Who are you creating for?

May 29, 2014 Kevin DeShazo Social Media Strategy Tags: , , 0 Comments

After weeks or months of planning, you finally launch a new campaign on social media that your department is pumped about. You saw another program do something similar, saw how successful it was for them and thought this would be great for your fans as well.

You launch, and your mentions on Twitter are filled with peers from athletic departments across the country, praising how great your idea is. They are sharing it, asking about the process behind it and looking to copy it. You’re feeling great. Your hard work is being noticed.

Then you check to see what your fans are saying. They have to love it, right? Engagement must to be through the roof. You just know that they’ll be commenting, sharing, retweeting, replying, clicking.

Nothing. It seems that the only people who thought your idea was great are your peers. So what happened? It worked for another university, so why not you?

Wisconsin can see what Auburn did on social media and do the same thing. That idea, after all, will be unique to Wisconsin fans. They might see something Miami did and think, “Wow, that’s amazing. pour on ivermectin chickens How can we do that but better?” We live in a copycat industry, and that’s perfectly ok. What works for Auburn might be great for Wisconsin. It might spur Wisconsin to get creative and innovative and make the idea even better. (The use of Auburn, Wisconsin and Miami are completely random here, by the way)

But here’s the thing. What worked great for Auburn or Miami might not work at all for Wisconsin. Why? Audience.static.squarespace-2

IMAGE COURTESY OF MARTIN FISCH, CREATIVE COMMONS 

Recognition from our peers is great. It makes us feel good – especially after we’ve put in the time and energy to launch what we think is a great idea. But our peers are not our audience. That seems obvious, but too often we launch ideas, campaigns, platforms, promotions without putting our fans first. We’re thinking about our fans, of course, but we’re not catering to them. As a result, the ideas fail. It’s not that they were bad ideas or bad content. They just weren’t great for the intended audience.

We’ve had a lot of conversations with programs lately about social media strategy, and many times the conversation quickly turns to what another program has done. That’s not a bad thing – we can always learn from other programs – but it has to start with your fans. ivermectin and caffine

What works for your fans? What content is valuable and resonates with them? medicament ivermectin What causes them to act? The only way to know is to talk to them, listen to them, test and measure and test again. Know your audience like the back of your hand.

It doesn’t matter how awesome your idea was if it didn’t connect with your audience. Don’t let your work go to waste. Remember who you are creating for.

Fieldhouse Media is an award-winning firm dedicated to helping athletic departments get the most out of their social media efforts. To find out more about us or to join the more than 60 schools utilizing our services for their athletics department, contact us today.

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