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The exact process we use to get clients social media success

When it comes to social media for business, most entrepreneurs fall into one of four categories:

  1. You know you need it, but you have no idea how to get started. Perhaps you got into social media a little late and you don’t have the base knowledge to know what will work best.
  2. You are already on it, but you aren’t seeing any growth or positive results and you’re not sure why. You’re spending time on putting content out there, but it’s going nowhere. You’re not even sure if anyone is reading it!
  3. You are already on it, but you can’t find the time to actually do anything with it. Running your own business is already hard enough. You realize the benefits social media can bring, but you just aren’t able to dedicate time to doing anything with it.
  4. You are an expert and you’ve mastered the art of engaging social media content.

If you fall into category 4, congratulations! If you fall into category 1, 2, or 3, don’t worry. You are not alone. It’s no secret that social media plays a major role in connecting with your audience, but, for many entrepreneurs, that’s where the frustration begins. Whether it’s a lack of knowledge or time, everyone has to start somewhere.

At SongBird one of the things I do is work with clients on their social media strategies. Sometimes it means building a strategy and executing it, and other times it is simply building a strategy and giving them the tools to execute it successfully on their own.

This is the 5-step process we go through with clients to help them achieve social media success:

Step 1: Social and competitor audit

This is an in depth look at what you are already doing on social media (if you’re on it!) to see what is working and what isn’t working. Then you take it a step further by looking at your competitors’ social media channels. Look for things like engagement, brand consistency, and content variety.

Step 2: Brand refresh

Make sure your brand messaging is aligned with your overall business goals and brand personality. You also need to take a good look at your audience and where they like to consume content to ensure you are using the right social media channels that will help you achieve your goals.

Step 3: Refine your strategy

You can start by ensuring your social profiles are consistent across platform when it comes to imagery, messaging, and brand story. Then you need to create a strong content strategy that will help you get your message across on all of your chosen social platforms. This means looking at appropriate posting timing, hashtag usage, types of content, and where the crossover content will be. Remember, you shouldn’t post the same content across all platforms. The idea is that you want people to follow you on all platforms, so you need to provide value in different ways to encourage this.

Step 4: Learn your tools

You need to make your social media implementation as easy as possible, so you can keep up with it. Tools like Hootsuite and Buffer will help with scheduling so you can schedule content one week at a time and not worry so much on a day-to-day basis. If you’re concerned about how your content looks, use a user-friendly design tool like Canva.

Step 5: Take it one day at a time

Only take on what you can handle, realizing that you can grow your strategy over time. As you start to see success, and your social presence becomes more consistent, you will find it easier to add to your strategy. It is also easier to track your success if you fully understand what you are doing. If you notice something isn’t working, try tweaking your strategy slightly. There will be trial and error in figuring it out on your own, so just embrace it rather than have it frustrate you. You can learn as much about your business, yourself, and your customers through things that don’t work as you can through your successes.

If you’re stuck, feel free to reach out and ask questions! You can also check out our Social Media Starter Kit!

Candace Huntly is Founder and Partner at SongBird Marketing Communications, an award-winning agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making the approach unique to you.

Connect with Candace

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

What to do if the Media Aren’t Interested In Your Story

CHuntly

You have developed your campaign, put the work in to build your launch story (and your perfect pitch!), and you have actively been pitching and following up with the media with your beautifully written media release. Unfortunately, you are sitting and waiting in silence. You can’t seem to get any media interested in the story you have to offer.

There are a few reasons why the media might not be interested in what you have to say:

  1. You targeted the wrong media. Do your research to make sure they cover stories like yours.
  2. There is no relevant connection to an overarching newsworthy storyline (ie. Current events, pop culture, etc.)
  3. You didn’t give the media enough time before your launch or event. They need to have time to put together the story before it’s past.
  4. Bigger news came up. Do your research to make sure there isn’t a major event happening. However, it’s impossible to predict when the latest scandal or huge news story will break!
  5. Your pitch was too long.
  6. Your subject line wasn’t attention-grabbing.

Maybe you have done everything right. From a media perspective, sometimes they get hundreds of pitches every day, so despite how hard you try, your email or Twitter pitch may just get lost in the shuffle.

Here are three ways you can get creative with your outreach strategy to build buzz if you need can’t seem to get through to the media:

  1. Build a strong content strategy. If you have built a great brand story for yourself or your business, you should also be putting out great content on all of your marketing channels – your website, social media, blog, e-newsletter, etc. You have to make sure you are putting out great content on a regular basis. That means setting up a schedule for posting and keeping up with it so your audience expects it from you and they can engage with you. Sometimes a strong content strategy will actually put you on the radar with media who often look for story ideas online.
  2. Become a guest contributor. Try connecting with publications, industry-related blogs, and blogs of associations you are part of. They are often looking for great content, and this is a fantastic way for you to get your name out there and showcase your expertise.
  3. Be active on social media to grow your community and brand awareness. Social media is all about relationship building and empowering others to talk about your brand. Keep it social and go on at least once per day.

The key is that you shouldn’t give up on generating buzz about your brand just because you can’t get media coverage. Media coverage is a great goal, but there are so many other ways for you to get your brand out there that shouldn’t be ignored.

Candace Huntly is the Founder and Principal at SongBird Marketing Communications, an agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making it unique to you.

Connect with Candace

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

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