What “being strategic on social media” actually means for service providers

Want to know what “being strategic on social media” actually means for service providers? I’ve lost count of the times I’ve stop a service provider they need to be more strategic with their social media. And if you are a service provider who is showing up and posting on social media it might feel as if you are putting in the work and being strategic, when in reality you aren’t. Keep on reading to find out what “being strategic on social media” actually means for service providers.

 

 

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WHAT “BEING STRATEGIC ON SOCIAL MEDIA” ACTUALLY MEANS FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS

 

The difference between being active and being strategic on social media

 

If you are active on social media and have been told that you need to be more strategic on social media, you might be confused. That’s because a lot of service providers confuse being active with being strategic. They are not the same thing.

 

Being active on social media could mean that you are posting regularly (multiple times per week) on social media. It could also mean that you are setting aside time every week to social media, whether that be responding to comments, commenting on other people’s posts or having conversations in the DMs. However, you can be doing all of that and still not be strategic on social media.

 

Being strategic on social media means using social media as a tool to achieve your business goals. If you are being strategic with social media, you’ll understand how social media fits in with the buyer journey. For every post, you’ll have a clear understanding of why you are creating the post and the action you want people to take next. You’ll also be measuring success by monitoring metrics such as website traffic, conversations, enquiries, sales etc.

 

Hopefully, you can see there is a big difference between being active (using social media) and being strategic (using social media with clear intention and purpose). Now you can see the difference, it’s time to focus on you can be strategic on social media as a service provider.

 

 

BEING STRATEGIC ON SOCIAL MEDIA AS A SERVICE PROVIDER

 

Step 1: Identify how your business is different 

 

You aren’t the only person who does what you do. Whether you are an accountant, copywriter, graphic designer or coach the reality is there are plenty of people who offer a similar service. So why should someone choose your business over another type of business. Identifying how your business is different is key if you want stand out on social media so they are you are remembered, which is vital if you are going to be bought from or recommended.

 

If you don’t instantly know how your business is different there are three angles you can look at.

 

1 – Expertism / Specialism – Is there a specific area that you are an extreme expert in? For example, you could be a copywriter who specialises in sales pages or graphic designer who is an expert in creating pop-up banners.

 

2 – Niche – Is there a specific group of people / businesses that you serve? For example, you could be an accountant for content creators or a business coach for six-figure online solopreneurs.

 

3 – Values – Do you have specific values that mean even though you may provide a similar service, someone may prefer to work with you rather than a competitor? We are becoming a world where people increasingly want to do business with those who have similar values. An example would be a business that focuses on sustainability.

 

Step 2: Focus on creating content for your ideal client or customer

I know this might sound obvious, but your content needs to be made for your ideal client or customer. Not for your family, not for your friends, not for the people who engage with your content but will never buy and not for your industry peers. Your content needs to be for your ideal client. It is easy to slip, especially when people who aren’t your ideal client engage with your comment, but if you are to make sales from your content then your content has to be focused on your ideal client.

 

This means being specific. Rather than being vague and creating something that could apply to them get specific. Go so deep that it feels as if you are in their head. Also, ensure that the language you are using is the same as the language they would use. Explain their problem in their words and then show you can help them.

 

Step 3: Understand where social media fits in the buyer journey

 

Creating content that differentiates your business and speaks to your ideal client is a great place to start, but to truly be strategic you need to remember that you are using social media as a tool for marketing and sales. The goal isn’t just to post for the sake of posting, but to post so that people move a step closer to buying from your business.

 

The first thing you need to do is understand where social media fits in the buyer journey amongst your other marketing channels and platforms. For example, it might be that you are using social media for awareness (you want to use social media to introduce your business to new people) and then your aim is to move people over to your email list where you’ll then send emails that will drive people to sales pages. In this example, your buyer journey is Social Media > Email > Sales Page.

 

Another example would be you could speak on stages and whilst speaking encourage people to follow you on social media. On social media, you then share more information about your business and specific offers and encourage people to book a sales call. In this example, your buyer journey is Speaking > Social Media > Sales Call.

 

Creating content for awareness is very different to creating content for engagement. And creating content for conversion is different too. Understanding where social media fits in the buyer journey is vital so you can create the right type of content for that stage and move people forward accordingly.

