5 Signs Your Business Social Media Strategy Needs a Reboot in 2024
An effective business social media strategy can make or break your business. In a digital landscape where major brands have a strategic, consistent, on-brand strategy, posting on social media and hoping it connects no longer works. It’s like throwing an entire pot of spaghetti at the wall and hoping for the best. Maybe some sticks, but what about the portion that doesn’t? That spaghetti represents the precious time, energy, and money you have sunk into social media.
This is where a Social Media Reboot comes in! Whether you do it yourself, hire a professional to perform a social media audit, or join the Social Media Reboot program, social media for business requires a strategic, goal-oriented approach. Your reliance on paid advertising decreases when your organic social media approach is on point. Plus, the ads you do run become significantly more effective.
Wondering if you need a social media reboot? Here are some signs to look out for:
Sign 1: Inconsistent Branding
When you look at brands like Starbucks or Dove, their brand identity is well-defined and consistent. Visually elements like logos, fonts, color palettes, and the mood they set look cohesive from post to post. The copy is relatively consistent in tone, word choice, the use of key phrases, and overall brand message. Even social accounts like Wendy’s, known for its snark, and Duolingo, which can be a little unhinged, have created a presence that lets you know precisely what you can expect.
Your branding is your first impression to anyone considering doing business with you or buying your product. It conveys a subconscious message to your audience that they can expect the product or service experience to match what your Instagram grid (or other social media content) portrays. Branding that is clear, cohesive, and consistent allows your potential customers to focus on your message and what you have to offer.
Inconsistent branding can be as hard for us to notice as our own typos. Identifying this problem requires looking at your own social media with fresh, objective eyes. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who knows nothing about your brand. Does the overall picture showcase a brand you would want to do business with? Consider getting feedback from people with different points of view—survey other business owners you trust, current customers, and employees to get their input.
Sign 2: Low Engagement Rates
A low social media engagement rate is one of the most common problems small businesses face when it comes to marketing. Likes, comments, and shares are measurable standards for determining the success of your content. Because people interact with content that entertains, informs, or appeals to them emotionally, low engagement rates indicate that your content is not resonating with your audience. Engagement also impacts your post reach. The more people engage with you, the more accounts social media platforms show your content to.
Because engagement is critical for a successful social media strategy, reviewing your content periodically to see what your followers are engaging with and what is missing the mark is vital. Experimenting with a variety of content formats can help you determine what your audience wants to see. Also, consider your call to action. Is it asking a question that leads to organic engagement? For increased engagement, ask open-ended questions. For example, if you sell lipstick, creatively present your array of colors and ask the audience which color is their favorite and why. Then, make sure you reply to some of the comments.
Sign 3: Lack of Clear Goals or Metrics
This brings it back to the spaghetti analogy. If you don’t want to waste resources making spaghetti that doesn’t stick, you need to use a recipe. Many business owners post as the mood strikes them or only post when they want to promote a sale or product. Real success is driven by data and goals.
Facebook and Instagram Insights offer several tools for measuring success. Look at your current reach, engagement, and audience. In addition, it is vital to find a way to measure how social media is converting to sales. Whether you install a pixel, survey new customers about how they found you, or look at the insights of your shop on the platform, this will be one of the key metrics for judging success.
Choose one or two specific goals based on this measurable information. Ensure that most of your content is created with these goals in mind. Determine how often you will check back on these numbers to determine success. Remember that change takes time, so you are looking for small increases month over month, not immediate success that doesn’t last.
Sign 4: Over-Reliance on Paid Ads
Social media ads are an excellent tool for immediate, short-term results. They have their time and place. However, focusing on improving your organic social media presence is a more viable and cost-effective strategy in the long term. A goal-oriented strategy based on measurable data will improve social media engagement, organic reach, and conversions without spending a dime on ads.
If you are spending more resources on paid ads than you are on your organic social media strategy, it indicates that there is a problem. Set aside time to audit the time, money, and energy you are putting into ads and the results those ads yield. Compare that to those same organic metrics (your time is worth money, so count that) and results.
If your organic social media is performing below platform benchmark standards for Instagram and Facebook, it is time to rethink your social media strategy. Because 67% of social media users research a company or product on social media before buying, people who see your ads are likely to click over to your profile or page to learn more about your company. That’s why improving your organic social media metrics will actually improve conversions from ads and even other traditional marketing methods.
Sign 5: Difficulty Keeping Up with Content Creation
Being consistent with posting organic content is one of the most important things you can do as a business owner on social media. It gives your audience and potential customers a sense that your company is present, steadfast, and follows through. It also shows Meta’s algorithms that your account posts relevant and timely content, which can boost your organic reach. Being consistent also means your content is coming up regularly in the feeds of current and potential customers.
Content creation challenges are one of the most common roadblocks businesses face when it comes to organic social media growth. As a busy business owner myself, even I have fallen victim to being inconsistent with creating and posting content. The only solution is to be strategic. Schedule time just to strategize and create social media content. Choose a reasonable amount of time to spend each month or week on content creation. Creating templates, batching tasks like creating graphics and scheduling, and getting organized with a post list and associated tasks can make the time you have to spend more productive.
So, Does Your Social Media Strategy Need a Reboot?
If you recognize that your business’s social media is showing one or more of these signs, you are not alone. These are the most common issues business owners face when it comes to social media marketing. The good news is that it is never too late to make a change, and it can be easier than you think with a Social Media Reboot!
You are probably thinking,” Kristi, you made that term up.” You got me; the phrase is completely made up! I came up with the term Social Media Reboot to describe the shift in mindset and approach required to master organic social media growth and create a high-performing social media presence that drives sales. It’s like hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del on your brain and restarting with a fresh approach that gets results. Optimizing social media is something that anyone can do with the right knowledge and support!
Why Choose Kristi Fisher Creative for My Business Social Media Strategy?
Through serving as a Meta subject matter expert, speaking at events about my field, and coaching and mentoring over 200 social media community managers, I have developed an intense passion for sharing my knowledge on how to improve social media strategy and empowering others to succeed on social media.
From this passion, I created the Social Media Reboot to allow me to share the knowledge I have gained over 10 years of helping businesses succeed on social media. The program was developed to empower you to master organic growth and build a powerful online presence without breaking the bank. To learn more about the Social Media Reboot, click here or contact me about my other services, from social media audits and one-time consulting to full-service solutions.