Today was a day that I had trouble coming up with a blog topic. It’s Halloween week and my daughter is bouncing off the walls, so it’s pretty understandable. So I put a few terms into ChatGPT and was just grossed out by one of the suggestions: How a social media consultant can transform your business in 90 days. I’m sure someone has written on this topic. Probably multiple people. But it’s not realistic.
So what are realistic expectations when it comes to a social media consultant?
Increased sales
In the end, if your sales aren’t increasing, then what is your social media consultant doing? They need to be contributing to your business goals and not just doing something cool. Too many social media consultants get stuck in the idea of doing the cool thing instead of doing what will help your business.
Should you expect those increased sales on day one? Absolutely not. That is also not realistic. I would give them six months. That’s enough time for a social media consultant to get to know your audience and everything that is important to them. And then they should be able to use that knowledge towards getting them to take action. It also gives them time to make mistakes and learn from them. That is also a very important part of the process to get to success.
If you see no increase in sales at six months, then you need to have a serious discussion or else move on.
Increased reach
Yes, reach is a vanity metric, but it is a part of the equation to increase your sales. And it can be an early warning sign.
Those viral moments are great, but you are not looking for those huge jumps and then dying off. That is not sustainable growth and is more akin to stunts. In fact, I’d even go as far as to say they probably are not getting you buyers. That kind of reach is more likely to get you people who want to watch the spectacle and that’s about it.
What is more realistic is slow, sustained growth. That’s a sign that they are taking an approach that is more likely to reach your actual audience who will buy from you. And by targeting that audience, you are more likely to have increased sales in the long-term without wasted resources. With resources so tight right now, this lack of waste is a very big deal.
Increased engagement rate
Once again, this is a vanity metric. But it’s another early warning sign that can help you know when it’s time to change course.
I’ve heard so many definitions of engagement rate. To me, there is only one correct definition: Engagement divided by reach. That will tell you the actual health of your content. Anything else is just garbage.
So why are we so concerned about engagement divided by reach? You can buy tons of reach. It’s much harder to get the engagement. Yes, you could buy that as well, but a quick glance at the content will tell just about anyone if the engagement is being bought. For example, I once saw an agency doing work for a nonprofit and all of the engagement on each post was from employees of the agency. They liked each post. They left comments. That is not the kind of engagement that really got the organization anything. So if your social media consultant is doing this or mentions anything about some kind of engagement group, it’s a good sign that you need to move on quickly.
If that is not happening, then it’s a realistic goal to use engagement rate to check the health of the content. If it’s staying the same or increasing as your reach increases, then your content is doing great. It’s hitting the right audience and they are responding to it. If, on the other hand, it decreases as your reach increases, there is a problem.
What is the problem? It could be that the correct audience isn’t being targeted. It could be that you haven’t built up enough trust yet. Or it could be just really bad content. You have to look at all the ingredients that have been going into what the social media consultant has been doing and figure out what to correct. And if they are good, they should be able to walk you through it all and give advice as to what they think needs to change. If they instead dig their heels in, it’s time to part ways.
What is really realistic?
Transforming your business is just not a realistic goal for a social media consultant. What does that even mean as far as actual business? I guarantee that’s not even a thought when a social media consultant is just trying to do something cool.
What is actually realistic is slow sustained growth that will help your business do the small things perfectly. Those big things may come, but they’re just not going to keep you business around for the long-term. Staying the course with that growth, on the other hand, will keep your business going for a very long time.
What are your realistic goals for your social media consultant?