Chapter 3: Social Media Marketing Strategy

Before this chapter, I associated social media marketing with businesses. I thought of it as posts companies make, why they post them, how they attract customers, and the bios, captions, comments and vibe of a company’s page. 

Social Media Audit Activity from Class

Every time we go on social media, we are marketing ourselves to prospective friends, partners and educational and professional development recruiters. Before reading this chapter, I had not considered the tone of voice that my social media accounts convey. I’m currently doing a 21-day social media fast. I hope I can come out of it more focused and grounded. I want people to be able to see me and my strongest values from viewing my socials. My most important values and beliefs are: 

• Faith
• Family
• Community/ Friends
• Serving
• Kindness

I mainly use Snapchat and Instagram. On Instagram, my bio and collection of photos give people a glimpse into my identity. Snapchat is different: it requires personal interaction (or snaps) for someone to build a perception of who I am. I use LinkedIn, where I post professional and educational experiences, though it can be difficult to convey “why” on that platform.

Another thing that stood out to me was the number of steps required to effectively carry out a social media strategy. While my personal accounts do not have ads or a budget, most of the steps still apply. I can select goals for my page, identify my target audience, choose which platforms to use and develop what to share.

This chapter got me thinking broadly about what we as people market. Outside of social media, we are marketing ourselves daily. Maybe I should coin it as the phrase “Real Life Marketing” (RLM). It would involve the strategies we use to carry ourselves to reflect what is important to us. This is something I would enjoy learning more about!