Daniel Ortega: The Social Mind
Sharing Thoughts for the World of Marketing
Introduction
Big Hitters is a local baseball development facility in Columbia, Missouri. They should strategically embrace the use of social media to aid in maximizing their online presence and further engage with their target audience. Despite not having a full-time marketing or social media specialist, they can leverage social media given their limited resources to give themselves the most potential for reaching and connecting with their audience in an effective manner. Facebook, Instagram, and X are three platforms that would all suit the business particularly well.
Social Media
On Facebook, Big Hitters would be able to share updates about their programs, upcoming events, and other important announcements. They can also utilize Facebook groups to build a sense of community among their clients and local baseball enthusiasts. Posting on Facebook about 3-5 times per week would be ideal for the business to maintain a consistent presence without overwhelming their audience. Moreover, instagram is another excellent platform that provides the opportunity for visually showcasing Big Hitters’ training sessions, success stories, and the overall atmosphere of their facility. Through regular posts and stories, they can provide their followers with behind-the-scenes glimpses, more training tips, and highlights of their players’ achievements. Posting at least once a day on Instagram will help keep their audience constantly engaged and interested in their content. Furthermore, X can be utilized by Big Hitters for quick updates, sharing relevant news or articles related to baseball development, and other engaging content for the local community. Thanks to X’s fast-paced nature, posting 5-7 times per week will be more than enough. This also includes retweets or replies to followers which will help maintain an active presence and facilitate positive interactions.
Content
In terms of content, Big Hitters should aim to achieve a diverse mix that relates well with their audience and aligns with their goals (Razavian,2023). This can include visual content such as photos or short videos of training sessions, players in action, and coaches providing tips. To add, they can include customer testimonials. Customers can share success stories and their personal testimonials of their satisfaction with the business. Doing this will allow parents to help build trust and credibility for Big Hitters. They can also use behind-the-Scenes content. This would give their followers a glimpse into their daily operations, staff highlights, or possibly show facility improvements which would promote the brand’s growth and create a personalized connection with the audience.
Furthermore, Big Hitters can include content regarding their promotions and offers. In doing this, they can occasionally offer exclusive discounts or promotions for their followers to incentivize engagement and drive sales. Posting interactive content would be a huge bonus for the business as well (Macready, 2022). They can run polls, quizzes, or create challenges related to baseball trivia or skills that can further encourage participation and interaction. Finally, one of the most important forms of content would be user-generated. Big Hitters can do this through encouraging customers to share their experiences and tag Big Hitters in their posts. Also, Big Hitters can then repost this content with permission to help amplify their brand’s reach and showcase their community involvement.
Goals
The primary goals for Big Hitters’ social media strategy should include increasing their overall brand awareness within the local community, drive engagement with followers, generate leads, and build a loyal customer base. To achieve these goals, it is essential that Big Hitters also make sure to follow best practices that will maximize their time and resources. Another important step to help them reach their goals would be to utilize a scheduling tool like Hootsuite to plan and automate their posts in advance which would save time while ensuring consistent posting. They could also repurpose content across their platforms to reach different audience segments and maximize the value of each piece of content. They should also make collaborations a goal as they have resources with University of Missouri athletes or other professional athletes who have used their facility. This would increase their brand exposure and reputation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, by strategically leveraging platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X, Big Hitters can effectively reach and engage their audience despite their resource constraints. Through having a focus on consistent posting, diverse content creation, and engagement, they can achieve the goals of increasing brand awareness, driving engagement, generating leads, and building a loyal customer base. Also, through partnerships with local athletes and constant development of their social media strategy, Big Hitters can position themselves for sustained future success. All in all, their success in incorporating this plan would prove that effective social media marketing is achievable even on a small business budget.
References
Big Hitters. (2024). Home. https://www.bighittersmo.com/
Macready, H. (2022, November 7). How to Use Social Media for Small Business: 11 Simple Tips. Hootsuite Social Media Management. https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-tips-for-small-business-owners/
Razavian, K. (2023, April 6). Starting a Baseball Facility: A Complete Guide. EZFacility. https://www.ezfacility.com/blog/starting-a-baseball-facility/
Daniel Ortega: The Social Mind 
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