Why does social media look so easy for some brands? Especially the big ones?
I know many social media marketing professionals who take a brand or company and just start pounding away at their social media efforts. At least, that’s what it looks like from the outside. Most of the time these successful marketers do well because they inherently make smart decisions from the beginning.
The most important thing they do is research their brand and customers, and they make a plan of attack.
I also know many social media pros who think they could be successful with any big brand behind them. They’re wrong. They think that the big brand carries enough influence from their traditional marketing efforts and that moving those assets to the social world is as easy as, well...pie. But it’s not. In fact, it’s probably harder.
The reason this group of marketers doesn’t do so well is because they don’t spend the time to research and plan. They take the same strategies they’ve used in the past and they try to apply those practices to every client they touch. And they fail sometimes.
The reason they fail is because every brand is different. Every company has different customers and different funnels of purchase. They also have different pain points that have to be addressed.
You recognize these types of marketers quickly when they start to subscribe marketing strategies before they’ve asked enough questions. They tell brands (and other marketers) to follow best practices before they’ve done the research.
This is truly dangerous with bigger brands.
There’s more at stake. There’s more red tape. There are more people that have to buy-in to the program and there are more eyeballs on you than ever before.
So how do you tackle a social media plan for big brands? The same as for smaller companies. It starts with planning.
Begin with an audit. Get your marker on the map before you venture on your quest. Besides, you need those benchmarks to show progress and growth.
Look at what’s working currently and what’s worked in the past. Look at competitors. Look at what their competitors are doing right as well as what they’re doing wrong. Are they not active on certain channels (those may be opportunities or perhaps those channels are not where their customers are)?
Look at what channels are already bringing in traffic to the website currently. Especially if those are channels that are not already being pursued through active social media engagement.
Create target personas and think about where they live, work, and play online.
Consider buyer intent. And search intent. Think about top of funnel inquiry. All of those things will help you consider not just what social channels to invest in but also what kind of content to push on those channels.
Once you’ve done those things you can begin the next phases of planning which include things like creating brand personas, creating content calendars, building influence with influencers, etc.
You can’t put the cart before the horse. Do your research. Then make a plan.
The thing to remember in all of this is that it takes patience. The long hours of planning that are put in will help ensure you’ve got a roadmap to successful social media marketing.
Need help with your marketing plan. Contact me today for a free consultation to see if you’re ready for Modern Marketing.