I’ve been to Jeremy’s photography studio. He has dozens of lights to choose from to help him achieve the look and effect he wants to capture with his subjects. Each light has a unique purpose, and because he’s a professional, he knows which one to use to help him achieve the goal he has in mind.

In the picture above, he chose to move his subject next to a window and capture the image with the tool of natural light. The rest of his lights sat unused and yet his result was beautiful; goal achieved.

Imagine if Jeremy used every single light he had in his studio on every one of his subjects just because he has them. The results would be terrible and ultimately, the poor quality work would hinder his future successes.

What Jeremy has learned through experience and experimentation has taught him to know which lights to use and when. He doesn’t assume that they are all best for the job. He assesses the desired look and style, then carefully selects the right light or lights to achieve his goal.

As a marketer, our job is no different: we are to fully understand the tools in our toolbox and then carefully select the right tools to help us best achieve our goals. Just because we have access to the tools, doesn’t mean we have to or should use them.

How to decide when and when not to use social media

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc., are all tools in the marketers toolbox. While they are free and available, it doesn’t mean that you should use them. That’s right; not every marketing plan or strategy should include social media. Utilizing social media platforms because they’re free and available is like throwing all the lights onto your subject and hoping for a great result; it won’t happen. In fact, it could ultimately damage you or your companies reputation.

I’m not suggesting that you don’t use social media as they can be effective tools. However, you have to start with an understanding of who your target market is, then select the social media platforms (tools) that align with your customer demographics and interests. TIP: If you’re unsure who your target market is, read this post.

Which social media platforms should I use?

Choosing which social media platforms to employ is easy when you fully understand each platforms demographics and their strengths and weaknesses.

The good people at Buffer (my favorite tool to use when scheduling social media updates), put together a Social Media Marketing Resource Kit that I highly recommend.

Here’s what the kit includes:

1. A guide to choosing the right social network for you
2. A guide to coming up with a voice and tone for your social media marketing
3. A checklist of the way to create an awesome bio
4. A checklist and examples for the essential of completing your social media profile
5. Infographics for the best time to post, the best day to post, and the best length for your updates
6. A spreadsheet for tracking and auditing your social media growth
7. A spreadsheet for measuring the impact of your tweets
8. A list of the IFTTT/Zapier recipes we use to help automate helpful tasks
9. Free stock photos to use however you want—background images, social shares, etc.!

The best part about this kit is that it’s absolutely free; they don’t even require an email to download it. Do yourself a favor and download it now. The information and insights included are a must-have for any serious marketer.

What Makes You Stand Apart

What’s important to remember is that a professional marketer never makes assumptive decisions when data is available to educate your theories. The worldwide web is full of data to back up your assumptions, and it’s your job to find and understand it.

The difference between an amateur and professional marketer is experience and education; this is why the optimization and analysis functions of the Full Cycle Marketing system are so important. When we take the time to optimize and analyze our strategies (regardless of their successes and failures) we learn, and when we learn, we set ourselves apart from those who assume.

Our jobs as professional marketers is to assess the goal and know which tools NOT to use.

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#fullcyclemarketing

This post is part of a new series called, Full Cycle Marketing.
To get caught up on all of the posts, click here.