Investigating How Social Media Is A Lot Like Gardening. | Denver Content Marketing Firm Weighs In
I’m thrilled! I just ordered my seeds for my garden this year! The weather is starting to warm up, little by little, and I know that garden season is just around the corner.
Social media is like a seed. Allow me to explain…
Social media managers are actually gardeners. You plant a seed every time you post something. As a content marketing leader, I know that with every blog post, every tweet, and every post, I’m subconsciously, or overtly, telling my audience “Valerie Morris is an expert in _______.” These are all seeds that I am planting in people’s minds. Over time, these seeds sprout into thoughts that they could use my help or my services. Then, these seeds grow into a real need, and they know who to talk to. But, every post, word, and phrase I put out is a seed that has the potential to grow into a beautiful client or influencer relationship.
The Return Takes Time
Many people want immediate results from social media, and while there are a few occasions of this, more often than not, social media is part of a long-term ROI for marketing that takes a lot of work. Social media is part of a bigger piece of building authority for your brand, and that takes time. The average person needs to be “touched” five times before making a purchase. When you apply this sales statistic to online marketing, you see that people need those three, four, and five time interactions to get to know who you are and that you are capable. Seeds may take weeks before they produce any edible fruit. So too, social media strategies may take some time before you see viable results.
Weed Ruthlessly!
Weeds pop up ALL THE TIME in my garden! I’m constantly spending time weeding my garden so that the good plants can thrive. I have to weed my social media garden as well. I have to be ruthless about what content I want to see on my own social media feeds, and who I want to connect with. I also have to weed through the endless stream of content to decide what is most valuable to my own audience and to my clients’ audiences.
As I gear up for another fun summer of seeing vegetables and fruits sprout up from the mud, I’m reminded of the seeds that I am planting on social media every day for both myself, and my clients. It’s a great responsibility when you think about the life and message that you get to share with every single social media post.
A few parting questions as we contemplate this fun analogy:
- What messages are you “planting” with your social media posts?
- What weeds do you have clogging up your social media presence right now?
- What do you need to do this season to “tend” your social media garden to grow and be healthy?