Lifelong learning is not necessarily a new trend.  As a business owner, marketer, salesperson, whoever, in this fast-moving world it is impossible to survive unless you are able to be malleable and learn new things on a regular basis.

I find this attitude applicable with how a business views social media marketing. I’ve come across so many entrepreneurs, CEOs, CFOs, marketing, and sales professionals who have gone to one social media seminar, or read one social media marketing-themed book and thought they had the game down pat.

But little did they realize that within ten minutes of putting down that book or jumping into the car to ride back to the office after the event, that the information they had just learned was outdated.

Over the past 12 plus years of working in the social media space, I have seen many people and companies fall into this trap of “learning it once, and done.”  They hit the social media information circuit hard for a month, and then vanish for life—utilizing all of the tips that they gleaned in that one month of information gathering.

If you want to be successful with social media marketing, you need to be constantly evolving your skills and organically changing your approach on at least a weekly basis.

I’m a huge proponent of ongoing social media marketing education. So much so that I actually created an online social media marketing school (The Social Marketing Academy) where students can log in and learn more about whatever topic they are interested in the most. 

From this time I have spent with the students at The Social Marketing Academy I have truly seen a difference in how they approach their social media marketing, due to their exposure to ongoing education.

Whether you are a student of The Social Marketing Academy or not, there are ways for you to constantly stay abreast of the changes and advances that are constantly being made to market your business more effectively.

By focusing on constantly developing your social media marketing knowledge you can expect the following benefits overall:

• Being Ahead of the Pack: There is nothing worse than logging into your Facebook Business Page and finding out that all of the image sizes have changed, resulting in your page looking ridiculous. Or how about finding out about the secret time saver on LinkedIn that no one is using…too late so that it is no longer effective. Keeping abreast of social media advances will keep you in a proactive mode, rather than a reactive— which is not ideal for social media marketing success.

• Competitive: Allowing your competitors to be privy to effective social media information before you is doing your business a massive disservice. This is public information, that when you stay on-top of it you can implement it quickly. Oftentimes with these tools or tactics, the first-adapters get the highest return.
• More Control: By having a clear understanding on an ongoing basis, you will have more control over the design and execution of your campaign.  You will know what to anticipate, how to implement it, and how to organically change your campaign for greater success.
• Tools and Metrics: As a lifelong social media learner you will get access to major time-saving or cost-saving tools that will help you take your social media campaign to the next level. Ever heard someone talking about a tool that they use that you have never heard of?  If you are ignoring the social media news, it could have been around for years…and you could have been using it.  Some tools can save hours a week!
• Reporting: You will also be able to fine-tune your objectives to be more aligned with what each site can really offer your business.  With this knowledge, you will be able to set more realistic objectives, measurements, and report on your results in a more informed manner.

And this is just scratching the surface. I urge you to take this to heart, especially if you dip in and out of following social media trends. Put some time aside every week to learn something new, check in on the trends, and check in with what your competition is doing. And, where would we suggest you start your learning? Sign up for our super informative Bulletproof Marketer newsletter as well as The Social Marketing Academy podcast!