Marketing Doesn’t Begin and End on Social Media Platforms

If posting isn’t a marketing strategy as established in a previous post, then we need to take the conversation one step further.

Posting is only one marketing activity. And Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, email or any other platform is only a channel through which that activity can happen.

The bigger question, then, is: what role does each channel actually play in the marketing strategy?

This is because businesses can stop treating posting as the strategy and still make the same mistake with the platform itself.

And this is where businesses can easily make another mistake.

They stop treating posting as the strategy, but still treat Instagram (any other platform) as though it were the marketing itself.

It isn’t.

For example, Instagram might be an important channel for the business. But it is still a channel.

This is to point out that while marketing can involve the product itself, pricing, distribution, customer experience, email, search, partnerships, community, events, referrals and sales processes, a platform is a place to execute marketing.

It is not the marketing strategy itself.

The strategy should, therefore, determine the role a channel plays rather than allowing the channel to become the strategy.

1. Start With the Business Objective, Not the Content Calendar

It’s best to say that before opening Canva to create next month’s content, you as a business owner need to know what you are actually trying to achieve.

Is the goal to increase awareness?

Generate more enquiries?

Increase sales?

Improve retention?

Launch a new product?

Strengthen the brand’s position in the market?

These objectives require different approaches but you wouldn’t know.

If a business wants more repeat purchases, for instance, constantly posting to attract new followers may not be the most relevant activity.

The business might need to examine its customer experience, retention process, follow-up system or offer instead.

This is why the objective should influence the marketing activity. 

Not the other way around.

2. Give Content a Job

Once your business knows what it wants to achieve, content can begin to play a more specific role.

Even though not every post needs to sell, every piece of marketing communication should have a reason for existing.

A post might help the business:

• Attract the right audience.
• Educate potential customers about a problem.
• Build trust.
• Demonstrate proof.
• Differentiate the business.
• Address objections.
• Generate enquiries.
• Move interested customers closer to a purchase.

For example, a business trying to build awareness among a new audience may need content that makes its problem, category or solution easier to understand.

A business struggling with conversion may have a completely different content problem. Its audience may already know about the business but still have unanswered questions, doubts or objections.

So the question changes from:

“What should we post this week?”

to:

“What does our audience need to understand, believe or do for us to move closer to our objective?”

3. Choose the Channel After You Know the Job

Your content may have its job but of what use is it if it’s on a wrong channel? This is where businesses sometimes get the order wrong.

They start with:

“We need to be on Instagram.”

Okay…but for what and why?

A better approach is to first understand the audience and objective, then decide where and how to communicate.

If the business needs to nurture existing customers, email or WhatsApp might be more useful than constantly trying to attract new followers.

Are people actively searching for the solution the business provides? Search may matter more.

If trust and demonstration are important, events, partnerships or community-led activities could play a role.

This does not mean businesses should abandon Instagram or any other channels.

It means this channel should have a job within the wider marketing system.

4. Ask Better Questions Before Creating Content

Before creating the next content calendar, you should be able to answer a few basic questions.

• Who are we trying to reach?

Not just “everyone who needs our product.” Who specifically matters to the business right now?

• What problem, desire or motivation are we addressing?

What actually matters to this audience?

• What do we want to be known for?

What should come to mind when people encounter the business repeatedly?

• What do they need to hear from us?

Is there a message that needs to be communicated consistently?

• Where should we communicate it?

Which channels actually make sense for the audience and the objective?

• How will we know it is working?

What evidence will tell us whether the activity is contributing to the intended outcome?

Once these questions are answered, content becomes easier to create because it now has a job to do.

5. Measure the Outcome, Not Just the Activity

A business can proudly say:

“We posted four times this week.”

Bravo!

But what did those four posts contribute to?

Posting four times is an activity.

More qualified enquiries, increased awareness, improved conversion or more repeat purchases are outcomes.

The metric should therefore follow the objective.

If the goal is enquiries, likes may not tell the whole story.

Perhaps the goal is retention, follower growth may be almost irrelevant.

If the goal is awareness, immediate sales may not be the only thing worth watching.

The point isn’t to dismiss social media metrics.

It is to stop confusing evidence of activity with evidence of progress.

Conclusion

The problem isn’t Instagram or any other channel your business needs.

The problem isn’t content.

The problem is allowing either of them to decide what the marketing strategy should be.

A business should first understand what it wants to achieve, who it wants to reach, what matters to that audience and what outcome it is pursuing.

Then it can decide whether Instagram, email, search, partnerships, customer experience, referrals, sales or a combination of these is the right way to get there.

So after asking:

“What should we post?”

ask:

“What are we trying to achieve, and what is the best way to achieve it?”

Because posting is an activity. Marketing is bigger than the platform where the activity happens.

 

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