Strategic Messaging Amplifies Social Media

February 6, 2012 by · 3 Comments 

As simple as social media seems, I find it necessary to think about how my message jives across various channels. It doesn’t just happen. Message is a strategic decision. The channel? A tactical one.

During the past few weeks I’ve talked with dozens of small business owners about social media and their approach to it. I’ve read blog posts and white papers on social media and thought carefully about the approach I advise people to take.

The conclusion I’ve reached: clarity across all social media channels builds synergy…and that means your message is amplified!

Let me explain with a bit of a case study.

Cynthia Morris, friend, client, creative coach and author of the soon-to-be-published novel “Chasing Sylvia Beach” said she’s using an existing project to talk about the problems her audience faces daily. Simple. Effective. And this strategy works across all social media channels.

The idea builds positive momentum for Cynthia’s content (on Facebook and on her blog) and ignites buzz for her book in the process.

Meanwhile, she adds to her content offerings with well-coordinated products such as this author retreat.

Like most of us, Cynthia evaluates on an ongoing basis.

“What’s working? What’s not?”

“Twitter’s not doing anything for me. I don’t see the kind of results other people are getting,” she said.

The answer? Time to be a little more strategic. She posed a question,

“Could Google+ be a little more useful than Twitter for me?”

Meanwhile, her tactics include continuing to Tweet, where she promotes her own products such as “Feed the Content Monster,” or “Free Write Fling,” uses the hashtag #writing, and comments on creativity and other topics.

When quizzed about her most successful ongoing social media tactic, Cynthia sites email.

“An email to my list generated five figures in sales one day last year. That’s working pretty well.”

The conversation with Cynthia sprang from my ongoing work with Social Media as I began the re-write of that chapter in the third revision of my e-book, “The Marketing Master Plan.”

Cynthia quickly and passionately called for a reduction in my questions. Her advice for others:

“Use the opportunity to get a light bulb moment for yourself.”

The conversation was a light bulb moment for me. Cynthia’s input:

“These questions involve serious focus and thought. Reduce them. It’s too long. The average person won’t answer these questions. They’ll simply feel overwhelmed.”

When you talk with your audience, think about the problems that keep them up at night. So, if you’re talking with me or any of my marketing friends these days, you may want to talk about strategic messaging in social media.

And, by the way, don’t just give me your pat answer. Tell me why strategic messaging is working for you. What do you notice?

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