what should we post on social media?

If you’re constantly wondering “what should we post?” on social media, you’re asking the wrong question.  It’s a real story for a lot of my clients. Tell me if this sounds familiar:

• Your team walks in the door and stands around asking each other what they should post for the day.
• Everyone looks at each other perplexed and draws a blank.
• Before they can come up with something, a seemingly more important task (read: easier to complete) comes up, and everyone is distracted with another part of the business.
• No one actually winds up posting to social for that day OR you (the business owner) wind up posting at the end of a 12-hour day when you’re exhausted and running on fumes.

Does this sound like you?

It sounds like a lot of businesses owners that I see. Here’s the frustrating part: you know you shouldn’t have to live like this. You know you shouldn’t have to wait until the end of the day to find something to post about. You know you’re not at your creative best at the end of a long day. You know your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter look like a sporadic mess, and your customers can’t find consistent value in your pages.

Here’s something you should know up front: this is not the root of the problem. It’s a symptom.

It’s just a sign of a bigger overall issue that needs to be addressed.

It’s also not usually the only symptom you face. Here are some other issues that you might be experiencing:

• You’re not getting the business results from your social media and consistently find yourself questioning the value of social as a business tool.
• You’re constantly disappointed with what your team does in terms of publishing to social media.
• Your posts and business pages look exactly like every other page: focused solely on your business and irrelevant to the end user.

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, the cause is pretty easy to identify: you don’t have a comprehensive social media strategy.

A fully vetted plan:

• Identifies your ideal customer
• Outlines the business goals you are looking to achieve on social media
• Designates the topics, language, and format your posts will take
• Creates a posting cadence and assignments to ensure work is completed on time

 Have you ever tried to make a major health change in your life? This isn’t that different. Just as it doesn’t work out well to simply say, “I’m going to eat healthier and exercise more,” it’s also ineffective to say, “We’re going to post more on social” and get more customers.  A good health plan includes specific, measurable goals (I’m going to lose 20 lbs, I’m going run a 5K in the spring) and so does a social media marketing plan (we’re going to post x times per week on x platforms to get x new clients this quarter).

Bottom line.

There are no short cuts in your business. A lot of companies think that because it’s easy to start a social media account and because your kids use it you can just wing it. False. If you want accounts with your business name on them and a logo instead of a profile pic, sporadic posting, and a mildly engaged following, great. If you want tangible and measurable results that contribute to your business objectives, it’s time to get a plan in place.