Marketing Ideas for Digital Agencies: Do Not Offer a Social Media Starter Pack
Let's talk about the marketing service you should never offer, even though you're probably offering right now. You say to your client, “Let’s get you on social media!.” There's a reason why you don't like offering this service, and there's a reason why it's so hard to sell it. You'll offer to set them up on YouTube, on LinkedIn, and Facebook. You may even do some website edits as well. You may get them set up on Twitter. You're going to give them the whole pack, right? You're going to get them on social media.
Doing this is putting yourself and your client in a position of endless density and difficulty. Every social media platform has its own needs and protocols. You run the risk of overwhelming them and overextending yourself, then leaving the client with a bunch of passwords and profiles they have no idea how to use.
So what do you offer instead? That is up to you, but choose only one social media platform. Choose the one you’re excited about, experienced in. Choose the platform with which you have a track record and the metrics that prove success. In doing so, you can focus the client’s goals for a social media presence and how your chosen platform can meet those goals.
THE “GET YOU ON SOCIAL” OFFER AND WHY IT IS A BAD THING
Now you may call it different things, but you've told your clientele, “I’m going to offer you this awesome package so that you can be on social media."
Why is this a bad idea? Because it's too complex. It's too expensive. You're going to have to make videos, images, take photographs, and write copy. That's in addition to trying to establish a target market, developing an overall content strategy, and then trying to get all of this done under whatever budget they claim to have.
But wait, there's more. Each of these things is applied differently to every social platform; image sizes, image shapes, length of copy, tone of copy. Each one of those things is different for every social platform you apply it to...
But wait, there's more. While you're going through all of that density, the client understands none of it. You've got to explain every single micro-step, because the client's becoming overwhelmed as you discuss every bit of detail and as you change every application for every social media platform...
But wait, there's more! Let’s say you actually get through all of this work and maintain a smile on your client's face. When you're finished setting up all these social platforms, what does your client have at the end? Nothing. All you did was just set them up. So there's no sense of momentum on any of these platforms.
You just did a whole lot of work. Now, sanity check here. Was this work useful? Yes. Is it valuable? Yes. Is it something that should be done on your client's behalf? Yes. The trouble is that much of this work falls on deaf ears for your clients. They just simply don't understand it. And it requires too much of your expertise to resonate so little with your clients.
A Better Way: Focus on One Platform
Instead of this overarching reach for comprehensive services, what should you do instead?
Take one of these things and offer the starter pack. This is the “X” starter pack. Now what makes this better? Because if we're honest, you're only good at one of these things anyway. One of these social media platforms is where you and your company excel. You've already got proven expertise, proven case studies. You have more excitement about one platform anyway. So just admit that you're better on YouTube, or LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, websites, or whatever other social platform makes sense. Claim one as your best.
You’ve given a clearer scope of work to your prospective client. Right now, they can just focus on what they believe is the best end result from that platform.
Now the discussion begins. "We're going to now launch an X campaign. What are the most valuable things you want to see from your X campaign?" There are a variety of options here. Maybe it is just getting started. Maybe it is the first 10 social posts. Maybe it is their first client, or first set of engagements, or first referral. But now, you can focus that conversation on one social platform and use your expertise to help them get it.
- What is their “win” outcome? From this clear scope, you can now identify and quantify a win. A “win” might be simply posting consecutively for the next specified numbers of days. Often, your clients lose value on social media, not because the profile is hard to set up, but because they don't stick to the platform long enough to see any real value from it. So if you can give them consistency on the platform, then they can begin to see the likes, the comments, the shares, the engagement, the referrals, whatever their particular metric happens to be.
- What is the metric for success? If they have an out-of-the-box expectation that is off base, well, you can nail them down right now and say, "Hey, that's a little bit too far for where you are today. An appropriate set of expectations would be thing one, thing two, or thing three." Your client can decide if thing one, two or three is valuable for them. If they are, great, get to work. If not, then you can simply decline to work with them.
This is Different: Improved Results and More Accountability
I know that when you see these two things side by side, the comparison is so obvious. Clearly, we should be doing this and not do this. But here's the real truth: It's easier for you to offer the “Get You on Social” pack. All you have to do is just set up their social profiles. It's a very low accountability offering for you.
By focusing on one service alone, you've got more accountability. You have to identify which social platform you're best at. Then you must figure out where your client’s real “win” is.
As you're thinking about this, which of these two is more exciting for your client to buy? Which of these two would allow you to charge a premium? I think we can admit that your willingness to focus on your expertise and your willingness to offer your expertise in some form of quantifiable way, makes it more exciting for your clients. I would argue your profits are in specifying and offering your expertise on one social platform.