I was reading Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad and I stumbled on 'the carrot and the donkey' concept, a concept his "rich dad" used to teach him about having the right strategy. This concept can be used as an analogy for any one wanting to understand the importance of strategic decisions.
As is seen in the picture the donkey’s owner is dangling the carrot just in front of its nose. The donkey is chasing the carrot and the owner is getting where he wants to go. This is how marketers must think in the new age of marketing. It sound manipulative but, having the right strategy is ideal for the achievement of one’s marketing/ social media strategy. Marketers must understand who their audience is, what the audience wants to watch and read, what motivates them, where they are spending most of their time and so on. The new era of marketing requires this type of psycographic analysis as the content must seem relevant to them and their lifestyles for them to persuaded.
With this research and knowledge, marketers will be able to produce the right content to achieve their specific objectives and optimize their use of the different social media platforms.
You cannot have it all. Be strategic about it! Always remembering your audience, goals and objectives. Because of the increasing number of social media platforms, companies think they must have a presence on all. With the right research, building of buyer profiles and formulation of strategies, marketers will be able to determine the best mix of social media platforms for their organization.
To achieve the specific goals and objectives, an implementation or action plan must be formulated and executed well. This includes the scheduling and uploading of posts, different roles and responsibilities whether it be in-house or external and a social media budget (must be in place as you may need to boost posts, hire social media influencer for higher reach/frequency) .
Social media is fun and seemingly informal but, marketers must be reminded that, like the owner of the donkey, they must create the right strategy to 'get where you want to go'.