The Shocking Truth About Social Media Marketing Agencies

Transcription

1 benangel.co The Shocking Truth About Social Media Marketing Agencies By Ben Angel Have you been burnt by a social media marketing agency? Or, are you considering working with one? In the midst of our New Social Media Economy, it s easy to become distracted by everything facebook, instagram, twitter and youtube and take your eye off the prize the entire structure and strategy of your business marketing and sales machine. Maybe you run an e-commerce site, own a gym, a coffee shop, design furniture, maybe you re a coach yourself or you may have not yet launched your big idea whatever your business is, I m sure at one stage you ve either employed a social media marketing agency (or thought about doing so). However, the missing element to your business planning, and what could have been holding you back until now is not having someone who can see how each piece of your businesses elaborate puzzle fits in, thereby methodically pulling levers that will see a serious ROI for your business. You see, I ve come across numerous businesses in the past few months that have hired social media marketing agencies, to find themselves no better off 6 months later and now angry and frustrated they didn t work out WHY before they d wasted thousands of dollars for nothing. Which is precisely why I want to bring this topic into the spotlight right now. You see, here s the shocking truth about social media marketing agencies; 1. It s Not a Quick Fix

2 When you work with a social media marketing or digital agency to fix your marketing issues, what can often happen is that they only look at one piece in the elaborate puzzle of marketing levers that impact sales and induces growth; that is your social media alone. And whilst social media is an impactful element to most marketing plans, here s a tip: it s not the most important. So what is? The answer is simple having all the elements to your business working together seamlessly to achieve results. Social media is included in that mix, but it s only one element. Having a team of experts brainstorming YOUR business, your personal goals, your message, the reasons why you re in business, the exact person you want as your client, your website, your sales process, your copy, your graphics, the way you communicate and position yourself in your market, your competitors it makes a real difference and adds incredible context to your overall strategy that may otherwise get taken out of context. Resulting in you being driven in a certain direction that my not be healthy for the long term strategy. 2. Vanity vs Victory Metrics Sack Them if They Don t Know The Difference (and yourself!)

3 Before hiring any kind of social media marketing agency, you should ask them to explain the difference between a vanity and victory metric. And here s why. As the client, you can be showered with vanity metrics and sure, you ll get an ego boost at the number of likes, shares and comments your business might receive on facebook, instagram or the like, but very soon the same issues that lead to you signing on with a social media expert or agency will crop up again. Reasons such as real bottom line results that bolster your bank account. You see, most agencies (not all) are focused on these vanity metrics exclusively. However, Silicon Valley start-up companies know better than anyone, vanity metrics look great on paper, but it s victory metrics such as; landing page conversion rates, average dollar sale per customer, integrated sales funnels, re-targeting and virality that complete the online marketing picture. If they re building your Facebook fan page with tens of thousands of new fans, but these fans aren t targeted, the rest of your strategies are doomed because your entry point is broken. They re unqualified likes. And here s where things get worse If your backend systems such as, your sales funnel, website, retargeting methods are broken or key issues haven t been addressed you suddenly AMPLIFY an ill conceived marketing plan. 3. Have You Created a Single Point of Failure in your strategy?

4 If you re using a social media marketing agency to focus on social media and only social media, you have created (and poured money into) just one area, thereby creating a single point of failure in the business and possibly wasting a lot of cash if the campaign/s don t generate sales. Every business must use a marketing mix so that if one strategy fails to hit the mark, you ve got at least 20 others working in the background that tick along. This is what s known as protecting the downside. All marketing goes through a process of launch, revision and re-launch. With each revision of this 3 step process comes greater insight, learnings and a more well-refined and profitable strategy. Once you start uncovering all the elements of your business with a team of experts, you ll see that there could be more viable, dynamic, fast-growth strategies that suit your businesses reality more suitably than a social media campaign alone that may or may not produce results unless they understand your business bigger vision and all of its moving parts. 4. Why You Need to Know The Basics

5 Many businesses we advise detail their failed experiences of working with an agency. They are left deflated, frustrated and out of pocket often times never receiving the work that has been promised and paid for. Instead of employing an agency or expert, then waiting for them to complete the work, how about you work with a team of experts and learn all the components of marketing your specific product or service to your key target market. Start getting the results you desire by learning the strategies, the reasoning behind them and how to implement them as you re advised you can become your own most valuable team member. And, the most crucial reason for learning these aspects yourself, if you do go to hire one in the future, you ll be able to pick up on issues IMMEDIATELY, instead of them being dragged out over months. It also prevents the wool being pull over your eyes by getting sold on vanity metrics alone. The crucial thing to understand here is, that even though you may have hired an agency, the buck stops with you! You made that choice. Do not expect to handball such a critical element of your business over to another without understanding precisely what they re doing, why they re doing it and how it fits in with the overall strategy. 5. Connecting Social to Your Sales Funnel

