Why your social media isn’t ‘working’
I know what it’s like, you spend hours creating the perfect content for social media, you agonise of the captions, the hashtags, creating the perfect ‘grid’ on insta, making that funny video for Facebook. You’ve listened to the experts, you know you shouldn’t just promote, promote, promote, you need some useful, entertaining posts too. And you’re doing this.
Everything is looking fly! But all you’re hearing is crickets….
Sound familiar?
So often with marketing, I have clients come to me and say I NEED ‘X, Y, Z’. Most often, that’s social media. What the conversation should really be about though, is what they are doing on a broader scale for their marketing. Organic social media is freakin’ amazing (don’t doubt it) but the reality is that it is just ONE channel. An uber important one, but just one nonetheless.
So what’s a boss to do?
Let me introduce you to the marketing funnel aka the sales process the answer to all your marketing woes.
I’m sure you’ve seen some version of this before but no one ever categorises things the way my brain understands them, so I hope my explanation will set off a few light bulbs. This little beauty explains how people move through the sales process.
First up, we have AWARENESS.
This phase is when the customer realises that they have a problem (real or imagined). Throughout this phase, marketing activities such as organic social media and content creation are awesome because it’s a way of letting people know they have a problem and creating the desire to purchase from you.
It’s also amazing because it ticks the next box, CONSIDERATION.
Think about it, how often do you have an insta-stalk when you’re looking for a new hairdresser, home builder, husband, etc, etc? Having a solid presence on social media is going to help you, especially when they are comparing you to your close competitors. If your competitor has a bangin’ instagram full of gorgeous pics, photos of the team and stories/information that is useful but your instagram hasn’t been posted on for 3 months and it looks like it’s been run by the owners 15 year old daughter, who are you going to be more inclined to choose?
You can see from the funnel here that we’ve now pushed people from the awareness phase to the consideration phase and then we get stuck at the conversion phase. This is the part that most social media (and digital marketing) strategies lack. And I’ll be honest with you, it’s because most business owners look at social media as a cheap way to get more customers. Yes, it’s affordable but it’s also the most advanced advertising technology we have available to us. It’s time we start giving it the same respect (and $$$) as TV or print advertising. Why? Because it’s trackable, customisable and effective.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it Sonya! Tell me how to get conversions!”.
Alright, settle your kettle!
The secret is Facebook advertising to the warm audience you’ve built through your kick-ass organic social content. All that hard work into captions and photos is not in vain. Yes, it’s the most time-consuming part with the least visible reward (monetarily) but it’s ESSENTIAL for effective advertising that actually converts.
What I recommend you do, is set up an ad that retargets a custom audience. This can be people that have seen your videos, who have engaged with your content, visited your page, visited your website, are existing customers or are on your email list. This add needs to have an easy call to action. SHOW them the next step to work with you. It could be something like ‘Get a free quote’, ‘Get $5 off your next purchase’, ‘Get your free resource’, etc, etc. This part will be completely unique to your industry and business. Test out a few different versions and see what works best.