There’s an increasing number of social media roles being posted online that list ‘must create social content in line with new trends’. Not ‘must be able to create social content in line with our marketing strategy’. It’s worrying to say the least. Businesses are actively recruiting to win on social today rather than tomorrow. Even worse, they are making decisions based on what’s working now rather than next week.

Let’s be honest. Social media has become extremely accessible whether you’re an experienced marketer or not. And it’s great that we have tools at our fingertips to make the process affordable, accessible and adaptable. However, the number of marketers declaring that brands must post every day, supported by AI in many cases, is disturbing.

It seems that some people in our industry are more concerned with creating any kind of content rather than creating the right kind of content. Are these people so afraid of asking questions, challenging assumptions, and saying no, that they prefer to just stay really busy and avoid the hard stuff?

Marketing strategy is as much about saying no as it is saying yes. It’s time to get comfortable with saying no to content that doesn’t align with strategy, content that doesn’t serve a purpose, and content for the sake of content. It’s time to get comfortable with not doing the thing that everyone else is doing if it doesn’t fit your strategy. But it’s not time to get comfortable with having no strategy at all.

 

So, what is social media strategy?

Social media strategy is not posting every day no matter what.

Social media strategy is listening to your target audience, understanding their needs, and crafting messages that resonate.

Social media strategy is not uploading videos, carousels, and images on rotation.

Social media strategy is creating engaging content that taps into the hot topics and key challenges our target audience is facing.

Social media strategy is not commenting on every post your client creates.

Social media strategy is building a relationship with your target audience through considered responses and thoughtful ideas.

 

For most businesses, especially those in professional services, social media should be part of your marketing strategy. But it shouldn’t be your whole strategy. It is a channel that should be used to learn about your target market, provide help and support to your audience, and build relationships with customers. To understand what role social media plays in your marketing mix, get in touch to discuss your strategy today!