Finding Success with Social Media

At 5 by 5 Design we believe it’s possible to change the world by posing the right questions, listening to the honest answers, and following the path that emerges from the dialogue. Today’s discussion focuses on successful social media strategies.

Abby Kelsey, a Social Media Consultant and LinkedIn Top Community Voice, blends her passion for storytelling with robust analytics to develop social media strategies that resonate deeply with audiences. Her approach, rooted in creativity and data, effectively drives growth and enhances brand visibility across various sectors. Abby’s skill in utilizing platforms like LinkedIn for diverse business needs, from fostering thought leadership to boosting sales, highlights her as a uniquely impactful and personable leader in the social media marketing industry. Abby is the Founder of Always Social, and a key partner in Marketers’ Community, a growing Twin Cities organization focused on helping individuals and businesses level up their marketing. We’ve asked Abby a series of questions about how organizations should approach social media. Here’s what she had to say.  

1. Where should organizations start when developing a social media strategy?

Starting a social media strategy begins with a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how social media can help reach your goals. Before you start planning your social media strategy, I recommend addressing the following:

Define Your Business Objectives—Your Why: The cornerstone of any successful social media strategy is understanding your ‘why’. This involves a deep dive into an organization’s core objectives. What are you looking to achieve? It could be expanding market reach, enhancing brand reputation, or driving sales. This step is about aligning your social media strategy with your broader business goals, ensuring that every effort on social media is purpose-driven and contributes to the larger objectives of the organization.

Build Your Marketing Goals—Your What: Once the overarching business objectives are clear, the next step is to translate these into specific marketing goals. This involves setting tangible and measurable targets that are directly influenced by social media efforts. For instance, if your objective is to generate leads, the corresponding marketing goal could be to increase lead generation through LinkedIn by a certain percentage. This stage is crucial for creating a focused roadmap for your social media strategy and provides a clear benchmark to measure success.

Clarify Your Purpose & Audience—Your Who: Understanding who you are creating content for is essential. This step involves identifying and analyzing your target audience. This could include industry professionals, potential clients, and thought leaders. What are their challenges, interests, and behaviors on social media? This clarity helps in crafting a social-first content strategy that will resonate with your targeted audience, ensuring that the social media efforts are not just seen but are impactful.

Social Strategy—The How: Once you’ve taken time to consider your why, what, and who, this final step is where your actual social media plan is developed. It encompasses choosing the right social media platforms, content planning and creation, engagement tactics, and establishing a consistent brand voice. The strategy is designed to meet your previously set marketing goals and is tailored to the interests and behaviors of your target audience. This step also involves setting up systems for tracking, analyzing, and iterating on your strategy based on performance metrics and audience feedback.

Determining your why, what, who, and how will help you create a comprehensive and effective social media strategy that is not only aligned with your business objectives but also resonates with your target audience, ultimately driving meaningful results—return on impact or return on investment. 

2. How do you choose and prioritize social media channels?

This is a common challenge for many organizations, as they often believe that having a presence on more social media platforms is better, which isn’t always the case in social media marketing. Here’s a quick list of tips to get you started:

Categorize and Prioritize Your Channels: Classify them as Primary, Secondary, and Future Growth channels.

Ensure Alignment with Business Objectives: Each chosen channel should support your overall business goals.

Gain a Deep Understanding of Your Audience: Know where they are and how they interact on different platforms.

Develop a Specific Content Strategy for Each Channel: Tailor your content to suit the unique nature of each platform.

Assess and Allocate Your Resources Wisely: Balance your efforts and resources to maximize impact without overextending.

By following these tips, you can strategically choose and prioritize social media channels that are most likely to contribute to your business objectives and engage your target audience. 

3. How do you determine when you should do a paid campaign or rely on organic content?

In the realm of social media marketing, understanding the distinction and connection between paid and organic strategies is crucial. Organic social media involves creating and sharing content without paying for distribution. It relies on engaging content, SEO best practices, and brand-building activities to naturally grow an audience. On the other hand, paid social media refers to using advertising platforms to target specific demographics, behaviors, or interests, often leading to quicker visibility and reach.

The best rule of thumb to follow, is if the goal is to quickly increase reach, drive immediate traffic, or promote a time-sensitive campaign, paid social is often the way to go. Organic growth is more about long-term brand awareness, building community, and driving engagement.

Ultimately, your organic and paid social media efforts should be integrated and mutually supportive, not functioning as separate functions. 

4. Are there any tools you’d recommend using to help implement or track your social media efforts?

Tracking and measuring the effectiveness of your social media efforts is important, though it can be challenging to determine which tools are the best fit for your organization. Among the various options available, here are a few of my personal favorites that I commonly recommend:

Direct Channel Insights & Analytics: Platform-specific tools like these provide valuable data directly from the social media channels themselves. They offer insights into post performance, audience demographics, and engagement patterns on their respective platforms.

BuzzSumo: Excellent for content analysis and discovering what content performs best in your industry. It can also help in identifying key influencers and trends that are resonating with your audience.

SEMrush or SimilarWeb: These tools are useful for competitive analysis, understanding where your traffic is coming from, and how your social media efforts compare to your competitors.

Google Analytics: Essential for tracking website traffic from social media channels. It provides insights into how visitors from social platforms are interacting with your website and the conversion rate of these interactions. 

Use your specific social media objectives to select the best tool(s) for your organization. For instance, if your goal is to amplify your brand’s share of voice, you’ll need to utilize a social listening tool to effectively monitor and analyze conversations about your brand. 

If your objective is to closely examine the performance of your content and the impact of your campaigns, you’ll require a tool designed to compile, analyze, and measure the results of specific content pieces. Tools such as Sprout Social or Hootsuite are great options for that. 

5. What are some common challenges organizations face when it comes to social media?

When it comes to navigating the complex and ever-changing world of social media marketing, I typically see challenges that fall into one of these three buckets. 

Insufficient Resource Allocation: One of the most significant hurdles is not dedicating enough resources to social media. This doesn’t just mean financial resources, but also time and personnel. Social media marketing requires a consistent effort in content creation, community engagement, and strategy execution. Many organizations underestimate the level of commitment needed, which leads to mediocre results. Invest adequately in skilled personnel, tools, and time to manage social media platforms effectively.

Inadequate Tracking and Analytics: Another common issue is the lack of proper tracking mechanisms. Many organizations do not track their social media activities correctly or fail to analyze the data they collect. This oversight means missing out on valuable insights into audience behavior, content performance, and ROI. Utilizing the right analytics tools and regularly reviewing metrics can help in refining strategies, making informed decisions, and demonstrating the value of social media efforts to stakeholders.

Lack of a Strategic Approach: By far the most common challenge is approaching social media without a strategic plan. Many organizations jump into social media marketing without a clear understanding of their objectives, target audience, or how different platforms can serve their goals. This lack of strategy leads to a scattered approach, with efforts that are not aligned with business objectives and can’t be tied back to show impact. 

Organizations should view social media not just as a marketing tool, but as a multifaceted asset that can support and enhance various aspects of their business. Success in today’s digital landscape requires an integrated, organization-wide approach to social media marketing.