How to Build a Marketing Team on a Budget
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![Rion Haber](https://catalystmarketingagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/rion.png)
![Rion Haber](https://catalystmarketingagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/rion.png)
![Rion Haber](https://catalystmarketingagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/rion.png)
![Rion Haber](https://catalystmarketingagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/rion.png)
The communications ecosystem is growing more complex. In this post, we explore how you still build a marketing team without breaking the bank. ...
Social media has drastically changed over the years, as has the way it fits into our current marketing strategies. What worked as a standalone service in the past has become a part of something bigger. While social media is an incredibly powerful tool for marketing, itโs just that: a tool. Itโs not a strategy, but a channel for distribution of your existing content.
One of the biggest problems weโve encountered with standalone social is the expectation that we can just โdo socialโ without any other content to back it up. But social has become noisier and a lot more competitive just over the past couple of years. Businesses canโt afford to crank out posts on social media without a content strategy.
After having this conversation with hundreds of businesses, weโve changed the way the people we work with look at social. We quit social media and shifted our focus to just creating great content.
Social media worksโฆif you have a solid content strategy.
Without an overall content strategy, social only works to get attention, followers, and likes. There isnโt anything wrong with having a good following on social media. However, social isnโt the end goal, but a way to connect with your audience and invite them back to your own platform. Thatโs not to say it isnโt importantโsocial is a critical piece of most strategies.
One of several companies that merged to form 1205 Marketing was a social media agency, so we know the importance of the role social plays in the world of content marketing.
But if social is so critical, why would you want to focus your efforts elsewhere? Hereโs why. You Donโt Own Facebook โฆor any other social media platform.
As seen earlier in 2018, Facebook can make unfavorable changes on a whim and it can have a devastating effect on your marketing efforts if youโre only focusing on that one platform. Facebook made a change that affected page visibility and we had to quickly come up with more creative ways to utilize that platform.
However, if youโve taken a more holistic approach to your marketing strategy and focused your efforts on content, suddenly the impact is significantly lessened. Facebook is just one of many streams you use to publish content.
Think of social media like a door. If you invite someone over, you wouldnโt just sit there and talk to them at the door for hours. Youโd invite them inโin this case, over to a platform you own. Social media is just the starting point.
On social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you donโt control when or how your content is seen. When you make a post on Twitter, it quickly gets pushed down by hundreds of other posts. Unless your followers see it right when you post it, thereโs a chance it may not be seen at all.
On Facebook and Instagram, itโs possible your content wonโt be seen until days after itโs published unless your followers have their feed displayed chronologically. (Which is a huge problem if youโre posting time-sensitive content.)
If your audience is viewing your content from a mobile device, you donโt have any way of knowing how theyโll see your content. With mobile playing such a huge part in todayโs digital ecosystem, it has never been more important to have control over how your audience experiences your content
โ The result [of integrated marketing] is deeply compelling messaging delivered at the right point in the buyer journey to influence purchasing behavior at scale.โ
While social does require an in-depth knowledge of the demographics it serves and some technical know-how, in the end, itโs just another platform. If youโre just pushing out pictures and posts that donโt serve a bigger purpose (your overall marketing strategy), youโll ultimately blend in with all the noise on social media.
But if you focus on creating powerful, meaningful content, you should be able to publish it to any platform, be it social media, your email list, or a website. Social media should be just one of many channels for publishing content.
If you take anything away from all this, let it be this: we donโt do social. We do content. When you focus on content, you can adapt to any platform, meet your audience where theyโre at, and control how they experience your companyโs message.
If youโre looking to build your own integrated strategy, remember to use these principles to guide your next campaign, not limit it. Integrated is a quickly evolving discipline and weโll likely see advancements in our ability to implement it for the next decade or so. Have fun, make mistakes and let us know if you have any questions.