How to think like a social media consultant without having to have a brain transplant
Social media consultants are very much like soldiers
They see the world in a different way, and they think about it differently too.
However they do not have body armour or automatic weapons. But in the important ways they are identical to soldiers…they look at the landscape before them and see multiple opportunities standing out as targets. This is the nature of the social media consultant – someone that is able to distinguish opportunities from ideas and convert that thought process into action. The results are far less deadly than those of soldiers, but can be just as powerful.
Thought is most likely something that most people take for granted
However what many don’t appreciate is that we are the only species on the planet with the ability to think conceptually – to imagine a world without ourselves in it, and to construct images of how situations will play out in the future. That’s why it really wasn’t a surprise to us when Iron Man died in Avengers Endgame (spoiler alert).
However it is in harnessing this power of conceptual thought that social media consultants stand out as unique thinkers, because they are able to see and exploit amazing opportunities for brands in the digital marketing space. By considering the concept of marketing differently they are able to provide targeted advice to brands on how to speak more effectively to their audience.
The key difference with a social media consultant is that they understand the need to know the target audience fully
They understand the need to know how the audience browses and shops, what they actually want, what their values are, what will motivate them to action, how they need to be warmed up sufficiently to convert interest into action. The social media consultant understands how to do this digitally, harnessing the targeting and influencing power of social media; not to cold-target but to aim for warm targets, and how to convert them to sales.
The social media consultant knows the value of studying your audience in order to fully understand the landscape
Take the Dollar Shave Club for example – they wanted to strip back the unnecessary cost and gimmicks from personal grooming products in order to grab a market share. They nailed it through funny ads and convenient purchasing options – exactly what their audience wanted.
Can you think this way? Do you think like a social media consultant?
Strategic planning is habitual to the social media consultant
When engaging in a new mission they will begin with deep thought and analysis on the vision they are working towards. Like soldiers they know the value of having a solid strategy, as its overarching theme guides your everyday tactical decisions and prevents you from going off on tangents and making poor choices.
Social media consultants know that having a sound strategy based on your values is more likely to succeed, because this is what customers are attracted to when browsing social media – values-based content. This is the ad they are most likely to click on; the video they are most likely to watch.
Social media consultants know that if they can connect brands with their target audience values then the resulting resonance can be stratospheric – look at the enormous rise of Airbnb, which tapped into the desire to connect with your holiday accommodation more closely than you would a hotel. They crushed that theme and enjoyed massive success.
Can you think this way? Do you think like a social media consultant?
Resilience is a quality that sets successful people apart from the majority of the population
The ability to persevere despite setbacks, and to learn from those setbacks and come back stronger is the hallmark of champions. Social media consultants know that nothing is ever perfect first time, and that mistakes are inevitable. In fact they know that mistakes are essential for success, because they teach us valuable lessons.
No entrepreneur nails it with their first idea, but the successful ones take the energy from the failure of that first idea and feed it into the next, and the next. Social media consultants have that entrepreneurial spirit and that soldier-like determination to fight on.
Equally, when advising clients on their strategies the social media consultant knows that not every campaign will be a huge success, and so builds in important feedback loops in order to understand what has worked and what hasn’t. This relentless determination to improve and evolve is what characterises the social media consultant.
Can you think this way? Do you think like a social media consultant?
Finally a social media consultant knows that real
Value comes from the improvement you make to a system or process, or the increase in sales that is sparked by your work.
The social media consultant knows that like a soldier, a single person can have a strategic effect. As such the social media consultant knows that they are valuable because of what they achieve, not how many hours they work. It’s quite the mental leap when we have been conditioned to think so laterally about the relationship between time and money.
The social media consultant knows that they can add enormous value from just a few hours work, and therefore command a high fee based on that value they have added. Can you think this way? Do you think like a social media consultant?
If you think that maybe you do think like a social media consultant, or perhaps even like a soldier then you’ve found your family. The Social Media Mafia is a community of like-minded consultants, bringing enormous value to the world of digital marketing. Through our values of constant learning and adding value we help our soldiers to develop the way they think and see the world. Join the family, and join the discussion.