Is It Time To Make Changes To Your Marketing Strategy?

Is it time to make changes to your marketing strategy? If you’ve been putting content out there on social media, but no one seems to be engaging and it’s been a while, it might be time to tweak your approach. After all, marketing is a game of experimentation, trial and error and tweaking as you go.

Have you ever thought, ‘if I just keep going and being consistent, it will improve and the results will happen’? You’re not alone there; many people buy into this marketing myth. If you just keep posting, engaging with your audience, and using all the hashtags, the results will eventually fall into place, right? 

It’s true that there’s an element of patience needed in marketing. You have to give each new approach a go, and give things time to work; but it’s also good to know when to make changes.

Been doing the same thing over and over again for a while with no effect? There’s something about the content you’re putting out there that’s just not connecting with your ideal customer, or catching their attention in the first place. By continuing to do this, you’re only going to get more frustrated. 

Not to mention, all the wasted time and missed opportunities when you could be trying out your most effective idea yet! Consistency and engagement; of course these are important factors, but they’re not the only ones that matter. 

An intentional and proactive approach based on data, research, unique angles and experimentation are also important to succeed on social media. It can be all too easy to focus on efforts to go viral or have a quick win, but it’s adjusting and tweaking your strategy over time that will lead to the results you want. 

So, why is this myth so flawed?

1. The algorithm is always changing, along with the tactics and approaches you’ll need to change. 

2. Competition is fierce and creativity, originality and a deep understanding of your audience’s needs and preferences is needed.

3. The audience are real people who change their minds, beliefs and interests. 

The above is always good to keep in mind, without becoming discouraged. Knowing these factors can freeze us into inaction because it’s overwhelming to hear the many reasons that could influence the results you get. 

But the most important thing to keep aiming for is creating the kind of high-quality content that truly connects with your audience, and to focus on getting in a consistent pace of posting.

You’re not going to know what’s working until you start testing, as Mark Manson, the 3 x #1 NY Times Bestselling Author, says:

The best way to know if something is a good idea or not is just to go ahead and start working on it. It could succeed. Or it could fail. Either way: you’re ahead. 

Instead of plugging away and hoping you will hear more than crickets soon, take these 3 steps instead:

DEFINE, RESEARCH, TEST 

Define your goals, research your audience, test a new way. 

Step 1

What do you want to achieve? Do you want to increase your brand awareness, generate more leads, drive more sales, or build stronger relationships with your customers? Redefine your goals and start building a strategy that aligns with them so you can start measuring your progress.

Step 2 

Take a deep dive into who your audience is. What do they care about? Where do they hang out online? 

You can use tools like Google Analytics, social media analytics, surveys and customer feedback to gather insights into their demographics, psychographics and behaviour patterns. This will guide you when brainstorming ideas and tailoring your messaging, tone and style to their preferences and needs. 

Step 3

Sadly, there is no one-size-fits-all solution between brands, and social media is ever-evolving, which means staying up to date with the latest! There’s so much you can experiment with, including different formats, topics, timings and channels. Don’t overwhelm yourself with everything at once. Try a few and measure their impact. 

It can be unbelievably frustrating when you don’t get the results, and whilst we all want to go viral overnight, that doesn’t always happen. It’s still important to keep optimising your content, messaging and targeting over time. As you keep tweaking and testing, stay patient and optimistic as you try new things.

Keep the enthusiasm alive by remembering your why, and make changes as you monitor engagement and results. And maybe hearing about your why is a content idea that your audience would love too.