Social Media Consulting and Training

Social media is the ultimate ‘I can do it myself’ aspect of marketing. And why not? You know your business, your customers, and everyone knows how to use it right?

Then why do some companies find much greater success in social media than others?

The reason social media has exploded is because of its value, but also how much of a discipline it is. There is a strategy to create great content and drive engagement. There are ways to run social ads with strong ROI. There are tactics that help build communities of followers. If it was easy, there wouldn’t be so many freelance social media coordinators and dedicated publication companies.

The Power of Social

My Approach to Social Media Training

As an agency professional or as part of an in-house team, I’ve crafted social strategies, executed content, produced ads and created content calendars for most channels. During that time I’ve learned the value of fundamentals in communication and planning, plus the need to stay current with the market. My goal is to empower you and your team to execute a relevant and valuable social program.

Planning and Coordination

The first place many customers fail is consistency. Keeping an active and meaningful calendar of content rolling so that channels stay full with good content. I work with brands to identify priorities in the calendar and assemble content that matters to an audience. By planning further out, channels keep current without content becoming boring and irrelevant. This enables your team to transition into self-management with a rhythm that can be maintained.

Community Engagement

The next place I see companies fail in social is responding to customers and building a dialogue. Though most people aren’t on social media to interact with companies, when they do, they expect a social conversation just like any other. I assist with building tactics for your teams to handle these dialogues with best practices on dealing with online scenarios.

Content Direction

The last big hurdle we often have to overcome is what does good content look like and how to create it. There is a way to post with a better chance of connecting; type of content, time of day, hashtag use, etc. Regardless, it’s about experimenting, learning and improving. I help companies build a list of creative opportunities, plan resources to achieve them and ensure they can be measured.

Where do you struggle?

We should talk!

A short, 15 minute discovery call will be all we need to discuss your challenges. With that information, I will come back to you with a proposal on how to support your social media.

Organic Social Strategy

In some ways, organic social strategy has taken a back sewat with the ‘pay to play’ nature of social media. It’s true that platforms like Facebook have reduced the strength of organic content and tried to push towards paid content. That doesn’t mean there isn’t value in producing great content, it just means it has to drive engagement.

If you’re spending hours producing content that nobody is liking or commenting on, it means it’s time to adjust your strategy.

I’m also an advocate for building a routine of organic content that builds your brand presence. It might not be seen by thousands of people every time, but it builds your channel. That way when you’re ready to generate some traffic, people will see a well-groomed, meaningful channel that’s worth following. I always find it strange to follow an incredible ad to a vacant YouTube channel or barren Facebook page.

I can help build a calendar of organic content that your team can deliver, or support with writing it myself. I’ll help research into your target audience and measure how well posts are doing.

Paid Social

Once upon a time I was sceptical of social media advertising, but I found it to be one of the highest ROI channels. Yes it is often seen as a high-funnel, inspirational place for people, but that doesn’t mean a good ad doesn’t generate interest. The trick is creating content that cuts through the noise.

The infinite scroll of social media means that a split second of attention is a real thing. You have less than a moment to catch someone's eye.

Quick little story, I remember having a social ad to generate email leads. The designers wanted a beautiful lifestyle shot, it fit more with the tone of our brand's social channel. We were getting signups at about $2 a lead, which is pretty good. I decided we should test it against a promo post, painting it aggressively with holiday sales messages. We dropped the cost per lead to 80 cents. 

Like any advertising, you can blow a lot of money really quick with nothing to show if you don’t plan. I build paid social plans, brainstorm campaigns and provide creative direction. Content development for social platforms is about planning, testing and adjusting. I work with organizations to understand the role of social media in their business and help them build meaningful dialogues with customers.

Essentially, the purpose of social media is to engage with people. Hence social! Sometimes you broadcast messages, but if you're not having two-way communication with your audience, you're not getting the full value of your program.

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