1 social media marketing mistake to avoid in 2022
And the right way to approach early organic social strategy for your brand đ
Hey fam,
Hope youâre having a great morning. Unless you voluntarily chose to drink coffee from Dunkin, of course. Ew.
Today I want to break down a common mistake I see brand founders and marketers make on social media.
If youâre trying to grow your brandâs social presence in 2022, pay attention.
And donât worry, Iâve made this mistake plenty of times, too. But not anymore.
Letâs get into it.
So, what are you doing wrong? â
The mistake Iâm referring to is constantly linking people off the platform.
For example:
Plugging your product page links all over TwitterâŠ
Telling people to âclick the link in your descriptionâ on YouTubeâŠ
Prompting TikTok viewers to âfind the full videoâ on YouTubeâŠ.
You might be thinking: But Tommy, how am I supposed to sell my product?
Good question. And I want to clarify â Iâm not saying to NEVER do these things. Itâs an art. Itâs context dependent.
When youâre first starting to put effort into gaining real momentum on social (ex. your first few thousand followers), you want to make the experience for the user on that platform as high quality as possible.
This drives follower growth and engagement.
If your account is:
Constantly linking out to articles or products
Has no personality or native content
Has no clear value proposition on platform
Youâre not giving users a reason to engage, or to follow.
You can promote your product as often as you want, but if youâre promoting it to nobody⊠good luck driving sales.
Also, the goal of social media platforms is to keep users on the platform as long as possible. When they do this, theyâre able to serve users more ads (and make more money).
If your content keeps people on platform, the algorithm on most platforms will reward you.
For example, watch time is the golden metric for videos on TikTok.
High watch time = more time spent on platform = algorithm pushes your video out
Twitter is another example. Thereâs a reason why (well done) threads drive crazy engagement. When the reader is hooked in and reads a 30-part thread, theyâre staying on Twitter for longer.
Key takeaway: Create content that works with the algorithm to help keep users engaged and on the platform longer. Youâll get rewarded with growth.
Again, this is assuming your goal with content is to drive business. If itâs just a hobby, create whatever content you want. Screw the algorithm.
A better way⊠đ
As much as we want social to be a channel that drives sales, thatâs often not the case at first.
(Quick caveat: this is referring to your brand social accounts. Influencer seeding can be a great way to use social to drive sales early on)
For organic social to contribute to your bottom line, you need to grow a sizable, engaged audience of the right types of people (your target customer).
To do this:
Create native content specific to the platform
Get clear on WHY users should follow your brand on social
Spend time engaging with your target audience on the platform
In other words, create content thatâs meant for driving engagement and follower growth.
When you add enough value on one platform, your followers will naturally start to wonder where they can find more of your stuff.
If your bio is optimized, and you have a relevant link in bio, users will start to follow you across platforms, sign up for your email list, and even by your product.
This takes time though.
Think of it like a fitness transformation.
Of course you want the muscles, the six pack, the confidence⊠but it takes time.
This is no different.
You might listen to me, you might not.
If you do, I think youâll be happy in about 3-6 months from now.
If not, have fun plugging the same landing pages likes to your 50 person following.
Your choice.
1 resource thatâll make you a better marketer
Does going viral on TikTok lead to an increase in revenue? Or is it just a vanity metric?
Check out this newsletter from my friend Cody Plofker on his brandâs experience. They went viral on TikTok last week, and the results were crazy.
He also breaks down his thought process behind the posts that took off, and his approach to TikTok strategy going forward.
Great read, if you care about making better content to drive more sales:
One more thing đ
If youâre new around here, i publish these newsletters every Thursday to help your brand make better content (and get more customers).
If you enjoyed this, and want to stick around for future editions, you can sub for free here:
Talk to you next week,
Tommy
PS - need help with growing your brandâs presence with content, the right way? Letâs chat and see how I can help, just click here