In the realm of digital marketing, social media should be a key component of any company’s marketing mix. If you’re overwhelmed and frantic on where to start with your social media strategy, you’re definitely not alone. Analysis paralysis is a serious problem. We’re here to help. For your benefit, we’ll let you in on some secrets when it comes to creating an effective social media strategy. If you follow through on each of these steps, you will be capable of putting together a succinct strategy that will catapult your brand and will help you tackle your goals with a sense of purpose.
1. Write an Executive Summary
First step, clearly identify your social media purpose. Part of the use of social media is to establish brand awareness and identity. It’s crucial to establish your primary goal and objectives that you are trying to achieve. Determine your KPIs. What do you want to measure that is a means of success for your company?
2. Conduct a Social Media Audit
Ever heard of the saying, “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer”? We hear it all the time. Staying ahead of the competition is the name of the game in digital marketing. Establish your brand’s voice and tone on the social channels your team is utilizing to build your brand’s awareness. Keep a close eye on these factors: emoji use, Facebook messenger, chat bots, keywords & hashtags, evergreen content, visuals, and online branded search results. You should see your engagement as the top way to measure your return on investment of social media advertising.
3. Know thy Customer
Buyer personas + social media = A WINNING FORMULA.
When you see increased conversions, relevance scores, engagement, and efficiencies across the board then you’re achieving some big wins. You want to create personas for those who you’re targeting. Dig deep in your research and accurately portray your current and potential customers. Take a close look at their behaviors: demographically, psychographically, and ethnographically. Side note: don’t forget to also create personas for your media, bloggers, and influencers. By building these buyer personas and understanding WHO you want to target, it creates an effective social media strategy will be a much easier process.
4. Establish Your Strategies and Tools
Your paid social is a MUST, but don’t break the bank. Figure out a good balance between paid, earned, and owned social that works financially for your business. With your owned social, introduce a branded hashtag. Publicize it in your bios and posts. In regards to your earned social, keep an eye out for keywords that are relevant to your business and industry. Next, decide what tools you want to effectively use. There are a multitude of social media management tools to choose from. Find one that works effectively for your team. Everyone on your team needs to be utilizing the same social media management tools and platforms to achieve maximum efficiency and consistency.
5. Nail Down Your Timing & Dates
No one likes the person who shows up to the party early or better yet, late. Timing is everything! Keep your editorial calendar up to date with interesting events as well as relevant and timely content. Take a peek at your analytics. They’ll tell you what days of the week and times that are best for your audience. In order to stay sane in the world of social media, measuring what matters is key. Look at quantitative (website sessions, impressions, number of email sign-ups, etc.) and qualitative (customer reviews, comments on social messaging) data.
What do you do after following these simple, effective steps? You might find yourself in a different direction than you originally thought. Assess, assess, assess. Stay up to date tracking your analytics. Track your progress. Create an action plan for next steps. Provide analysis and recommendations that interpret your findings for your team. Your strategy should follow. Rest assured that our “how-to” guide will point you in the right direction and give you some much-needed inspiration for figuring out a creative and effective social media marketing strategy.
Are you looking to build or rework your social media strategy? We’re bold, we’re savvy, we know social media. We can help. We’d love to learn more about your social media needs. Hang out with us on social. Connect with us on Instagram & Facebook.
