Marketing is a necessary evil that needs to take place if you want work to come your way and an audience to follow. I think it is one of those topics which has multiple answers to all of the questions and everyone has an opinion on what is right and wrong. That is because there is no black and white way to market your business or personal brand.
I took a LinkedIn Course on Marketing and social media to see what I could learn and implement on my marketing strategies. Marketing is something that I do not really do, I post on instagram but that account is rather small. Marketing and social media use is something that I know I need to work on and spend more time on, it is something that I want to focus on over the summer.
A social media strategy;
This is a written document that establishes your marketing goals and builds a roadmap of activities that you are going to do in order to grow and develop your business.
For example, I would like to reach more people on instagram which will lead people to going onto my website and booking me for a photoshoot. My identity on instagram is mixed, I mainly post my landscape and fine art work which does not have much of a home for my commercial work. This is something that I need to work on in the future to move forward.
The Goals of Marketing;
Ongoing Goals,
These are constant goals of your marketing. This might be to gain more followers or to engage your audience to be drawn to a certain project that you are working on.
Campaign goals,
These are short term goals that work with your existing audience and bring them into something that you are working on. Such as selling prints, workshops etc.
Identify your audience;
You need to establish what your audience likes, and what they react to the most. This will help you gain a larger reaction from a pinpointed audience rather than very little from an audience that is way too large for your campaign.
Be Active;
Most probably the worst kind of advice. This is because you need to be smart with how you are active on social media. Invest your time in the large platforms, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, TikTok, etc. These platforms have the most daily users so your exposure will go further on these sites.
You want your communication to be engaging;
Followers engage with something when you engage with them. Give them something educational, something that can add value to their lives as it gives them a reason to follow and buy your product.
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/social-media-marketing-foundations-2020/what-is-social-media-marketing?u=57076873
My Marketing Strategy
What goals do I want to achieve on Instagram in the long term?
To gain engaged followers
Draw followers to my website
New clients
Short term goals of Instagram?
To draw people to my website and buy the prints that I am currently selling to raise money for the sdcc Outdoor education department.
What are you going to do in order to achieve these goals?
Post regular posts and stories to let people know that you are active and working on new and exciting projects.
Target and build an audience...artists/ photographers/ small businesses/
Network with new people, if you gain new followers that look interesting, network, ask questions and communicate yourself.
Going forward;
To spend at least 20minutes a day working on your social media strategy in order to grow and develop your personal brand.