I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and although I’ve written about this before, it’s worth repeating. If your marketing is structured in a way to show up every day, you’re going to dominate those who work forever on big ideas and never ship.
I’m not saying to completely ignore the big idea and not spend cycles working on creative content or campaigns that permeate a category. It’s worth the investment if it’s the right idea and you’ve got a clear objective behind it. But if you’re out there daily interacting with a community and building relationships / sharing ideas / adding value, you’re far better positioned for outcomes from social.
Here’s the problem: most brands still champion the big idea and don’t understand the value of being a part of the daily conversation in an industry. Perhaps it’s because leadership only notices the big things, while actual users pay more attention to the smaller interactions and content that make up the meat and potatoes of the social web. Either way, you need to value incremental returns as much as the big idea.
When you analyze organic marketing KPIs, it’s those brands who have a consistent, efficient and interesting drip of content (with the right mix of big ideas) that rule. It’s because they are consistently closing the loop between their marketing and their audience and able to iterate based on data at a rapid pace. They run circles around slow competitors.
So don’t throw out the big, creative ideas. But realize it’s all the stuff in between you have to lock down first. Showing up to the party when it’s convenient or planned will never get you as much trust or results as being a regular. And when you’re a regular who shows up with something amazing, you’re well positioned to have your idea spread even further.