Social Media Marketing—It’s Not All About You
Don’t Make Social Media About You
I made an unintentional mistake in last Thursday’s blog. While it is very important to tell your story when engaging in social media, it should not be the focus of your marketing. This might sound counter intuitive to marketing, but hear me out (marketing strategy is kinda my thing).
Marketing Has Changed
I wasn’t fully wrong in telling you to make the story of your business a cornerstone of your marketing. The internet has shifted consumer’s expectations when it comes to what they give their attention to. In the past marketing was ego-centric to the business. This meant that you, as the business, were able to tell what your specials were and why you are the place to do business. It was pretty much an “if they see it, they will come” mentality.
Not so Much Anymore.
Today your future customers are overwhelmed with promotions from the time they wake up and check their smartphone, turn on their television to check the weather, through their GPS app which lets them know there is a nice deal at the coffee shop 1.4 miles away, and, of course, all over their social media pages.
Power Shift
Because consumers now have deals dropped into the palm of their hand (via their smartphones), they are able to choose who they do business with. This has shifted who wins the marketing game. Just because you say you are the best, provide top-notch services, or any other self-aggrandizing claims, there is a whole world wide web for them to find out that, despite your world-class checkout system, your store is rated 2.5 out of 5 stars because your employees seem to be invisible.
The 5 W’s are Still Important
This is where your story comes in. It is important that you know “who” your store is, why you’re in business, and what your goals are. This is what will dictate what you post and when.
When looking for content to post on your store’s social media channels, stick to these 5 w’s. Share things that help define your business such as:
Do some of these types of content raise flags for you? Memes? Posts that don’t involve your business? Yes! Remember, social media marketing is not ego-centric. People want to be social. Yes, they have liked your page because they are interested in your store and products, but that doesn’t mean that’s all they want you to contribute to their news feed.
- Articles from brands you carry
- Local stories about work you do in the community
- Memes that your employees, or you, love (or should love)
- Shared social media posts from other businesses who you admire (and tell why the post got your attention—customers don’t want to have to guess why a story is shared on your page)
- Posts about so-called social media holidays like the recently past Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you)
Think about a business you have liked on social media. What do you enjoy about their posts? Is it that they are all about them? Chances are no. In fact, a sharable meme is more likely to catch your eye than a post about the business joining the Chamber of Commerce. Is it relevant to the business, yeah, but do you really care? Be honest. (No.) The truth is that if all you do is post about how great you are, you’re going to drive your audience away. This is social media so be social.
How to Do It Well
Because we are marketing coaches, we read up on this kind of stuff. The recommendation is that for every post you make about yourself, you share 2 about your industry and share or comment on 3 posts on your page. Right. Right. You’re just getting started in social media marketing so you might not have the audience to engage that often. We should talk about how your marketing coach can help you target your social media audience to get more traffic. But before you can target your audience, you do need to have a guiding star about what you’ll talk about—and that is still your story. When you use that as your social messaging cornerstone and know how to plan content that supports both your business and your customers, you’ll find that sweet spot of social media marketing success.
Still unsure? There’s a platform for that and guess who has it! But this isn’t about us, it’s about helping you be social. Think of Sellr as your digital marketing wing man. We can help you, man. Just drop us a line.
Renee is the Content Marketing Manager at Sellr. She is passionate about creating digital marketing strategies that help business owners develop successful relationships with customers and vendors.
