Information from this blog was obtained from Social Media Examiner, HubSpot Blog, and Social Media Today.
Are you new to the social media marketing world? Maybe you're wondering why your marketing isn't going as planned or trying to figure out your next move in the world of social media marketing. We're here to help you get started, and the first step is to create a social media strategy.
Determine Your Goals and Objectives
When creating a social media strategy, it is important to set specific objectives and goals for your strategy. You'll want to use measurable key performance indicators such as customer satisfaction, unique website visitors, net followers, and number of interactions. Make sure you understand your goals and objectives, paying close attention that they fit the overall goals and objectives of your company.
Be SMART when setting your goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relevant, and Timely. You don't want to set goals that are too far-fetched to focus on, or that take an extremely long time to achieve. That could cause you to lose complete focus in your social media strategy.
Define Your Target Audience
Knowing your target audience is a key factor when creating a social media strategy. This step involves identifying and documenting your buyer personas (HubSpot has a free template you can use!) These personas will help you establish the main demographics of the audience you are wanting to reach, including age, gender, occupation, income, hobbies, etc. You may also want to include buyer behavior, social media engagement, and online activity in your buyer personas.
When determining your target audience, it is important to think about the challenges or problems they face often, and how these challenges and problems could be solved. You'll want to strive for no more than 4 buyer personas, much more and you'll risk hitting the majority of the audience you're targeting.
Assess Your Social Media
Assessing your social media channels is an important part of a social media strategy. You'll need to research your target audience and and focus on the platforms that hold the majority of your audience. This will give you the ability to put the proper amount of time and resources into building the social media community your specific audience is searching for.
Once you have assessed your social media channels, you'll need to choose which platform(s) your audience prefers. It's best to only select one or two platforms based upon your company and target audience. The use of too many platforms can cause content to be lacking in the information it needs, as well as using important time on an unsuccessful (or less successful platform) that could be benefiting a successful platform.
Create a Content Plan & Calendar
This step of your social media strategy will require you to research which dates and times are the best to post your content. This will vary based on your platform, but it is beneficial to get in the habit of planning and scheduling content ahead of time. You'll also need to plan a variety of content types with different calls to action based on what you are seeking for the content posted.
Analyze & Measure Your Results
Remember when we said you'd need to set those objectives and goals? Its very important that you set aside time to analyze and measure the results your content has. This is why it is important to set measurable goals that can be achieved in a timely manner. You can choose when to analyze those goals and objectives based off the timeline you set for each one.
Adapt & Improve
Once you have finished analyzing and measuring the results of your content, the time has come to adapt and improve your content. You may need to change your post layout or descriptions or revamp your timing of scheduled content. Make changes that are necessary to achieve your objectives and goals. Remember, these changes can help increase your brand awareness on social media, increase traffic to your website, and become more fine-tuned to the needs of your target audience.
We hope that these simple tips can help you build a successful social media strategy. Please check out this post from Jordan for more information on Social Media Marketing for beginners!
Resources
Decker, A. (2022, January 7). How to create a sensible social media strategy for your business. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-strategy-for-your-business/
Shin, N. (2010, July 21). How to create a social media strategy for your business. Social Media Examiner | Social Media Marketing. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/7-steps-for-a-successful-social-media-strategy/
Walker-Ford, M. (2022, March 2). 7 steps in mapping out an effective social media strategy [infographic]. Social Media Today. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/7-steps-in-mapping-out-an-effective-social-media-strategy-infographic/619707/
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