You Need Discipline NOT Tools for Social Media Management
Your social accounts are getting no traction. You need discipline, NOT tools for social media management. Why?
By Ken Morico updated You spend a lot of time optimizing processes, discovering hacks & tools, and leveraging cheap, offshore labor to mass produce social media content. And despite trying every tactic to get reach, your wheels are spinning and your social accounts are getting no traction. You need discipline, NOT tools for social media management. Let me explain why.
Reduced Reach by Using Social Media Posting Tools
Not only will your reach be reduced when you use certain third-party social media tools, it’s obvious to your audience you aren’t putting in REAL effort. Your voice is compromised. Your content blends in with all the other mass-produced content with similar templates. Years ago there was a term called “banner blindness” that described the ability of users to automatically skip ads within Web content. They just knew what it looked like and skipped it — thus making the ad totally worthless, even though the advertiser would see that the ad “displayed” and “reached” their target audience.
Most social media content produced by brands and even personal brands have a “look” that causes us to skip over the post. In fact, with algorithms now hiding a lot of content because there is too much noise / content in the feeds it’s likely you will experience less and less reach over time. Social media takes effort. If you don’t bother to reply to comments people notice. It shows you don’t care. You don’t engage. You’re too special. And social media users might come to the conclusion you aren’t involved at all in the process.
The Simplest Solution is the Best
I advise clients on social media issues and social media planning. Almost always, they are confused by the tools, confused by the number of accounts they have or think they have, and don’t know if their information is public. Sometimes my clients want to keep some social posts private and some public. That adds a layer of complexity and confusion for many people, slowing them down and their posting.
Just login and post. Assume everything is public, because if the social media networks get hacked all your posts will be public. Plus, apps that connect to your social media account usually have a lot of access to your data.
Discipline
Since social media works best when you post regularly and authentically that’s what you need to do. You can’t do it in fits and starts. Do it or don’t do it at all. If you absolutely can only post irregularly and you have funds available, you can pay to have your posts boosted to your audience (seen by everyone that follows you & beyond).
What’s a realistic way to stick to a schedule? Plan your days and social media time using a calendar. If it’s on your calendar it will get done if you desire. Desire it!
A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs & Social Media
I follow people on social media for ideas, inspiration, motivation, and friendship. Recently, I’ve been following Tilman Fertita and Grant Cardone. They are roughly the same age, from the same region of the country, and have high net worths. What I noticed was how similar they were in drive and ethos. But when I look at their social media accounts, I see Grant Cardone absolutely killing it. He’s personal, off-the-cuff, and a frequent poster. His posts often come up in my feed. His videos are branded properly. You can see for yourself. Grant Cardone Instagram | Grant Cardone Twitter. For comparison: Tilman Fertitta Instagram | Tilman Fertitta Twitter. Grant definitely comes off as a friend. He leverages the selfie and selfie video. He is disciplined in leveraging technology to simulate in-person bonding. This is not to say Tilman is ineffective, just that his presence is more portrayed in an older PR-style. It is also much less frequent. He should really leverage my skills in social media strategy… 🙂 . The numbers speak to Grant’s success: 6,965 posts 3.7m followers vs. Tilman’s 474 posts 108k followers on Instagram.
If you need help telling your story using digital tools, contact Ken Morico with ETHOS DIA LLC and get the expert guidance you need to make your mark and find discipline.