A topic I frequently speak about “Free dogs, free beer, and social media” was recently featured in a new book. Kristin Magette published “Embracing Social Media” which covers practical practices for (mostly) the K-12 schools across the world where she applies her trade professionally.
Kristin and I met at a Social:IRL presentation I gave in Lawrence, Kansas where I discussed the beer and dogs topic. More information on that topic is available here. The gist of it is that to be truly successful with social media – no matter your goals – you will have to put money in the game.
HT to @kmagette on publishing your #SocialMedia book for #K12 http://t.co/NDXWcIMz3D Page 59 rocks! pic.twitter.com/o0TvAjEuaP
— Gus Wagner (@RocketGroup) January 28, 2015
The reasons why were important when Kristin heard me give that speech and are even more important now:
Organic reach: I know it still shocks some users to learn that at no time in history has every one of your fans seen one of your posts. Today, the organic reach of posts across all platforms is somewhere around 5{628954cb2bad821921117287c23504a7919be1893c483613421612ad8712cddb}. This means if you have 100 fans odds are that only 5 of them will see the post if you don’t apply strategy or money to get more attention.
Commitment: Businesses, organizations, and nonprofits of all sizes still refuse to accept that social media is a 24/7/365 effort. Throwing random posts up at 2 PM or 1 AM will not do anything for you if your audience isn’t online. Strategically scheduling or boosting your posts can help but if you really want to reach more of your fans – or people like them who don’t know you – you will need to invest money.
Rich audience: We don’t mean fans with deep pockets but the audience who is most likely to interact with your content (#ShareThenLike). These “super fans” need to see your most important content. Their frequent interaction will help you to reach them but if you want to be sure then you need to advertise to them.
The best. Social media advertising is the most manageable, targetable, and affordable form of marketing on the planet. You pick who you want to target, how much you want to spend, and control the gas and brake to speed up or stop your campaign. Any brand (that is you) worth its salt has already found this out.
TWEET THIS: Social media advertising is the most manageable, targetable, and affordable form of marketing on the planet.
Action items
- Stop complaining (if you are) that no one sees your posts or tweets. They aren’t reading your press releases in the newspaper either. Create engaging content and create room in your budget to have social media advertising as part of your marketing mix.
- Buy Kristen’s book. Especially if you are in the education world. You will thank her (and me) when you do so!
- Try out a Facebook or Twitter ad. Throw $5 behind a message which is getting good traction for you and let me know the results. If you need help figuring it all out, contact me for that as well!
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