Social media shouldn’t have a finish line. But, it should have checkpoints.
Think about where your business was this time last year, or even 6 months ago. While the core of your day to day processes are most likely similar, the execution and how you reach your end result has the potential to be much different.
Social media is no different.
Platforms change. Functionality changes. And so too should your overall sharing strategy.
Why The Finish Line is Really a Checkpoint
It’s easy to see the success in a program and become overwhelmed by excitement. The countless hours developing a strategy. The sleepless nights spent learning how to maximize your efforts on each social platforms. Long car rides without the radio contemplating if a new theory will prove to be effective. Everything becomes worthwhile when a goal is reached, or better…surpassed.
But that can’t be good enough.
Crossing a finish line is great. But, standing around with a trophy while everyone else keeps running isn’t.
Consider the following social media marketing flowchart.
After evaluating your goals, developing a social strategy and implementing this strategy, measure the results.
In your opinion were your results positive? If so. evaluate your overall goals for the next 6 months and keep going.
Were your results negative? Again, evaluate your overall business goals and now refine your social sharing strategy to help increase your chances of success.
The cycle…doesn’t…end.
Real Clients. Real Results.
With Social Pro by Haley Marketing Group, a dedicated social media advisor uses the best social media tools and works specifically with a client to develop and implement a social sharing strategy that helps drive quantifiable business success. While these programs will typically run for an extended period of time, the following data represents a client that removed social sharing from their overall marketing strategy after 3.5 months of Social Pro services.
With any social strategy, one common goal is to drive an increasing amount of traffic back to the client’s website each month. After all, social media is a cluttered space. By directing social users back to branded items (blog content, top jobs, eBooks, and other premier resources) we continue to position a client as a thought leader on given topics and provide resources to their social community.
In the example, heavy organic social sharing efforts were put into place for July through the middle of October…and then no additional sharing was done. The finish line was reached and treated as one…not as a checkpoint.
RELATED CONTENT: Sharing Content on Social Media Works…and THIS Staffing Firm’s Data Can Prove It
With the success in September and data from a half month of sharing in October, I would argue that we were on track to surpass our September numbers. Instead, website traffic returned to where it was before our initiatives.
Again, When evaluating your social sharing program, it’s important to be proud of your success. But, it’s more important see your success as a checkpoint…not a finish line. Be proud. Celebrate with your team. And then sit down, reevaluate your goals and put a plan into place that will help you continue to succeed.
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