Focus is so important when it comes to digital marketing which is the topic of today’s video, posted above.
There are billions of people online today. In fact, recent research shows that 3.7 billion people in the world own a mobile phone. (Compare this to only 3.5 billion people who own a toothbrush–yes, that’s true–and you can see that people prioritize the internet really high.)
To get people’s attention online, it’s imperative to COMMIT to a specific message. In this week’s livestream, I’ve given you a couple of great examples about how two companies truly committed to a specific message (knocked it out of the park), and achieved ample conversions because of it. I’ve also laid out a challenge for you to do the same–so don’t miss it!
0.00: Introduction and welcome
For more information beyond what’s in the video below, check out my welcome blog post.
1:08: A common mistake people make on social media (hint: Lack of focus) and how to think about social media as a targeted tool.
All too often, business owners and marketers try to do everything at once on social media–meaning they try to showcase ALL aspects of their business on it. And while it SEEMS like social media is a great place to do this, it’s actually a big mistake. Let’s think about this in terms of how we conduct ourselves offline for a minute. When you roll out a new product or program in your business, you ALWAYS do it with a purpose. Whether it’s to complement another offering, move into a new space, or simply increase profit, you would never just put time and effort into something without a purpose. Or, when you go to the store–SOMETIMES you go just to browse, but most of the time you have a purpose and go because you need something. I encourage you to think of social media in this way too–use it with a purpose.
2:55: How to add focus back to your social media.
So how do we use social media with a purpose? FOCUS on one aspect of your business that social media will work best for (more on that later) and also focus on the best platforms for your business. Confused about which ones? You absolutely cannot go wrong right now with Facebook and Instagram. Facebook has billions of monthly users and over 60% of consumers make purchase decisions via things they see on Facebook. And, Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms, with the same ad platform as Facebook, so it’s simple to add it to the mix.
3:24: Examples.
Two great examples of businesses using social media in a focused way are Ford and Nature Box.
- About ten years ago Ford ran a social media campaign focusing on selling more of their Fiesta cars. They selected brand ambassadors by finding young adults in the San Francisco Bay Area with a large social media following. They supplied the ambassadors with Ford Fiestas and assigned them “missions” where they were required to document various experiences in their cars. This worked wonderfully and it’s still a famous case study today. Watch the video to learn more about why Ford chose the ambassadors that they did and how they used social media to really focus on just Ford Fiestas (it’s the ONLY thing they used social media for while the campaign was running).
- NatureBox ran a campaign a few years ago asking its social media followers where they eat their NatureBox snacks. This resulted in dozens of fans and followers submitting pictures of themselves with their snacks, having great experiences. Even now, this is the main theme on both their Facebook and Instagram feeds. Watch the video for more details.
9:06: Two questions to ask yourself to achieve optimal focus on your social media and how to write posts for optimal engagement.
To find your optimal area of focus for social media, ask yourself two questions:
- What is the most successful part, product or program of my business?
- What do people say my business (or I) am really good at.
Hopefully there is some overlap here… that would be the sweet spot. But either way, pick something compelling that came from these questions, and if you REALLY want to get the right answer, ask a customer question two. Then, decide which platforms are best for the topic. Again, I recommend Facebook and Instagram, but let’s say your audience is mainly older. Well, in that case Facebook obviously becomes most important if you focus on just one platform. Think about social media platforms like tools. You wouldn’t use a hammer for a screw, you’d use it for a nail, so make sure you pick the right platform for your message.
Now that you have your focus and your platform(s), try posting about only on what you identified above with the two questions for the next week. I know it seems scary, but you will start to notice your engagement really go up. And, if you’re feeling really brave, ask your audience a question just like NatureBox did and see what you get in return.
In this section of the video I also discuss features vs. benefits and information vs. transformation. Showcasing benefits and transformations rather than features and information is a powerful tool that will completely change your approach to marketing so don’t miss that part. Again, watch the video for more explanation of this section.
Also–be sure to join my community and download my free guide. It’s full of information to help you FOCUS your social media message.
11:28: Contact information and questions
Marketing Simplified is a learning portal for digital marketing. I love to get questions from my audience and will regularly answer them (anonymously unless you ask me to introduce you). So email me at [email protected] and ask away!
11:59 Fun visual–don’t miss it!
I can’t preview EVERYTHING–you have to watch my video for this!
