rat wheel when it comes to social media. I try to keep in mind what the goals of social media are.
For purposes of this article let’s say the goals are the following:
- Stay in touch with potential prospects (perhaps someone you met at a networking event or someone who isn’t ready to buy just yet)
- Find new prospects
- Build brand awareness
- Leverage Social Media as a Customer Service tool
Now, take a momentum to think about what all of those things have in common, SALES, Connecting with other human beings and get them to say yes to your product or service (not necessarily through social media or online).
Social media is a marathon and here’s how…
- Register for the marathon… Get a date on the calendar for when you run the contest, event webinar, giveaway or campaign
- Start training for the marathon….build a strategy, which includes content, what market segment you want to attract and the medium through which you will do it (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Etc.)
- Run the Marathon…this is when you run the contest, event webinar, giveaway or campaign that you’ve been working up to
- Post Race Celebration …this is the fun part where you reach out to everyone who participated and create a personal connection and convert.
- Analyze your Race Results…..after you have completed the reach out period now is where you access what went right and where you can improve.
Sounds simple, right? It’s a lot of work but once you have a formula that works for your business it becomes easy to repeat, repeat, repeat.
When working on any social media plan or strategy its important to stay focused on a clear, consistent message that provides value. By understanding whom you are marketing too it becomes easier to define the message. The broader the audience the more difficult…the more refined the easier.
Ready, set, go and enjoy the social media marathon. It will grow your business. Have questions? Email me at Jamie@outliermarketinggroup.com
