Your Content Strategy Will Not Help You Grow On Social Media
We don’t know who needs to hear this, but having “educational, inspirational & promotional” content pillars, is not a social media marketing strategy.
This week, we’re stepping away from the hard core facts & stats for a sec, because there’s something we need to clear up. We’re seeing a lot of the same things online when it comes to social media advice, and something we’re seeing often is the advice when it comes too implementing a marketing strategy, and that is, professionals advising to use the same generic content pillars, being “educate, entertain or inspire & promote” for optimal growth. A social media marketing strategy is more than that, and we’ll break it down in this blog.
THE REASON WHY THE generic PILLARS DON’T WORK
Let me guess, you’ve probably heard a social media “expert” online tell you to use this strategy for best results, “educational, inspirational and promotional content pillars”. This might have worked for them, and even for others, but it won’t work for all. We are so against implementing generic information from online as your marketing strategy, and we’ll even go further to say that no marketing professional will tell all brands to do one thing to skyrocket their followers, growth, sales, etc. This is because, marketing professionals know that every brand is unique and requires a fully personalized approach to their social media marketing strategy. We always say, that no two brands will have the same set of goals, target audience, industry specializations or values which, by the way, all influence your strategy.
A social media marketing strategy is not solely based on the content pillars you use. It’s what you post, where you post it, what music you use, it’s your plan of action & workflow that’s in place to work alongside your business, in helping you meet your goals. So yes, it includes your content pillars, but it’s not only your content pillars. Your content pillars are there to help you decide what to post to facilitate the customer journey, which means facilitating the process of someone turning from a viewer, to a follower, a follower to a lead, and a lead to a paying customer. Your content pillars are there to nurture and convert your audience on social media; however, their purpose is not to help you grow!
WHAT IS A GROWTH STRATEGY?
Your growth strategy, is a plan of action to help you get exposure, help you get visible and in front of new eyes, but not just any eyes, your target audience’s eyes. Let’s break this down before diving deep into some practical advice on your growth strategy. What do you think is better? Having a shop and having 100 visitors, without any purchases, or having 10 visitors, and all of them purchasing something? I think anyone would prefer option 2. The same goes for social media, you would rather have 500 followers that are super engaged in what you post and who regularly purchase from you, rather than 150,000 followers who aren’t engaged and never purchase from you. When we say growth strategy, we don’t mean a formula or hack to go viral and skyrocket your followers; rather, we mean a strategy to help you grow a community.
We all think we want to go viral, but really, what we want, is to build an engaged and loyal community, which always takes time, but is worth it, because having a community means there is trust and a strong relationship between the brand and the audience, and ultimately, leads to sales.
Last week, our blog was all about TikTok versus Instagram, where we outlined how TikTok is a much better place for you to focus the majority of your content creation efforts in, because the conversion rate of turning video viewers or profile viewers into followers (and ultimately leads, then customers), is much higher than Instagram. The debate between TikTok and Instagram also relates the shop example outlined above. All of our clients experience lower views on TikTok, in comparison to Instagram Reels; but a higher number of followers from each video being posted, i.e. your conversion rate. This is also why vanity metrics really don’t matter. Anyways, let’s get back on track on what a growth strategy is.
Move beyond social media.
We know, we’re a social media marketing and management agency telling you to move beyond social media, but it works! We support and advise our clients to do PR, podcasts, speaking on programs or presentations, network in-person or online (P.S. LinkedIn is a great place for networking) and more. We know that social media is a huge part of people’s sales funnels, especially at the beginning of your business journey - and that’s okay and still effective! This is important to think about, because oftentimes, we box ourselves in this social media world and forget about all the other ways we can support our growth online.
GROWTH STRATEGY 101
Yes, going beyond social media is one of them that we always recommend to our clients, but let’s talk about some ways to grow on social media. The biggest one is definitely, implementing omni-channel marketing, meaning, diversifying your reach and repurposing your content onto different platforms. The easiest way to do this is downloading your TikToks, with no watermark, and uploading them onto Pinterest Idea Pins and YouTube Shorts! That way, you are growing those platforms in the background, which you can leverage in the future when you have the time and resources to produce content for those platforms too! Either way, it’s extra exposure for your brand.
Other ways, of course, as you all probably know by now, are by consistently posting on TikTok and Instagram Reels. Again, we talk about this more in-depth in our blog from last week. Collaborated posts and Lives with industry leaders that compliment your service are a fantastic way for both parties to get exposure and benefit from each other’s audience! For example, a collaborated post between a social media manager and a graphic designer, to convey the importance of branding throughout social media. Or a collaborated post between a business coach and marketing specialist. Or, between a healthy food delivery service and a nutritionist! You can get so creative with this one!
FINAL WORDS ON GROWTH
We want to reiterate how vital it is to have a sustainable mindset when it comes to growth on social media. We value sustainable growth so much more over vitality, because our goal is to build an audience of engaged and loyal people who are genuinely interested in your content! Again - disclaimer, that takes time! Don’t be discouraged if you keep seeing others grow quickly on social media, which might leave you wondering what more you could do, or what you’re not doing. Instead, keep an eye on your analytics, especially on a month-by-month basis and make sure you’re in the green zone, meaning your analytics are going up, you’re good.
P.S. here’s what to do If your analytics are NOT in the green zone
This might mean there is something off in your overall social media marketing strategy, which most likely is your brand’s content not aligning with your goals, brand ethos, industry speciality & target audience. And sometimes, it requires a professional’s input and advice. We’re currently offering our signature 1:1 Strategy Sessions on discount for 43% off until the 1st of October. This service is perfect for brands who aren’t yet ready to invest in a social media manager, but need a solid game plan to advance, grow and make sales through social media. It’s a one-off service that gives you all the tools and resources you need to convert your audience as well as grow sustainably. Check out the details here!
