NOTE: This blog is the seventh in a series by NOW Marketing Group, Inc. on how to create and evaluate social media content for your business or a client’s business.
The last thing you ever want to do is find yourself in a marketing rut, going about the same routine because that’s the way we’ve always done it. Spice it up! Brilliant marketing abilities don’t happen over night; they take time and habits that make it possible for you to grow. And if you’re not sure where to start, we have your back with our five-step program!
1. Don’t stop READING
A creative mind must always be absorbing new information – from the latest trends to inspirational resources to new technology. Marketing approaches are rapidly changing. The only way to improve as a marketer is to take every opportunity to be a sponge in your niche, so you’re staying relevant and effective.
Make time to seek out learning opportunities as a daily regimen, like brushing your teeth. Carve out time every day to sit and read an interesting article. Not only will this vastly advance your marketing knowledge, but it will make you a walking Google machine.
2. Merge your Passion into your Work
It’s easy to stay inspired with your marketing when your company encourages creativity! Take a page from 3M and Google’s textbook, they have created an organization that structures time for being unstructured. Yes, you read that correctly, 3M and Google both understand that innovation needs time to cultivate, so they allow their employees 10% of “free time” to experiment with new ideas while on the clock.
This “free time” notion allows your mind to explore and create something genius while still focusing on a work-related project. Imagine how exceptional your marketing initiatives would be if you created time within your day to focus on thinking outside the box.
3. Write. Write. And Write.
What keeps your followers coming back to your social platforms is content that is relevant and consistent. Our whole marketing drops off a cliff if we post sporadically. That’s where the writing component comes in.
Make it a goal to write at least 700 words a day; and let me go ahead and answer this for you: No, email doesn’t count. Writing at least 700 words in a given day, whether it’s your best work yet or garbage material, keeps your creative juices flowing at all times! Map out your day to sit down for an hour and crank out some potential posts or blogs.
If you’re looking to stay on track with your blogging and social media marketing, plan your writing ahead of time, set a schedule, and stick to it – some of our favorite scheduling tools to use are Trello and Sprout Social.
4. Review your Successes
If you want to know how you can take your marketing to the next level, the best solution is to look at what has worked for your business. If you’re focused on your successes and reviewing how you achieved those accomplishments, then you can ask yourself how do I replicate this result again?
In the marketing industry, you understand how crucial it is to look over your analytics, because numbers don’t lie. Here’s a great example of what reviewing your successes looks like – one of my clients, an assisted living facility captured a fun day of dancing to the Harlem Shake song, which was then filmed and uploaded to YouTube. Not only did the video serve for a fun activity for their team and residents combined, but to top it off, the short video ended up being a huge hit as it went viral with over 15,770 views and counting. This successful marketing moment serves a point – if our company continues to stay ahead of the curve with trends and unique concepts, we’re more likely to produce these same results again!
Not only will reflecting your achievements give you a great insight as to how you managed to accomplish this goal, but also according to Michael Kerr - “…research tells us that doing a simple routine like this, and taking the time to reflect on what you accomplished, is a key way to boost your overall level of happiness,” and lets face it, who doesn’t like to be happy!
5. Stop, Collaborate and Listen.
The best forms of fresh ideas come from collaborating! We often do our best work when we team up with a colleague and talk about relevant work projects. It’s easy to use our lunch breaks as a way to escape from our tasks, but why not use it to be productive.
Take your hour or half hour break to go to a restaurant with a change of scenery, and discuss ideas with team members or someone you admire career-wise. This collaboration allows you to gain a different perspective. Who knows, a quick break can stimulate you to create something brilliant, not to mention the greatest ideas come from duos like – Orville and Wilbur Wright, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, Sonny and Cher, Batman and Robin, Bonnie and Clyde – O.K., scratch the last one, but you get the point.
Habits take time, I get that, but as Karen Lamb says, “A year from now you will wish you had started today.” You owe it to your business to be seen – and the only way to do that is to take action and build a marketing strategy that stands out from the rest.
If you’re looking to tackle some more tips and habits to become more successful with your social media marketing, be sure click on the following download below.
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