No matter who is creating content on social media, every one does it with an agenda.

Without an agenda, no one would do it and no one would have any meaning or motivation to carry on.

In such a scenario, if you haven’t figured it out yet, or if you don’t have a clear pathway for your future, you must ask yourself what is it that you want from social media?

And not just social media in general, but when you market yourself or your brand, what is the outcome that you’re expecting?

Having a clear outcome decides the path that you’ve to take, the journey that you’ve set yourself on.

Usually, what you want from social media boils down to these 5 scenarios,

– sales
In a scenario of sales, you’ve approached the platform (any) with a single mindset of selling your product or your service.

With everything that you post, the agenda is one, to sell to your target audience.

This type of approach is effective for some, but short-lived because the audience wants to get some sort of value, something meaningful, informative or entertaining, but something that connects them with you.

– influence
Where influence can also be clubbed with sales and/or popularity, the reason I see influence as a separate category because the power of influence is enormous, and not everyone with influence needs to be popular.

Nonetheless, your influence can make or break someone’s product or service, where mostly the influence is seen over positive experiences, a negative experience could hurt someone as well.

– attention
Isn’t attention a part of all the other scenarios as well, it’s a part and parcel of all of them, right?

There is a category of people who use this attention towards a cause or a movement, making people aware of them and/or driving people towards that change.

That approach on social media is a unique one and not seen on a mass scale. However, the aspect of attention is usually combined with one or two more scenarios and thus approaching the platforms with that intent.

– popularity/ fame
Intent is an essential factor along with your approach and for some is to become popular and famous.

That popularity may lead to sales and influence, but the initial intent is popularity and fame, to have a following, to gather an audience for your name.

– impact
Impact, can also be approached as purpose, drives change.

In this scenario, what you want from social media, is to impact people, make people aware and/or drive change. This impact can be for any sector, and in the due process of it can be combined with another scenario, but the macro goal is to create impact in the society.

—x—

You should choose the one that you know is truly right for you, and be clear with your agenda right from the start.

Adding to that, you also can have a mixture of things that you want, and not just end up choosing one. Different individuals, different needs and wants.

However, you must be clear in your mind, so you can then communicate with authenticity and honesty with your audience.

—x—

Subscribe here to get the future blog posts on your mail. (free)

Also, check out my podcast here and my weekly newsletter, ‘The Weekly Zazz’ here.