The social path to optimising your content marketing efforts

I was among five others who recently attended Social Path’s two-day social media / content marketing course at its office in Fourways, where we learnt how to create a 12-month content plan, how to use various tools and platforms to assist us behind the scenes, and some ‘magic’ tricks of the trade to help manage our social media accounts.

Chief magic maker Jessica McEndoo taught us pretty much all there is to know about social media and how to optimise our efforts to achieve return on investment (ROI).

As our editor-in-chief Leigh Andrews has covered some of the course content, I thought I’d interview McEndoo on the course itself…

Clear content marketing strategy = happy customers + happy boss

Leigh Andrews  7 Apr 2017

Why and when did you start offering the social media marketing course?
Social Path started offering the course mid-2018. We looked at courses that are available and they just didn’t cover how to really use content marketing and social media to get a real ROI.

What is the objective, for Social Path and your students?
Our mission is to enable anyone in marketing to reach their potential. Understanding the tools and how you can meet your business objectives is key to success. We want to empower our students to create, implement and measure their efforts for the good of their fans.

Why is it important that people working in the social media space are educated in and understand the platforms and tools available to optimise their social media strategies, and that they have a strategy in the first place?
For want of a better phrase ‘failing to plan, is planning to fail’... The social media landscape changes continually, but your business goals don’t.

To achieve greatness, remain relevant and create a loyal following of real customers, you need to keep your finger on the pulse. Knowing how to measure your investment enables you to be more strategic and optimise your efforts. It’s about less of the fluff and more of the P2P.

The importance of media training

Keshia Patchiappen  4 Jul 2018

Besides the course, how else can Social Path assist those with navigating the space or strategising effectively going forward?
Social Path are enablers. We will consult with brands, agencies and businesses to align their goals with measurable results. Our offering consists of:

• Digital market research and analysis
  
• Social Media and Google assets audits
  
• Content marketing communication strategies
  
• Consulting and or marketing management
  
• Community monitoring and KPI reporting
  
• Policy creations for online reputation management

How often do you hold these workshops?
We currently offer the content marketing and social media workshop every two months, which we would like to take to monthly.

Businesses also have the option to have a tailored training made for their marketing teams to align the business teams to reach their full potential.

What does the course cover?
Social Path are a contagious P2P digital marketing consultancy, so our training focuses on researching your market and analysing the gaps in your digital assets to meet the demands of your customers. The outline of the two days focuses on:

• Content marketing (pooping candy floss)
  
• Keeping Google happy (knowing your audience)
  
• Social media landscape (finding your customers)
  
• Platforms and advertising ROI (tools for results)
  
• ORM - CYA (covering your ass in a crisis)

What are some common misconceptions about social media marketing that the course seeks to clarify?
Marketing is no longer about B2B and B2C, it’s P2P (person-to-person). Digital marketing is measurable, and you can work out your ROR (return on relationships). The common misconception is that social media lives with marketers only, social media and content belongs to everyone or every touch point in your business. Even the tea lady can make or break you.

What has the general response been?
Our first course went quite well. We had giggles and learnings. One student gave her personal recommendation:

The course I did with Jessica was very insightful. I gained a lot of knowledge which I could put into practice in growing my own personal blog and social media account. Jess has very broad and in-depth knowledge about digital marketing and she is fun and bubbly too. She also gave all her students' queries and concerns individual attention. I would, therefore for all the above reasons, highly recommend doing her digital strategy and social media marketing course.

Social Path is a new player in the digital marketing world, so a few people were unsure of what to expect. Each workshop is different as we have different levels of skills in the room, with an array of business objectives. With our course content, we know it’s about the people, so spending time to take your marketing hat off opens a world of possibility.

#StartupStory: Say hello to Social Path

Jessica Tennant  7 Aug 2018

If there’s one thing your students learn, what do hope that would be?
If you haven’t researched and planned, stop right now. The ripple effect of social media is five years, so make sure that every word, phrase, post, image, video, blog, webpage has purpose and meaning and can be measured against your plan with KPIs.

When is the next course?
We are currently planning to run another two-day workshop on 30-31 August in Johannesburg. It’s a Thursday and Friday opportunity to get out of the office, have fun and learn. Our students who book and pay before 17 August get a 10% discount.

Do you only run these in Johannesburg?
We want to offer the course nationally and there are plans to branch out into Botswana this year still. Everyone deserves to learn best practice and we are open to suggestions. We’ve even had a few requests for PE…

Any plans to expand or change this offering in any way?
Social Path will be looking to expand the course content into mini half-day practical sessions beginning next year. Our feedback has been that it is a lot to take in a new way of thinking. So, putting the learnings into practice completely makes sense and will further enable our students to grow in leaps and bounds.

Book now for the next workshop (10% early-bird discount valid until 17 August) or just #SayHello…