Practice What You Preach

Reflecting on your social media analytics is important for improving your content and determining what is working and what isn't working for your brand. While doing this with your social analytics is important for improvement, personally reflecting on the content you put out is important for remaining consistent and ensuring your are practicing what you preach.

A personal reflection on the type of content you are putting out to define your brand also allows you to reflect on if you are practicing what you are preaching. People follow authentic brands. Authenticity comes when brands practice what they preach. If an athlete posts on social media about maintaining sportsmanship throughout their career but on game day does not practice good sportsmanship, they will lose their credibility and authenticity. 

You can't just post and speak about things you want your brand to be, you have to live by those standards as well. Why would an audience practice what your brand is preaching if your brand is not even doing it? They won't. When a brand doesn't act on their messages, an audience won't believe that the advice or message actually works.

Everything is about outcomes. When a brand puts out advice or tips, the audience expects these posts to come from experiences a brand has had, not advice about something which should work in theory. People follow brands who post content which is creative and reliable. The only way to do this is by practicing the content you put out and making sure you provide your audience with follow up about those experiences. 

Follow up is key. You have to practice what your preach and also show your audience when you are actively doing this. Post on your social media behind the scenes insights into something you have posted about in the past. While a follow up post about the subject is important, so is posting real time content of practicing something your brand promotes. 

Overall, a brand is only as good as it is authentic and genuine. Practicing what you preach will not only add these characteristics to your brand, but it will make it easier for you to come up with content to put out. You will have more experiences to pull from and you will be able to show your audience through real measurable outcomes that your content is effective.