Social Media Strategy: Forget About the Kitchen Sink

How many times have we heard business leaders state “but I have tried everything and we are seeing no results using social media”?

Let's break down the statement “I have tried everything but have no results.”

Results – When you say results what exactly do you mean? What are you measuring? Did you actually set goals and objectives? Do you know what your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are? Do you know what success looks like? If you haven't set goals, don't have KPIs and don't know what success looks like then how can you say you are not seeing results?

Everything – what exactly have you tried? A Facebook page that isn't aligned to your audience and doesn't have a strategy or plan to support goals of your audience and business?

Or does everything mean you are on every social network known to man and are running around like a social chicken with your head cut off? In this scenario you are likely spreading yourself too thin and don't know where to start, nor how to leverage the million social networks you have a presence on to drive results.

If you are guilty of spreading yourself too thin, the chances are high that you are falling into the trap of focusing on random acts of marketing and social media. We call them RAMs! RAMs are mean and dangerous. They love kitchen sinks. They will eat every last morsel of ROI and brand equity in one meal. Avoid RAMs at all costs.

Or when you say “everything” are you referring to the fact that you are copying your competition or people who you believe to be “gurus”.  If you are copying anyone, there my friend is your first mistake. They are not you and you are not them. Their audience is not your audience. Their goals are not your goals. So why would it make sense to copy what they do on social media? It doesn't!

There is only one way to do social media and that is the way that works for you, your business and your audience. Build your own social media and marketing strategy, period.

Is Your Social Media Strategy a Kitchen Sink Dispose All? 

What happens in this scenario is your social media strategy and execution starts to look like a dirty and cluttered kitchen sink. It's likely worse than the bad college room mate you had who didn't know what a dish towel was. You are basically filling it with everything you read in blogs, listen to on podcasts or wherever you get your information.

You may be spending a ton of time consuming information on the how, what and why of social media. However, when it comes to creating your own plan, understanding and connecting with your own audience you are not spending even 30 minutes a week there. You are too busy keeping up your million social media platforms, tools and technology that you have no idea why you are there in the first place.

If this is you, please don't throw a rotten tomato from your kitchen sink at me. Please take a deep breath. Everything will work out alright if you take the time to slow down to speed up.

It is time you took the time to research your audience, set goals and objectives. You must start to align social media to your business goals where it can have the greatest impact. Do not force fit your business into Facebook or Twitter. Instead, figure out how social can fit into your business. It's a completely different way of looking at it, particularly compared to the crazy, busy, stinky kitchen sink you have now.

The first place you need to start is to know your business and know your audience. WHY are you doing what you do? What does your audience need? How are you going to leverage social media to help your audience, clients, partners and friends? For everything you do with marketing and social media integration you must ask WHY!

The purpose of this post is not to give you the template of a social media plan. My goal is to get you motivated to clean up your sink, period. Don't you think it's time? I have written many articles on these topics with tips to help you get rid of the social clutter, develop a plan that aligns to your audience. I have listed some of them below.

For starters download this worksheet to help you prioritize and understand your audiences. The work you do on this will then help you align social to your business goals and objectives.

If your kitchen sink is too messy and you need help, call us. We are experts at helping you delete the RAMS and execute a strategy that will drive real, measurable results.

What You Say? 

Are you in? Are you ready to clean up your kitchen sink?

Take Action & Get a Grip on Social Media Now!

This is part of the series titled “How to Get a Grip on Social Media.” The series will include a free newsletter, webinars, whitepapers, tips and best practices to get a handle on your business and social media.

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• Worksheet: Download Content Inventory Worksheet to maximize to monetize your content!
• Worksheet: Download our POST audience analysis worksheet to help you identify and prioritize your top audiences. It is based upon the Forrester POST methodology.
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