A social media marketing strategy is a way to make sure all of your social media activities are working together to achieve your desired outcome.
Without a strategy, you risk posting content that no one will see, or worse, posting content that drives people away.
Your social media strategy should be tailored specifically to your business and your goals.
It shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all approach.
What works for one company might not work for another.
The key is to find what works best for you and then adjust as needed.
Creating a social media marketing strategy can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be.
By following a few simple steps, you can create a plan that will help guide your actions and ensure your success.
In this post, we’ll walk you through a nine-step plan to create a winning social media strategy of your own:
Step 1. Define your goals and objectives
Step 2. Get to know your audience
Step 3. Research your competition
Step 4. Audit your current social media profile
Step 5. Update your profiles where needed
Step 6. Choose the right platforms
Step 7. Build a content creation & posting schedule
Step 8. Develop an Engagement Strategy
Step 9. Analyze your results and adjust as needed
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing is the process of using online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to promote your products or services.
It involves creating content that attracts attention and encourages people to share it with their friends.
Social media marketing helps businesses:
- Build brand awareness
- Increase website traffic
- Generate leads and sales
- Create a positive brand image and improve customer satisfaction
- Connect with customers and industry professionals
- Provide customer support
- Track performance and adjust strategies as needed
What is a social media marketing strategy?
A social media marketing strategy is key to any business’s success.
It’s a documented plan that outlines your social media goals and how they support and achieve your business goals.
It also includes tactics and a timeline for executing those tactics.
Why is it important to have a social media marketing strategy?
Your social media strategy helps guide your actions and ensure that you’re making the most of your resources.
It helps align your efforts with your overall business goals and objectives.
Without a strategy, you may waste time and resources posting content that doesn’t effectively promote your brand or attract new customers.
A well-thought-out social media strategy can also help improve customer satisfaction and strengthen your brand image.
How do I create a social media marketing strategy?
Creating a social media marketing strategy may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.
Step 1. Define your goals and objectives
Before you start creating social media content or investing in ads, it’s important to take a step back and think about what you want to achieve with your social media marketing.
Defining your goals and objectives will help you create content that resonates with your audience and drives impactful results.
There are a few different ways to approach goal setting for social media.
One popular method is to use the S.M.A.R.T. framework, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.
In other words, your social media goals should be specific and well-defined, able to be measured quantitatively, achievable within a certain time frame, relevant to your business objectives, and timely in terms of being aligned with current trends and technologies.
Some examples of goals that could fit this criterion include increasing brand awareness by X% within 6 months, driving X number of website visitors from social media within 3 months, or generating X number of leads from social media within 1 year.
Once you have defined your goals, you can start thinking about the strategies and tactics you’ll need to implement in order to achieve them.
This might include things like creating more engaging content, running targeted ad campaigns, or investing in influencer marketing.
By taking the time to define your goals upfront, you’ll be able to create a more focused and effective social media marketing strategy that delivers real results.
Step 2. Get to know your audience
In order to effectively engage your fans, followers, and customers on social media, it is important to get to know them as real people with real wants and needs.
This means understanding things like their age, location, average income, typical job title or industry, and interests.
Download: Here’s a simple template for creating your Ideal Customer Avatar.
Many companies use social media to connect with their customers. They might answer questions or help with problems.
They’ll also use social media to show people new things they have, like products or features.
And sometimes companies use social media to show their followers special deals or offers.
By analyzing social media analytics, you can discover key information about your followers and how they engage with your brand.
This allows you to make changes to your strategy in order to target your audience more.
Step 3. Research your competition
Competition is a fact of life in any business.
No matter how good you are, someone else can always do it better – or at least try to.
In order to stay ahead of the competition, it’s important to know what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.
Researching your competition can help you learn their strengths and weaknesses, identify potential opportunities, and come up with new ideas for your own social media marketing strategy.
There are a few different ways to go about researching your competition on social media
One way is to simply search for and follow their social media accounts.
Pay attention to the kind of content they post, the frequency and timing of their posts, and how they engage with their followers.
Another approach is to use social media analytics tools, like social listening, to compare your own performance against that of your competitors.
No matter how you do it, keeping an eye on your competition’s social media presence can give you valuable insight and help inform your own strategy.
Step 4. Audit your current social media profile
If you’re utilizing social media in your business, take a look at what you’ve done so far by:
1. Evaluating your current social media presence
2. Assessing the effectiveness of your current strategy
3. Identifying areas for improvement
4. Develop a new social media strategy based on your findings
5. Implementing the new strategy and tracking results
After you gather the data, use it to create a plan for success.
Any business owner will tell you that one of the keys to success is having a clear goal in mind.
The same is true of social media accounts.
If you can’t answer the question of why you’re using a particular platform, then it’s probably not worth your time and effort.
An audit is a great way to take stock of your accounts and see which ones are actually helping you achieve your goals.
