3 Reasons Your Social Strategy is Failing (And What to Do Instead)

Here are 3 reasons why your social strategy is failing, and what to do instead.

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3 Reasons Your Social Strategy is Failing (And What to Do Instead)

Posted by:Brad Smith

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Posted October 29, 2012

"Social tactics are not meaningful sales drivers", according to Forrester's latest research report They analyzed primary sales drivers for eCommerce, and concluded that less than 1% of buyers were from social visitors

There's a few possible explanations for this

The first (and most important) is that social aids the buying process indirectly, and is difficult to track which leads companies (and research firms) to under-appreciate and under-invest The second, is that most corporate social media strategies simply aren't that good And their results are mediocre because they're too tactical, and too focused on micro-decisions

Here are 3 reasons why your social strategy is failing, and what to do instead

Fix #1 : Create Content, Not Updates

Every status update should have a purpose, and engineered to succeed

You're not just "telling people what you're up to", but you're creating content with a specific objective, interesting hook, and call-to-action

So every single status update should bear all the hallmarks of good content

Research and dig into your prospect's psychology, use copywriting to intrigue and address their pain points, and monitor your analytics to do more of what people like, and less of what they don't

Every status update should be like it's own advertisement:

Objective: At the end of the day, you need engagement or click-throughs But emphasis

one at a time, not both Because if you want to maximize results, then you typically have to make a choice that will hurt the other option

Headline:The first goal of your headline is to grab attention The best way is to touch an

emotional nerve, or reference a specific "world-view" they might have

Description: The description is where you use copywriting to play on reader's interests

and psychology, and get them to take action.

Image: Finally, the goal of your image is to produce a desired result So it doesn't have to

be explicitly tied to what you're talking about Instead, make it sure captures attention and will make an emotional connection

Here's an example of all those components coming together:

Becoming a social media publisher

allows you to set the tone for

engagement, and steer the

conversation in ways that ultimately

benefit you

Fix #2 : Create Assets,

Not Followers

If you hope to profit from social media

one day, then you need to do more then gain followers

Instead, you need to focus your marketing on one-to-many.

For example, partners and good relationships with other brands or influential properties are assets.

If you can create enough of these, then you'll never have to worry about growing your followers again Because they'll help you with promotion and drive awareness for years to come

The same goes for your own in-house email list or blog

These are platforms that grow in value, and allow you to freely share messages and instantly reach

communities of people

Invest in marketing assets first, and the social media mentions and friends will follow

Fix #3 : Create Campaigns, Not Launches

Whenever a company has a new launch, promotion, or sale coming up, they want to start

"marketing" on the opening day

But by then, you've already lost.

Effectively promoting events or launches takes time, and can't happen overnight

"If you want to succeed in social media, then think in quarters, not days." → [Click here to share this quote]

So tying in to # 1 above, if you want to increase sales and engagement over the holidays, don't flood your social media channels with "Buy my widget now!" updates all day

But start creating holiday content that teases and hints at upcoming promotions Find partners to

cross-promote and help you distribute this content Then run contests to increase engagement

and excitement for the upcoming holiday specials Finally, use lead nurturing and email marketing

to consistently follow-up with people when they do or don't show intent to buy

Investing in a single, well planned and executed holiday campaign will always have a higher ROI than spamming people the day before Christmas

And with one investment, you're getting multiple returns in brand awareness, new traffic, social

media mentions & followers, high-quality links for SEO, new email leads, and of course more customers

The key to social media isn't to reinvent the wheel

The key is to take what's worked for years, and use social channels to distribute those messages farther, faster, and more effectively

Connect:

Authored by:

Brad Smith

Brad Smith is a digital marketing consultant and the founder of FixCourse, an online

publication that teaches organizations how to grow Discover how to "fix" your marketing

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