I’ve been getting some questions this week about digital media strategy and execution and my experience these last several months. Late last spring I decided to become an expert in this space and realized I was very far from it. Still am. Though I have been diving deep as a practitioner and have learned a tremendous amount. I needed to do this so that I could make effective decisions about communication and sales platforms for my businesses going forward. Here is a step by step sequence of what I’ve done, feel free to reach out with any questions.
Step 1 – I re-engaged BrandonGreen.com as a personal brand site. I used Danny at One Week Website to help me think through what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I had very little clarity but I knew it needed to evolve. I was a little embarrassed that I hadn’t done anything with brandongreen.com for years but got over that and went to work. This process brought to the surface a lot of unanswered questions.
Step 2 – I went on a 6-month listening tour where I traveled around the world speaking, teaching, writing, meeting, and most of all…listening. That time helped me get in touch with myself again.
Step 3 – Meanwhile I knew I needed to get Facebook Business, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, email campaigns and my blog. But where to start? I began with Instagram and quickly realized it was a very visual, yet community-driven platform. I can write, but I’m not a designer, so I knew I needed to find a resource to help me with Instagram’s main feed so I could curate a visual look for my personal brand and post my thoughts consistently and have them translated visually. Creative media consultant, Kristen Merie Wieder has been helping me for the past 1.5 years with the aesthetics of my brand while managing my social platforms, as well as aiding in graphic design and all brand photography.
Step 4 – Oh but wait. Video! I’m great on camera, speak, present, teach all the time – but had very little recorded to put on the platform so I started consulting with Brandon T Adams and Mike Silvestri on that. That lead me to put together a team of freelance videographers, and 2 editors to record and edit the content. Both components have been difficult to get right and I’d say I’m just now starting to see video content that is what I’m looking for, for my brand.
Step 5 – And soon enough this was taking a lot of time and I saw I needed to manage my own personal schedule to create. Right now I have 2 hours a week of blocked time to create content (mainly writing) and then I spend another hour or so a day engaging the platforms by creating Instagram stories, ad hoc videos, posts and comment engagement and corresponding with my creative consultant.
Why do this and make this investment?
Right now it’s a land grab for attention on these platforms to build businesses and brands. This is the way we communicate now and people who have the largest audiences will have significant advantages over those who do now as we move into the next decade. It’s already happening. This is a moment in time, I can feel it, and I’m going to squeeze everything out of it I can. You should too.
A few words from my creative media consultant, looking at social strategy for 2020:
There are a few key takeaways that will help you adapt YOUR social strategy this year. First, the increasing adoption of video and live video makes it vital for you to include them in your marketing mix. Consider running video ads or streaming live broadcasts of company events, for example.
Second, prioritize mobile users when advertising on social media as they contribute the most to social advertising revenue. Expand your focus on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram as they offer higher engagement and ad reach.
Most importantly, your brand needs to align your strategy to appeal to the conscious consumer as social and political responsibility seems to be a huge influencing factor in purchase decisions and brand loyalty.
Although organic growth is what we all strive for, changes in social media algorithms have made it much more challenging to achieve. Paid advertising has become somewhat of a necessity, rather than an option, for businesses and individuals that wish to gain more visibility and strengthen the impact of their social marketing efforts.
Make the most of these social media advertising statistics to fuel your paid social efforts for 2020:
Marketers are spending more on social media advertising; with social media ad spend amounting to more than $89 billion in 2019.
According to projections, this ad spend will see an annual growth rate of 8.7% and likely reach $102 billion by 2020.
Mobile users contribute to a majority of social advertising revenue. In fact, 94% of the Facebook advertising revenue for Q3 of 2019 came from mobile.
The average ad spend per internet user also sees a gradual increase on mobile, jumping from $13.49 in 2018 to $15.40 in 2019. In 2020, advertisers will likely spend $16.85 per mobile internet user.
What do you think of these social media stats? How are you planning on growing brand awareness through social media this year?
