Do You Have a Digital Strategy?

If you’ve been following KBM for more than a minute, you’ve probably heard the term “digital strategy” thrown around quite a bit. In this blog, we’ll lay out exactly what a digital strategy is, why it’s important, common pitfalls, and some things to think about as you get ready to start making (or improving!) your digital strategy. 

What Is Digital Strategy and Why Is It Important?

A digital strategy is a plan of action designed to guide your online activities to best meet your customer’s needs, while staying true to your organization’s mission and purpose. Having a clear strategy for your social media presence, videos, content marketing (e.g. blogs), email marketing, etc., will give your team a roadmap for using these platforms in a meaningful way. Meeting a goal of any kind is difficult without a plan, and it’s no different with digital. Doing social media without a strategy is like shooting in the dark. We like to say, “stop doing digital just because…” Here’s what we mean by that: basically everyone agrees you need to have a digital presence. Don’t just do it to do it…have a plan to make the most of your time and fulfill your organization’s purpose on whichever platforms you choose to use. (You don’t have to follow that old advice of having a presence on every new platform!) What are you trying to accomplish? Who are you trying to reach? How do you know if your efforts are effective or not? Your strategy will answer those questions and help you decide what’s worth your time and what isn’t.

When there’s a plan in place, you and your team will be more efficient, effective, and productive. The bad news: you can’t post cat memes every day. The good news: your strategy should reflect who you are as a business/ministry/non-profit. And don’t worry, all you cat meme lovers, you can still mix in a funny cat meme from time to time, but in a way that aligns with your purpose and mission. 😉 I love the following quote from Zig Ziglar:

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.

Zig Ziglar

Having a digital strategy gives you something to aim at.

Common Pitfalls To Avoid When Creating A Digital Strategy

When thinking through what you should be doing on your digital platforms, make sure to avoid these mistakes that can distance you from your desired audience. 

• Being “me” focused. When you only post about things in your organization without thinking about whether the information is relevant or helpful to your audience, you ignore what your followers need and limit your effectiveness. A similar effect to seeing too many ads, promotional content wears on people quickly.  To avoid this, focus on a mix of content that includes 80% valuable/entertaining/informative content and 20% promotional.
• Doing the same thing across multiple digital channels. It’s important to understand the purpose and the users of different platforms. For example: people interact differently on Facebook compared to Instagram, and your images and text should reflect that. Also, just because you have a great blog post doesn’t mean you should post the same thing on all your social media channels. You’ll get better engagement if you tailor content to the specific channel.
• Not having clear goals established. You probably have a vague idea of what you’re trying to accomplish on digital, but have you set goals? You’ll have a better idea of what to do and of what’s working or not working if you have done the research and know what you’re aiming for.  Without goals, it’s difficult to measure the effectiveness of your digital strategy. Plus, be thinking about micro and macro goals. Our team considers “likes, shares, comments, views” as micro-goals on social media. Macro-goals would be “streaming online, downloading your app, email sign-ups, donations, buying merch, etc.”

Do You Have A Digital Strategy?

We understand that a lot of people in social media management may have accidentally ended up there! We’ve heard that you feel unprepared and unsure about how to do your best on social media. Never fear, KBM is here!

Some of you may have had a great personal social media presence that got you elected to handle your organization’s social media profiles, so you have some idea of what you’re doing. If you’ve ever thought, “I know what I’m doing. I don’t need a strategy…” answer this simple question before you decide to skip the strategy talk: “do I have a written plan for how to use our digital platforms approved by leadership/team members?” If not, you don’t have a strategy, and that’s ok! Now you know what you need to do next. 😁

5 KillerB Tips To Get You Started

Here are five things you should consider when planning your digital strategy.

1. Who: Know your audience and their interests.
2. Where: Determine where your audience is most active.
3. Why: Don’t forget your purpose on the digital platforms. Your audience needs you to be uniquely you.
4. What: Determine the message you want to communicate and what you want your audience to do.
5. How: Figure out how much time you are willing and able to utilize the tools you choose. Take into consideration the size of your team and how many hats they’re wearing.

Now You Know

Now that you understand what a digital strategy is, why you need one, what to avoid, and what to remember, you’re ready to get started! Stop doing digital just because and do digital with purpose! If you get stuck or don’t have time to put together your strategy yourself, schedule a free 30-minute session with our KILLER team, and we’ll work together to create a digital strategy that works for you!