2023 Social Media Marketing Resolutions

2023 Social Media
Marketing Resolutions

For the Purpose-Driven Brand

Katie Wight | December 07, 2023

This post is a 7 min read, you can listen to it here.

“I feel like I need to become an expert at 30 different things just to figure out my one next best step.” Someone said this to me the other day and it’s something I’ve heard a lot. Most of the founders and marketing leaders I know have, at one point or another, been burned by the social media industry. Time or money spent on trainings that teach how to create content that ends up falling flat (or on agencies that fail to deliver). So we get stuck in a cycle of feeling like we need more and more information before we can make our next move.

A lot of us forget that the social media marketing industry is a part of the media industry and that means we’re exposed to misinformation and click-bait hype as we work to navigate the field.

Despite the noise, there’s one simple truth we know here at Strong Brand Social: there are three ways to grow your brand faster without wasting resources on social media marketing.

This post is a 7 min read, you can listen to it here.

“I feel like I need to become an expert at 30 different things just to figure out my one next best step.” Someone said this to me the other day and it’s something I’ve heard a lot. Most of the founders and marketing leaders I know have, at one point or another, been burned by the social media industry. Time or money spent on trainings that teach how to create content that ends up falling flat (or on agencies that fail to deliver).

A lot of us forget that the social media marketing industry is a part of the media industry and that means we’re exposed to misinformation and click-bait hype as we work to navigate the field.

Despite the noise, there’s one simple truth we know here at Strong Brand Social: there are three ways to grow your brand faster without wasting resources on social media marketing:

The second two pieces can’t fall into place without the first – so let’s start there.

You’ve probably heard of content pillars, but this is different.

If you Google the definition of content pillars, you can scroll for dozens of pages and find a bunch of sources defining them in a similar way: categories, topics, or subjects that will organize your brand storytelling. Typically, 3 to 5 pillars are recommended. I recently saw a framework for finding your content pillars from L2 Gartner – the world’s biggest market research firm – and this was how they taught it, too.

What’s a sharper content strategy?

I’ve been a social media marketer for 13 years, and here’s what I’ve noticed: there are certain types of content that people share and follow you for, there are certain types of content people click and buy from, and there are certain types of content that light up the comments section.

It doesn’t matter if you’re B2C or B2B and it doesn’t matter what you’re selling. I’ve worked with thousands of brands across dozens of industries, and this is the one pattern that proves itself repeatedly.

So, five years ago I created my own framework for Content Pillars – like others in the field, but different in this one game-changing way.

There are three content pillars that every brand should have, and they align with your organization’s most critical business goals: demand generation, demand conversion, and demand retention (aka awareness, sales, and loyalty).

If you have different organizational goals, you can use the same framework but adjust your pillars. For example, this year we had a client that was a tourism agency and the only metric that mattered to them was demand generation (in social, audience growth), so we designed three unique Pillar 1s.

Their goal was to reach 37k followers in 12 months and at the 6-month mark, we were at 50k.

Organizing your content this way generates enhanced performance benefits through tactic staking.

Tactic stacking refers to our ability to layer on growth tactics that are aligned with the purpose of the post. For example, with Pillar 1, we might use calls to action that reinforce the goal (share with a friend!) or hashtags that are uniquely suited to reach new audiences (whereas with a Pillar 2 post, we’ll retarget our current audiences).

When done properly, tactic stacking delivers unbelievable results – and takes all of the guesswork out of what to publish, how, and when.

By only taking time to create and publish content that aligns with your unique goals, your results are powerful, and your operations are efficient. This means you can reach revenue goals efficiently, protecting your profit!

Measurement becomes way easier.

Your results are awesome (and measurement is more fun when you’re winning). Plus, now you have a measurement model that means something!

If you’ve been measuring the success of every post by total engagements, you’re missing the point. We don’t want people to “like” our pillar 2 posts, we want them to click!

If we aren’t measuring this way, we run a major risk of misreading data and pulling back on the content we mistake for ineffective.

What now?

Listen, if you’ve wasted time and money on mediocre marketing this year, you’re in good company. I’ve spoken with hundreds of other brands in the past few months that are in the exact same boat.

But this is not the time to wallow in self-pity – we’ve got dreams to chase!

There’s a massive difference between “doing social media” and “measurably growing your brand with effective social media strategy” and it has nothing to do with how many times you post, what platforms you’re on, if your Reel goes viral, or what hashtags you choose.

How about a new years resolution to create the last content and social strategy your brand will ever need?

If you’re ready to make 2023 the best year you’ve ever had in business – from revenue growth to a better brand presence, smoother operations, and zero wasted resources – I wanna hear what you’re working on and how you’re planning to reach those goals!

In your corner,
Katie

After a decade in the field at some of the world’s most beloved brands…

That’s 140,000 hours and ~3650 days of testing, learning, and simplifying the art of successful content and social media for product-based businesses in the outdoor retail, beauty, and grocery brand spaces...

I know exactly how to jack up your:

✔️ Growth rate

✔️ Engagement rate

✔️ Quality of traffic hitting your site

✔️ Average customer value

by a whole helluva lot. Even right now.

⚠️ This is not a time consuming and sprawling course.

⚠️ This is not a jargon-filled report.

⚠️ This is not another social media resource that’s going to overwhelm and paralyze you with a bunch of small details.

Apply Now!

If you have different organizational goals, you can use the same framework but adjust your pillars. For example, this year we had a client that was a tourism agency and the only metric that mattered to them was demand generation (in social, audience growth), so we designed three unique Pillar 1s.

Their goal was to reach 37k followers in 12 months and at the 6-month mark, we were at 50k.

2023 Social Media Marketing Resolutions

2023 Social Media
Marketing Resolutions

For the Purpose-Driven Brand

For the Purpose-Driven Brand

Katie Wight | December 07, 2023

Katie Wight | December 07, 2023

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