There is a need for a strong strategy and clear limits. (https://livelongdigital.com.au/blueprint)

One of the great challenges of Digital marketing (https://livelongdigital.com.au/digital-marketing-services/) is to make sure your time and resources are being used effectively. (https://livelongdigital.com.au/blueprint)

It’s all too easy to put a huge amount of energy into social media, across multiple sites, and then scratch your head and wonder whether your hard work actually made a significant difference.

Social media activity is always open-ended. There are always more sites you could become active on (https://livelongdigital.com.au/blueprint) , and there is no limit to the time you can spend on the sites where you are already engaged.

Hence the need for a strong strategy and clear limits.

If you work for B2C companies, it can be tough to set those limits. And that’s why, even if you don’t have B2B clients, I suggest you create a social media strategy for an imaginary B2B client. Just as an exercise.

For B2B it is somehow easier to set limits.

Let’s imagine you are working for a company in the food services industry that specialises in selling frozen goods to independent restaurants and bars.

How might you help them with social media? (https://livelongdigital.com.au/blueprint)

Here are some options I might explore:

– Look for vertical social media (https://livelongdigital.com.au/digital-marketing-services/social-media-marketing/) sites which serve restaurant and bar owners etc.

– Search for and join relevant groups on LinkedIn and Facebook.

– Create an account on Twitter and engage prospects, thought leaders, food journalists and other influencers.

– Create a geolocation based campaign to implement at hospitality services trade shows and other relevant events.

– Reach out to restaurants and offer to sponsor local, geolocation based deals and offers.

That will do for now.

Each option is fairly clearly defined. Each has a specific purpose. Each is looking to engage with a specific group of people. (https://livelongdigital.com.au/blueprint)

It’s this kind of clarity you want to apply to any social media work, especially for B2C clients.

What you want to avoid is goals that sound like this: “Reach out to as many new prospects as possible.” Or, “Use social media to better establish our brand.”

These are very open-ended goals. There are no boundaries or limits. You could spend forever on them, and probably with a very poor ROI.

One way or another, whether you do my B2B exercise or not, create social media strategies and campaigns that address a specific audience, for a particular purpose, within a specified time frame.

Do that, and you’ll be able to apply resources where they matter most, and measure the results you achieve. (https://livelongdigital.com.au/blueprint)

Above all, avoid vague, open-ended strategies and campaigns that will be a drain on your time and unlikely to achieve tangible results (https://livelongdigital.com.au/blueprint) .