Social Media Marketing Works Like a Puzzle

Social Media Marketing Works Like a Puzzle

When Aristotle stated that “the whole is greater sum of its parts,” he may as well have been referring to social media marketing. While active involvement on one social networking site is good, strategic engagement across multiple targeted channels is priceless. In this sense, social media marketing works like a puzzle, where each piece is very important, but individually does not tell the whole story. We need all of the pieces are working together to get the optimal effect. If one piece is missing, we see a gaping hole. If a piece isn’t placed in just the right spot, it doesn’t flow. Social media marketing is a big-picture prospect made up of several individual, yet interacting, important parts. With social media marketing, the completed puzzle is the strategic plan, implementation, ongoing management and measurement of social media engagement. One puzzle piece might be engagement on Facebook, another might be engagement on Twitter, and another might be the company’s brand.

How Social Media Marketing Is Like a Puzzle

It has many pieces. Like a puzzle piece, each piece of the social media marketing puzzle has a unique shape, place and function. It brings its own quality and purpose to the bigger picture. Each piece has a job to do and is important to the bigger picture, but can’t sustain the outcome on its own. The pieces make up a big picture. By correctly assembling all the pieces together, the bigger picture is realized. It reveals a pretty picture, and tells an intriguing story. By creating, executing and monitoring a strategic social media marketing plan that incorporates all the necessary pieces we get a dynamic, multifaceted, and synergistic outcome. That includes engagement, exposure, and ROI. Assembly takes time, effort and skill. A good social media marketing program is a complex and time-consuming process. It’s not a quick fix or something to be entered into haphazardly. It requires assessing, planning, foundation building, maintaining, monitoring, and enhancing. It needs time to grow and take effect. It is about solutions. A good social media marketing plan sets out to solve a problem (another word for puzzle). The strategic plan focuses on a goal, or goals, and addresses an area needing improvement (such as not enough awareness about your company). It is fun. Like a puzzle, social media involves active involvement, work, and concentration, which still managing to be fun and enjoyable. The whole point of social media is to socialize, engage, share, exchange information, and to connect with others. With social media marketing it is also rewarding to see the results. There is a measurable outcome. With a puzzle, the outcome is the finished picture made up by the pieces. With social media marketing, the outcome is whatever your specific measureable goals are. Unlike a puzzle, social media marketing is an ongoing process. It continues to build on its own success. While social media marketing is in many ways like a puzzle, hiring a proven social media marketing company can make the process much less puzzling.