The Difference between Wants, Needs and Strategy

Your social marketing strategy matters

It’s essential that you know how to market yourself. You need to be able to stand out from among the crowd and differentiate yourself from all the other applicants. You need to be able to convince someone that you’re the right person for the job. You need to sell yourself effectively in order to get that sale, that project, or that customer.

The competition is fierce. You don’t want to be someone who’s just average and easy to forget. In order to be a cut above, you need to utilize some effective marketing strategies, with social and word of mouth marketing being one of the most popular types today.

Today most people spend a lot of time on social media sites, so it’s important that you establish your presence in some of these social media platforms. Don't jump in too quickly, however! Before you start this type of marketing, it’s important that you identify your objectives and plan out your strategy.

It’s easy to say that you want a thousand followers in one week, or that you aim to establish a presence in all the social networking sites in just a month. But these aren’t strategies – these are goals that you want to fulfill. In order to meet these goals and be successful in your social marketing, you need to formulate a strategy that cuts through the clutter and helps you to reach your objectives within the time frame that you have in mind.

What are some of the things you need to think about in order to create an effective social marketing strategy for your brand?

     1. Create goals and objectives

A ship needs a destination, or else it will just go around in circles. Just like a ship, when it comes to creating a personal brand you need to have some goals and objectives so that you can map out how to achieve them. Otherwise you’ll simply be flailing around, wondering where the shore is. Make these goals concrete by writing them down and putting them in a place where you can see them regularly.

     2. Focus on needs, not wants

Sure, everyone wants a million followers on Facebook, and hundreds of people signing up for their newsletter, but if you’re just starting out, these “wants” may not exactly be feasible and can only discourage you when you don’t achieve them. Focus on what you need in order to be successful in your social marketing. Even if you have thousands of followers, does it really mean that all of them are actively engaged and connected with your brand? Not really. Seeing that you have 3,000 likes on your Facebook page may be remarkable, but if no one is commenting on your posts and updates, then that’s still a red flag that can alert you to problems with your social media marketing strategies.

     3. Identify your target audience

Who is your target audience? If you want to attract new clients, employers and customers, it’s important that you do some research in order to discover how to gain their attention. It’s important to describe your target audience in detail, their demographics, locality, etc., so you know how to identify them and reach them.

     4. Be creative and innovative

Though there are tried and tested strategies for succeeding in social marketing, you should also put some creativity to your plans so that people won’t think that it’s just the same old marketing all over again. Check out your competition and see what kind of approach they’re taking. Encourage active participation in your social media accounts through polls, questions, contests and giveaways, and make sure to add some multimedia to spark conversation.

     5. Listen and respond to your audience

One of the best things about social media is that it really allows you to interact effectively with your audience. It’s not like advertising, which is a one-way broadcasting to the people. Social media allows a two-way conversation to happen, enabling you to really connect and engage your followers. As you advertise in this way, be sure to listen to your fans, take their suggestions into consideration, don’t dismiss their feedback, and always respond to them. This is a great way to spread the word of mouth about your brand, encouraging communication and participation within social media.

Yes, you want to fulfill your social marketing wants. But it’s very important to focus first and foremost on what’s important, on the needs of your personal brand. Once you have concrete goals and objectives, only then can you really create the best strategy in order to achieve these goals.

Focus on what’s feasible and attainable. As a personal brand, you must be grounded and focused on your strategy and goals.