Welcome to episode 370 of Hit the Mic with The Stacey Harris.
So recently I was asked to give a 15 minute talk at an event. I was like, “Okay, so 15 minutes, what do you want me to talk about?” They were like, “Oh, well like digital marketing.” I was like, “Okay, more specifically.” And they were like, “Search engine optimization.” I was like, “Okay, more specifically.” They were like, “Social media.” I was like, “Still gonna need us to narrow that down for 15 minutes.” So what we came up with was the one thing you can do right now, to improve your digital marketing, also known as your online marketing, but really this applies to anything marketing. Your marketing in general, your social media, your content, whatever. This one thing will make all of them better, so that’s what were going to talk about today.
Before we jump into that though, I want to remind you that this show is brought to you by its big brother, its natural upgrade, it’s next step, and that’s Hit the Mic Backstage. Hit the Mic Backstage is a one stop shop for all things social media marketing, trainings. We also have some email marketing trainings, and video, and we have an entire podcasting course. So it really is the place to be. If you love this show, and you want more of it, come join us at Hit the Mic Backstage. We’ve got two brand-new trainings that come up every month. They’re either updates to previous trainings, meaning that all of the trainings in there are actually reflective of what’s happening in social media now, and not two years ago when this community launched, or earlier than that.
So join us, hitthemicbackstage.com, we do have a couple spots left for the VIP level, as of the recording of this. That may not be true when it airs. If it isn’t true, you can get on the wait list for the VIP option, and join us in the regular community in the meantime, which does give you access to me in the two private communities we have. One right on the website, and one over on Facebook. So there’s lots of ways for you to connect with me, and the rest of the Backstage peeps. Also, hitthemicbackstage.com is the place to go. So I will see you there.
Let’s jump in, and let’s talk about this one thing, one thing you can do to improve your digital marketing right now. Are you ready for it? This could be the shortest episode ever. Are you ready? Now?
Take stock of what you already have.
Seriously, the biggest digital marketing mistake I see people making, social media wise, content wise is, “If I just do XYZ, that’ll solve all the problems.” So they keep building on this total lack of a foundation. They say, “Oh, I saw at a conference that Instagram Stories, that’s what I have to do. So I’m gonna do that. Oh, I saw that Facebook Live is where it’s at, I’m gonna do that. Oh, I saw that podcasts are the only way to go. I’m gonna do that. Oh, that’s not working, so I’m gonna do two episodes a week. Oh, that’s not working so I’m gonna do two episodes, plus a blog post, plus a video, plus a whatever ever, ever, ever else.”
Here is the real talk. Before you add anything else to your marketing plans, be it online marketing plans in general, be it just your email, be it in person networking, be it any part of your efforts to get customers, look at what you already have. Look at what’s happening in those places, right now. Meaning, say okay, so I’ve got an email list of XYZ. I’ve got this many likes on my Facebook page. I have this much traffic going to my website. These are the kind of things that people are doing. If you can’t tell me any of that information, then you need to take a big step back before you add anything else.
If you can’t tell me how many visitors you’re getting to your website right now, make sure you have Google Analytics installed. If you can’t tell me what they’re doing on your website right now, make sure you have Google Analytics and something like Hotjar. I use TruConversion, or Lucky Orange, or any of those kind of tools where you can actually see how people are engaging with your website. You can see how they’re working their way through these pieces of content, and where they’re getting stuck. I love this for sales pages. Heatmaps and things like that, I love them for sales pages, because I can see where people stop. So I know exactly where I lost you, if I lost you. That’s really powerful.
If you podcast, make sure you’re looking at your download numbers. If you have an email list, which if you’re listening to this show, I’m assuming you have an email list. Don’t just look at how many people are subscribed. How many people are actually reading your emails? How many people? And not just opening, because that can not always be 100% reliable. I’m talking about clicks. How many people are actually going, “Oh, this is really great information. I’m going to engage with it.” That gets really tough if you don’t have any clicks.
This is why I don’t put the entirety of my content in an email, because I don’t want you to read it in your email. I want you to read it on my website, because then I know you’re actually consuming the content. So that’s why there’s a click, because I want to see a click. An open, it’s a grayer area as far as the stat. If you click, I know you actually clicked. Then I can see what you are doing on the site. I can see how long you’re there. I can see, again, are you reading the podcast show notes, or are you listening to the episode? I can find all that information out.
So look at what you already have. Now, when I said this was going to be the one task, I did not say it was going to be an easy task. This one task really is a lot of little tasks, but it’s the most fundamentally important part of your marketing. Again, I don’t care if you’re talking about email, or content, or social, or whatever else. You have to look at what’s going on right now, before you can build on it. Before you can improve it. Before you can make it better. Before you can evolve it. So take stock of what you have right now.