6 Let s say that the social media agency is working exceptionally well for you your subscribers and likes have tripled, you re enjoying excellent engagement and you have people jumping across from your social pages to your website only to be disappointed, lost in the process, tune off because of poor copy and disappear into the ether never to been seen again. We have seen this happen countless times and often it s because there is no backup strategy. No marketing sequence / sales funnel, no personal client services standards. No new client system or sales process. The aim of gaining social media followers, fans and subscribers, adding virality to campaigns and being seen online is to turn your potential clients into paying clients. The objective is to get them off of social and into your sales funnel as soon as possible. It takes a lot of effort to encourage someone to align with you or your business and become a potential client the worst thing is to let them down when they join the tribe by not having a clear sales path to direct them through. Or, worse yet If Facebook, Youtube or Instagram change their algorithm and your organic reach drops to those hard-earned fans, you then have to pay Facebook a second time around to re-engage them, instead of simply having them on your list. If their strategy doesn t include a plan to get them off social you have a problem. They do not understand the fundamentals of successfully marketing online. And even worse, if they haven t discussed with you how you can sync your automated sales funnel to your Facebook ads so you only show adverts to your subscribers when they hit a key point in your follow up series, to help reduce costs, increase conversions and reduce buying time

7 Well, you get the point! 6. Murky Communication You may have employed a marketing or digital agency in the past to see less than successful results only to then feel increasingly frustrated at their lack of communication and resistance to changing strategies or adding new ideas. The problem: social media moves fast! What worked yesterday, may not work today unless you ve built in contingency into your marketing plans. This is one of the most common issues we ve seen with agencies. Most clients have an allocated time each week or month and in-between there is not a lot of communication and feedback. With a dedicated Advisor you have scheduled calls as well as communication in between calls where they can review changes, provide advice, draw on a team of experts to uncover solutions and craft new ideas in between calls so that each session is conducted from a place of learning, value and power. This allows for a rapid shift in strategy if need be. 7. One Size Fits All Mentality

8 Often with agencies and social media experts they are employing a one size fits all mentality with their campaign ideas. But here s the thing what may have worked for a massive national retailer, might not work for the local café. What has worked for the local café might not work for the aspiring artist selling prints online. What has worked for her, might not work for the established beauty blogger you get the idea. If one strategy and element impacts another then it too must be reviewed and revised. Simply put, you will benefit more from personally guided, step-by-step, honest feedback across ALL of your business elements not just social media. That s the power of having a dedicated Advisor in your corner. If you re ready to achieve greatness this year in your business then prioritize your entire business and marketing strategy, not just one element it s that simple. The question is how do you make a decision on the best course of action for your business? I have a simple way to answer that question. As a business owner or entrepreneur, if you Have a lot of big ideas, but not sure where to start or how to get an idea from paper to market Are in a state of flux or confusion, not sure what strategy to invest in next Are experienced in running your business but have stagnated in your decision making processes

9 Feel that you, your team, your systems and standards need a shake-up Want a dedicated, experienced team of experts to look at your business and shine light on missed opportunities and create new ideas Are marketing reactively because you need a QUICK injection of sales right now Are painfully aware that you must increase your revenue this year Are lacking a clear direction for your overall business strategy Excel in getting started, but need someone to keep you on track and kicking goals then you and your business need an Advisor. Now, I know looking at all of the things you re not doing, could be doing, should be doing can be a little daunting, however all s not lost! Now is the perfect time of year to get super strategic, well organised, clear on your overall marketing and business strategy and make the changes you need to make with someone guiding and directing you. And my team and I can advise you. Are you looking to feed your business this year so that you grow dramatically? My frustration with the industry, it s low standards and focus purely on vanity metrics is the reason why I have decided to launch IGNITE, a 90 Day High Growth Business Program. So, if you re looking to not only generate new sales, but revamp your branding, create media exposure, refine your sales process and social media strategy so it s more profitable and fits in with your entire business and marketing model keep reading. We are only taking on 10 business owners to work with at this stage, so taking action immediately is imperative. Click here to learn more now. In an incredibly competitive market, I can be sure of this your business cannot survive this year if you only focus on one element of your marketing mix. They all must work hand-in-hand to cut through the social media clutter. Leave a comment below about your experience working with a social media agency or the fear you have in hiring one? We d love to hear from you. Oh, I reply to every comment personally too! Weird I know, but we kinda love our tribe! :)