Why everyone needs a social media strategy. Even you!

Admittedly, it’s a difficult task to get a handle on your own social media strategy when you’re pouring most resources into building your clients’ brands. However, there is immense value in taking a moment to think about your own agency’s online presence as well.

Digital marketing is an increasingly competitive industry– to garner trust, grow your client base, and attract talented employees, you must have a brand that reflects who you are as an agency.

In fact, it is more important than ever to focus on social media strategy. In 2017, we broke almost 3 billion social media users worldwide (22% growth from 2016).

Now, don’t feel too bad about it. It’s a common trope; the old saying “the cobbler’s children go barefoot” is a saying that was first published in the 16th century!

Below, you will find our main reasons for turning this around. It’s time for your agency to take their social media to the next level.

Having a brand identity that your prospects can identify with is a huge part of them choosing your services over competitors! Social media platforms act as a canvas for you to display your brand aesthetic, your company values and beliefs, and your voice. Over time, this builds trust and amicability.

When you’re an agency, you need to show that your potential customers would be working with pleasant and effective people. Don’t shy away from highlighting the talent you house and the processes and methodologies you use.

It’s also a great opportunity for agencies to flex their creativity muscle. It often happens that clients have a less bold vision for their brand than agencies.

Social media provides agencies with an outlet to reveal how far they can go with their ideas; from company events, employees doing interesting things, office design, etc. It’s an invitation for others to know you as an agency from the inside.

Let’s take this a step further. An often overlooked part of a digital strategy is coping with customer complaints. A large part of your identity is how prepared you seem when things may not go your way.

Does it seem like you care? Does it seem like you know what you’re doing?

As a brand, it’s smart to develop a crisis/reputation management guide with a sympathetic voice to be prepared in case of customer complaints or issues.

This just makes business sense. Visibility for brands means staying at the top of mind for customers and prospects. Being present and active on social media opens up for more opportunities to be seen by potential clients, retain existing clients, and up-sell premium services.

Beyond posting content and engaging with followers, taking advantage of social media platforms that allow you to post ads is valuable. If you are a digital marketing agency, and you don’t recognize the importance of social media ads, it might be time to change professions! (Just kidding.)

Sponsored content, for example, enables you to reach beyond your followers and amplify your brand to new potential customers that might identify with your vision and what you have to offer.

Who doesn’t want an improved ranking?

We are moving into an age where SEO and content are converging. This is simple, the better quality your content is, the more users will engage after a click, and the more visible you will become.

Distributing content on different social media platforms can lead to a consolidation of your presence and can earn you link juice. Search engine crawlers take into account engagement on social media.

Google will also favor those who make posts on Google+, boosting your chances to appear in the top 10 search results.

Due to the fact that brands are creating more content than ever before, the turn over of content is becoming faster and faster. Although high quality content is important, taking a low-frequency approach to your content strategy isn’t going to cut it either.

It’s also becoming more important to produce quality content, as SEO will favor this. To learn more about this shift, check out our post about 2018 digital marketing trends.

How do I put this nicely? Even if you don’t necessarily have a social media marketing strategy, you can bet your competitors do!

To compete for prospects, you will have to get a good bird’s-eye view of what your competitors are doing. This will enable you to go above and beyond what they are offering and create posts that out-perform theirs. Not to mention, you will learn a lot from them, too.

Don’t be afraid to follow competitors followers, engage with them, and offer them something that your competitors don’t have. When the average agency zigs, you should zag.

Being there for your followers means getting a solid understanding of their wants, needs, and critiques of your agency’s services. This is a valuable way to adapt your product to suit your prospects.

Take this time to find out what they need, check out their reviews, and take advantage of their feedback.

In addition to this, customers are becoming more dynamic. Their tastes are rapidly changing, and their behavior is harder to predict. Being with them at ground-level on social media will help you better prepare for this, and provide a solid mix of content to keep them engaged and excited.