When I’m talking about looking at these numbers, when I’m talking about looking at your email list numbers, and your website numbers, and your social media analytics, I also want you to look at what pieces do you have already there. Do you have an email list? What kind of content are you putting out? What social media channels are you already using? So actually make a list of what all of those places are. Then start diving into the appropriate stats for whatever location, or tool, or whatever you want to call it is, and say, “Okay, is this providing value?” If it’s not, don’t worry about it for right now. If it is, why is it providing value?
All right, now how can I utilize the information that’s working here, and maybe make some of those places that aren’t working work? Or, let me dive into further about why they’re not working, because if they’re not working because I’m not using them effectively, that’s one thing. If they’re not working, because they’re not the place that I can connect with my community, then I don’t care if I can fix it, because if my community is not there, there’s not a lot of value.
This is something I bring up a lot with our corporate clients especially, because we have a couple of corporate clients who are B2B. We’ll have conversations with them and it’s like, “Everybody is talking about Facebook. Everybody is talking about Facebook.” And I’m like, “Great, no one is buying your, insert really technical B2B kind of thing here on Facebook.” Maybe it’s insurance consulting. Maybe it’s some sort of telecommunications stuff. Maybe it’s business based web solutions. The people who are making those buying decisions, are not making those buying decisions when they’re on Facebook, even if they are on Facebook in their regular life. So spending a lot of time on Facebook, not a hugely beneficial activity.
On the flip side, if you are selling baby carriers to stay-at-home moms, LinkedIn is probably a colossal waste of your time, when it talks about going directly to consumer. Now there may be a value there when you’re talking about building relationships with retail people, retail distribution, or event planners who do baby gear events, those kind of things. But when we’re talking direct to consumer sales, no. That’s not the best use of your time. So then you look at what are your goals. Right?
So you kind of see what I’m saying here. I want you to take stock of exactly what you’re doing. This is a really great time of year to do it, because we’re kind of coming off that summer slowdown, going into the fall pickup, before we go into sort of the holiday season, and things like that. So now is a really good time to take stock and say, “What do I want to do differently in Q4? What do I want to do differently in Q1 of next year? Where do I want to be spending my time?”
When were looking at things that work, that are just on point, “Well great, how can we replicate that, and if it’s not the best use of my time to do it, how can we outsource it?” So again, we’re just taking stock of what’s already there. We’re not looking for the newest, greatest, latest, hottest, sexiest, cure all, silver bullet, magic pill solution. We are looking at what we already have built. This is something I’m actually working on in-house right now, is a content review. We’re looking at, so what episodes do you guys really love? What episodes did the people who listen to the show really not seem to care about? The reason the three things episode has lasted so long, is because they’re one of our most downloaded episodes. We have a lot, a lot of people who only listen to that show everyone, which is fine, but they’re missing this show. So I like you better.
So know that it’s about figuring out what is going on right now. Initially, and for a lot of you, it will literally just be about figuring out what are you doing right now. You would be amazed by how many conversations I have with people, where they can’t tell me if they have a specific schedule for email. They can’t tell me how frequently stuff gets posted to their Facebook page. They can’t tell me if anybody has used their Twitter account in the last month, 6 months, 12 months. 24 months in some cases, because at some point it was handed off to a VA, and it kind of fell through, and I think she still does it, but I’m not sure. No, that’s a solution. That’s not gonna get you to where you need to be.
So again, taking stock of what’s happening right now has got to be the first step. From there, looking at how is it working. Or, is it not working, and how can we change it? So that’s it. That’s the one digital marketing thing I want you to do right now, to improve your marketing. Again, I think digital marketing, because this applies to social media. It applies to email. It applies to your content. It applies to your Facebook groups. It applies to your Twitter chats. It applies to you, “Should I have a LinkedIn profile?”
It’s the first step. It’s why when clients, if you book a one-on-one call with me, if you go to thestaceyharris.com/1on1 and you find a time on my schedule, and you go to book it, I ask you for the URLs for your major social media channels. I don’t ask that just because I’m gonna go look at them, although I am gonna go look at them. They’re a key part of me researching before the call. But it forces you, before our call, to take stock on what you have, and where it is.
I am constantly, constantly surprised, by how many people tell me, “Oh, actually have three Instagram accounts.” Or, “Somehow I have four Facebook pages.” Seriously guys, regularly this happens. So taking stock can be a really valuable thing, to make sure you’re streamlined. To make sure everything is updated. To make sure everything is current. To make sure everything is working, and if it’s not working, what needs to happen to let is go. Or make it work, whichever one you choose. Okay?
All right, that’s it. Again, if you want more of this kind of content, if you are looking for more support when it comes to social media, and email, and podcasting, and content, and blogging, and video, and all of that stuff, if for no other reason than accountability, than someone saying, “Hey, how’s that going?” Be sure to join us inside of hitthemicbackstage.com okay. I will see you Backstage, and I will see you next Tuesday for another episode of Hit the Mic with The Stacey Harris. Have a great week.
