What to do when your strategy isn't working
Let’s set the scene: you’ve determined you need a digital strategy, identified your target audience, built out a content strategy and you’ve started publishing. Congratulations!
But then... crickets. Growth is slow, engagement is non-existent and worst of all, you’re not hitting your return on investment with the time you’ve put in. Frustrating, right? Well, know that everyone - pause for effect - everyone - has been there! Even the most successful brands tweak their strategy many times over, as they should because digital platforms are ever-changing.
If you have time, we recommend listening to this conversation with Rachel Parcell, a blogger + influencer who has a highly successful eponymous clothing brand and over 1 million Instagram followers, about how she adjusted her entire approach to Instagram after the algorithm changed. She saw her growth slowing and met with a digital strategist to understand what was going on.
After reviewing her analytics, she realized that the posts where she was real and honest about the challenges of motherhood and her business are what performed the best. She learned to think of her largely female audience as her girlfriends who were looking for relatability and honesty, and not just the glammed up perfection of filtered photos. The other huge lesson she learned was to focus on the audience she had and not worry about the audience she was going for. By prioritizing her fans and serving up what they really responded to - truth, reality, behind-the-scenes - her growth completely turned itself around.
So, what do you do if your strategy isn’t working? Here are step-by-step instructions on how to adjust what you’re doing:
Understand it takes time. When you create a digital strategy, commit to at least 6 months of consistently posting content before you do an audit to look back at what works and what falls short. When you plan the next 6 months, adjust the content accordingly, commit again and repeat the audit after the next 6 months. Now do it again, and again...
Flexibility should be a part of the strategy. Digital platforms are ever-changing which is why we recommend building your strategy around your owned platforms and using social platforms to cultivate community. But even then, you still need to be ready to change your process if you’re not getting the site traffic, engagement and/or hitting your bottom line. Be ready and nimble to adjust, always.
Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. All of this is the scientific method. You try something, put it out there, see how it performs and the audience literally tells you what they want. When it comes to content, don’t waste your time. Do more of what is working and less of what is not.
Be obsessive about the audience. We can’t stress this enough. Look at the analytics to see what the audience responds to, ask them in posts, comments, questionnaires, etc. Find out what they want more of and treat them as a community, even if it’s not fully formed yet. If you adjust to what the audience wants and you’re truly bringing them value, you cannot go wrong.
Consistency is crucial. Don’t post erratically. Audiences love knowing what to expect, like a regular Monday morning motivation post, a Friday video or monthly newsletter [so do sponsors]. If you execute on an idea, commit to seeing it all the way through before tossing your plan. Sometimes, and especially when you’re building an audience alongside a brand, it takes a beat for people to catch on. Give them the opportunity to do so.
And remember, even those with seemingly overnight success, like Addison Rae, the TikToker with over 80 million fans, are trying to figure out how to monetize and effectively leverage their audiences. If you’re not constantly evaluating what you’re doing, you’re not going about it correctly and will most definitely fall behind. Dust yourself off, reset and adjust, you’ve got this.