 

GET A PERSONALISED MULTI-CHANNEL MARKETING STRATEGY If trying to map out your buyer journey made you realised you don’t have a clear multi-channel marketing strategy don’t worry I’m here to help.   As a generalist marketer, who specialises in helping micro business owners, I’m used to create marketing strategies across multi-channels. I’ll help you to get clear on what channels you need and how they should be all working together to maximise sales based on the resources (time, money and skill) you have access too.   If you’d like me to create a personalise multi-channel marketing strategy for your business get in touch. For all the details DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn saying MULTI CHANNEL

 

 

Step 4: Create each post with a clear purpose

You know you are creating for, you know at a top level what you need to ensure your content reveals about your business, and you know how social media fits in the buyer journey. Now it’s time to actually get posting. But now rather than thinking “What should I post toda?y” and then just coming up with something random, you can be more strategic. You might know you need to create an awareness post to attract more ideal clients to your profile. Or you might want to have engagement content as you are preparing for a launch. Or you might want to do a specific sales post for an offer. In each scenario, you’ll know where that posts sits in the buyer journey and therefore what action you want people to take next.

 

 

Step 5: Measure your performance

Being strategic on social media means not just being strategic with all the thinking that you do before you post, but also measuring the performance of your posts so you can truly understand what is and isn’t working for your business. Sometimes this means looking at the in-app analytics, but sometimes this means going further. If you are asking people to DM a code word you’ll need to track how many people DMed the code word? If you were encouraging sign-ups to the waitlist how many people joined the waitlist? If you want to gain new followers how many new followers did you gain?

 

Understanding what posts are working will help when you create more content in the future. This is another area that really separates business owners. Some create, create and create. But without reviewing your performance you’ll struggle to make better content. Measuring your performing is how you learn what is and isn’t working and you can take those learning to ensure your social media content keeps on getting better and better.

 

BE STRATEGIC WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT – JOIN MAYMENTUM.  As you’ve seen being strategic will social media means having a clear purpose identifed before creating and monitoring your performance and we do both of those things inside of MAYmentum. Inside MAYmentum you’ll be supported with strategically posting daily for your business and to monitor your performance so you can keep making your content better and better. You’ll also be around other business owners also posting daily (to normalise the habit) and sharing their learnings so together everyone can keep on improving. Come and join MAYmentum here.

 

Being strategic takes more work, but it’s worth it

You might have looked at those 5 steps and thought that is a lot of work. But arguable if you are already active on social media, you are already putting in work, but you just aren’t getting the results you could. Being strategic on social media will take you more time, especially in the beginning when it isn’t the norm, but given that when you are strategic on social media you’ll generate more sales it is well worth the return on investment when you look at extra time input and extra revenue generated.

 

 

 

That’s it. You now know what “being strategic on social media”  actually means for service providers.

 

Being strategic on social media isn’t about posting more on social media. It is about posting with purpose. It is about understanding why you are using social media in general and what you are trying to achieve with each post. In the beginning this will require you think different, but after a while it will become the norm and you won’t be able to believe you just to just post anything to get a post out.

 

Social media has absolutely changed marketing for service providers. Not so long ago service providers would have dreamed about having access to free marketing that could get their business infront of thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

 

Social media when used strategically can change your business forever.

 

Now it’s up to you whether you go back to using it how you have been or to get serious and use social media strategically.

 

I hope you’ve found this blog post useful. If you have do let me know over on Instagram or LinkedIn.

 

And if you’d like more support to use social media more strategically come and join MAYmentum. 

 

MAYmentum is a marketing sprint to help online service providers to improve their social media marketing. You’ll be guided through how to create content that is optimised for the buyer journey and buyer types, as well as be in a community where everyone is posting daily and monitoring what is and isn’t performing. 

 

The only way to master social media marketing is to commit and MAYmentum is the perfect opportunity to commit, test, and learn. 

 

For all the information and to sign up visit MAYmentum here. 

 

Be the social media markerer your business needs – Join MAYmentum  I created MAYmentum specifically to help online service providers to get the most out of social media marketing.    In MAYmentum you’ll receive training to create your own content strategy, depending on the stages of the buyer journey you are using social media for, and have the accountability to post daily and monitor what is and isn’t working.  And you’ll be surrounded by other business owners to normalise taking social media marketing seriously. If that sounds good to you, come and join MAYmentum