Your Sales Assistant says her friends love her personal Instagram account. She seems to have a pretty good handle on writing posts. So you’ve asked her to set up and run your business’s social media profiles (the two she knows how to use)… should be good to go, right?
Weeeeelllllllll, no. Your business’s social media and digital marketing success will not come from having someone familiar with how to “do social media” simply uploading some content and hoping it performs well. Nor will it come from having a marketing team member take on the task by squeezing in a couple minutes to post something, just to make sure your business is “on social media”.
There are so many variables that are vital to consider in order to successfully market your business online. And yet, few marketers using social media or digital marketing who do this on behalf of a business have received training on HOW to do it. Let’s talk about the most compelling reasons why your business should invest in social media and digital marketing training.
First, the numbers.
There are 4.3 billion internet users in the world. 3.4 billion of these people are active on social media and the average daily time spent on social media is 142 minutes.
So, if you’re not taking advantage of social, you’re missing out on a fast, inexpensive, and effective way to reach almost half the world’s population. And if you think you are taking advantage of social but your team has not been trained on how to successfully plan, strategize and deliver on social media, you’re still missing out.
Secondly, your team needs it.
1. To help them save time
Invest in training for your employees so they don’t need to spend time researching best practices, concepts, terminology, and ways to be successful. Research can eat up a ton of time in the day for someone tasked with planning content, for example, when they’ve never received instruction on a strategic, effective approach for doing this. Training also involves learning about time-saving tools that are available for scheduling, creating, planning, etc. for your team to become even more efficient.
2. To build their digital confidence
People take pride in a job well done, working with a strategy, a clear approach, and a method for measuring success. Knowing how and why every piece of content contributes to brand building or sales, is very different from piecing together a randomly conceived content plan. From knowing which platform(s) to use, when and how often to post, and how to target the right audience with paid ads, training will provide your employees with the confidence they need to thoughtfully approach digital marketing and social media in a whole new way.
3. To drive their motivation
Professional development is vital for employees to feel stimulated and motivated. Upskilling your team is key to empowering them, ensuring they feel valuable, informed, and as though their growth will continue to be supported at your company. Happy, productive, valued team = higher retention.
And finally, your business deserves it.
1. Build your brand
With a team trained to deliver on-brand, engaging, informative, entertaining content, your brand will flourish online. Not only will your brand awareness and your audience grow, but your team will know how to nurture and maintain these relationships to build a loyal following for your business. From a consistent brand voice to meticulous online customer service to unmatched expertise, your trained team will deliver the best possible customer experience.
2. Save your money
Without training, money is being thrown willy-nilly at boosts and ad campaigns that have little strategy or data behind them. Training will help your team understand the cost-effective possibilities of digital marketing, ensuring money is spent wisely, targeting only the most likely audience with a wise ad budget and highly relevant messaging. Better yet, a team trained to interpret data will be able to monitor and refine its efforts.
3. Meet your objectives
Social media is an invaluable source for connecting with your audience. But it’s not a purely social tool. Digital marketing and social media are highly effective, measurable tools for helping you achieve business goals—from generating leads, driving traffic, and growing your audience to building your brand and selling products. The key to success is a trained team that knows how to use the tools properly.
Social media and digital usage are not going anywhere. For businesses to succeed today, it’s no longer about if they use the channels and platforms, but how well they use it. Skilled staff with training in social media and digital marketing will give your business a competitive edge as your team provides the kind of quality content and strategic approach that untrained competitors can’t.
BONUS TIP: Digital training is not a one-and-done subject. Once an individual has started implementing their initial or fundamental learnings, continue to support their development with further learning. The digital landscape and social media are evolving daily, and it’s to your benefit to have people on your team who are staying on top of changes and best practices for businesses. This knowledge can come from further courses, refresher courses, coaching sessions and even private consulting focused specifically on your business objectives.
Like what you learned? We know more things!
Our Digital Marketing Certification offers 4 full days of hands-on training. You’ll learn essential strategies and tools to grow your business using social media and digital marketing. Learn more about our industry-leading course HERE.
