My inbox is filled every day by emails from random people assuring me that their secret social media strategy will see me as rich as Bezos.

Some have my name and email address; most are more like; ‘Hi there’ and many now start with the ‘Re: our conversation about social media strategy.’

Spamming by those who are trying to sell themselves as experts at selling on social media.

What Nonsense.

If they are happy to use that sort of rubbish to market their own services, what sort of crap would they dish up to you?

Social media is a tiny part of the tactical armoury of marketers, or should be. It is the very end of the process, not the beginning, or middle, it is the very end only.

Social media is simply a tactic, amongst an armoury of tactics to achieve a goal.

The metrics of social media are irrelevant when your objective is to sell widgets. The only measure of success is how many widgets you sell, not how many people view, like or share your content, although the last one can be useful.

In the absence of a reason to take that next step towards an objective, the post is a waste of resources.

‘Content is king’ is a horrible cliché, but it is true.

It is the ‘content’ of your posts that describes in some way the value you deliver, the problem you solve that matters, nothing else.

Almost all the junk I see has no strategy. It does not reflect any understanding of the drivers of behaviour required to achieve a goal.

When you want to find a social media ‘expert’ to work for you, start with someone who has way more than the knowledge necessary to plug a post into Facebook, Instagram, or Reddit. You need someone who understands what it takes to find a prospect, then take them through the process that creates a customer!

Header cartoon credit to social experts Scott Adams and Dilbert.

Related posts:

Social media marketing brain dump. 11 things Social Media will not do. 12 excuses for SME’s not to engage in Social Media. Amplification and social media effectiveness.