Social media marketing is a great opportunity.
Most businesses could benefit from investing more effort, time and money into social media.
And most businesses that don’t will regret it. But that regret comes with a few caveats. Most of us look back on life with regret. The main reason is that we know what we did. We know what we chose. But we always wonder what would have happened if we had chosen differently.
Call it The One That Got Away Syndrome or whatever you like.
But is social media really the best option for marketing your business?
Building A Social Media Following: The Cost
Every business has different strengths and weaknesses. The reason most businesses avoid social media is that it’s a weakness for them. The reason other businesses go all in with social is that it’s a strength.
For those that see it as a strength, they probably have people on their team that love social. That have committed a lot of time and energy to posting all kinds of content. They have developed a skill to know what kind of content will likely work and also what won’t work. And they’ve gotten past the point of feeling embarrassed for experimenting and trying new things that usually don’t work, but that sometimes get lots of engagement and new followers.
But let’s say that you are curious about social media. You see the potential. You then look at your team and decide that there really isn’t somebody with the kind of skill or the drive to go all in on social for your brand.
This is the time when building a social following is probably not the right choice. At least not right now.
Invest In Your Strengths: 80%
Part of running a successful business is understanding your strengths.
There are other opportunities in the marketing world today. In fact, there have probably never been more. Social media is one of those opportunities. It’s a really good one, but if it’s not a strength it might not be worth your time.
But let’s say you audit your team and discover that someone is really into video. Your best bet might be to build video content for YouTube. Or let’s say you discover someone on the team that has been blogging on various projects for over ten years. This person could be the person you have switch gears for their job and go all in on writing for your company blog.
Maybe you even have someone on your team that is really wired in on the local media. They know TV reporters and anchors. They know the local journalists. It might be best if you have them figure out ways you can create content that is published and shared on those channels. Especially if you’re a locally-focused business with local customers.
Have this person go all in with ~80% of your marketing efforts. Leave the other 20% for experimenting. Even on social. Just to dip your toe in and get some data for when circumstances change.
Final Thoughts
Social media is definitely an opportunity. If you have a person on your team with strengths in social media, definitely look to invest and invest heavily in creating content and building a following on social media.
But don’t be frustrated if you don’t have that person right now. Look for strengths. Then go all in.
Leave a little room for that experimentation. You might hire someone in the future with social media skills. You can have a little data for them to build on.
Experimentation is also great because it can give you clues about the next big thing for your industry and for your business. You might discover that you’re really good at something. Something that offers a huge opportunity.