Ask yourself whether your audience is active on the platform, and how you can use the account to further your business objectives.
Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll have a better idea of which social media platforms are worth keeping and which ones you can do without.
Step 5. Update your profiles where needed
If you answered yes to any of the questions in Step 4, it’s time to update your social media profiles.
This might include things like changing your profile photo or header, revising your bio, or updating your website and contact information.
Make sure all of your information is current and accurate, and that your profiles look professional and polished.
When you’re done, take a moment to compare how you look now to how you looked when you first created your profiles.
Have you improved?
Do you look more professional?
If not, it’s time to make some changes!
Step 6. Choose the Right Platforms
Once you’ve identified your goals, it’s time to choose the social media platforms that will help you achieve them.
There’s no need to try and be active on every single social media site – instead, focus your energy on a few that will make the most impact.
For example, LinkedIn is great for networking and building relationships with other businesses, while Twitter and Instagram are ideal for promoting your brand and connecting with potential customers.
By being strategic in your platform selection, you can maximize your results and avoid spreading yourself too thin.
Step 7. Build a content creation & posting schedule
Once you’ve chosen the social media platforms that are best for your business, it’s time to start creating content.
But don’t worry, you don’t have to do it all on your own!
There are plenty of resources out there to help you come up with new ideas for content and find the right frequency and timing for posting.
One great way to get started is to create a content calendar.
This will help you plan out your posts in advance, ensuring that you always have something fresh and interesting to share.
You can use a simple spreadsheet or download a free content planner template here.
When it comes to creating content, the sky’s the limit! But in general, try to mix things up and include a variety of types of content.
This could include blog posts, photos, infographics, videos, quotes, or even just simple text updates.
If you’re starting from scratch and you’re not sure what types of content to post, try the 80-20 rule:
- 80% of your posts should inform, educate, or entertain your audience
- 20% can directly promote your brand.
You could also try the social media content marketing rule of thirds:
- One-third of your content promotes your business, converts readers, and generates profit.
- One-third of your content shares ideas and stories from thought leaders in your industry or like-minded businesses.
- One-third of your content is personal interactions with your audience
As long as it’s relevant to your audience and provides value, they’ll be more likely to engage with it.
And don’t forget to mix in some calls to action to drive traffic to your website or landing pages.
As anyone who has spent any time on social media can attest, there is a delicate balance to be struck when it comes to posting.
Post too frequently, and you run the risk of annoying your followers and driving them away.
But post too infrequently, and you risk looking like you’re not worth following.
Fortunately, there are some general guidelines that can help you strike the right balance.
For instance, on Instagram, it is generally recommended that you post 3-7 times per week.
On Facebook, 1-2 times per day is usually sufficient.
And on Twitter, 1-5 times per day is a good starting point.
Here is another suggestion from @BrandingWallah.com.
Of course, these are just guidelines, and you will ultimately need to experiment to see what works best for your specific audience.
But by following these recommendations, you should be able to find the sweet spot that keeps your followers engaged without overwhelming them.
Once you have a content plan in place, make sure to stick to it and be consistent with your posting schedule.
This will help boost your visibility and build trust with your followers.
Here’s a great resource from Hubspot to further help you with content creation.
Step 8. Develop an Engagement Strategy
Once you have a content plan in place, it’s time to start thinking about how you’ll engage with your followers.
This includes things like responding to comments and messages, liking and retweeting others’ posts, and hosting social media contests and giveaways.
One of the most important things to remember is that social media is all about engagement.
The more engaged you are with your followers, the more likely they are to stick around and become loyal fans.
So make sure you take the time to interact with them on a regular basis.
Step 9. Analyze Results & Adjust Strategy As Needed
Finally, it’s important to track the results of your social media efforts and adjust your strategy as needed.
This could include things like measuring the number of website visitors from social media, analyzing engagement rates, or tracking lead conversions.
By tracking your results, you can fine-tune your strategy to ensure that it’s effective and brings you the desired results.
So make sure to set some goals at the beginning, and then track and analyze your progress over time.”
A social media strategy is an ever-evolving document.
As new networks emerge and old ones adapt, your business will also go through changes.
Your social media strategy should be a living document that you review and update regularly to ensure that it reflects your current goals, tools, and plans.
Don’t be afraid to make changes as needed – the goal is to have a strategy that is flexible and adaptable so that you can always stay on track.
Conclusion
A social media strategy is an important document that all businesses should have.
It helps to keep you on track and ensures that your efforts are effective.
By tracking your progress, you can make necessary adjustments along the way to ensure that you’re achieving your desired results.
So make sure to set some goals at the beginning, and then track and analyze your progress over time.
Your social media strategy should be a living document that you review and update regularly in order to keep it current and relevant.
If you’re looking to create a successful social media strategy for your business, be sure to check out our Community on zindolabs.com. We go into detail about social media, marketing, and offer helpful tips and advice for each step. So be sure to check it out!
