Are you struggling to come up with a social media strategy that works for your business? You’re not alone. A lot of business owners find it difficult to create a social media plan that yields results.
In this article, I will outline 9 easy steps to creating a social media strategy that I tested myself and just works!
What is social media marketing?
Before we dive into the steps, let’s first answer the question: what is social media marketing?
Social media marketing (SMM) is a form of internet marketing that uses social networking websites as a promotional tool.
The goal of SMM is to generate content that users will share with their social network to help a company increase brand exposure and broaden customer reach.
What is a social media marketing strategy?
A social media marketing strategy is simply a plan of action for social media marketing.
It should include goals, objectives, tactics, and deadlines.
Your social media strategy should be tailored to your specific business goals. These goals could be anything from increasing brand awareness to generating leads or even making sales.
Creating social media marketing goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) is essential to having a successful social media strategy.
How to create a social media marketing strategy in 9 easy steps
Step #1: Determine Your social media marketing Goals
The first step to creating a social media strategy is to determine your social media marketing goals. These should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
Some examples of SMART social media marketing goals could be:
– Increasing brand awareness by X% in the next X months
– Generating X leads through social media in the next X months
– Increasing sales by X% through social media in the next X months
Step #2: Track meaningful metrics
Have clear metrics you want to follow in order to measure your goals.
Metrics such as followers and likes are very easy to track.
But you should also look for engagement, click-through, and conversion rates.
Step #3: Research Your Target Audience
The second step is to research your target audience. You need to understand who they are, what their needs and wants are, and what social media platforms they use.
Step #4: Create your Audience persona
An audience persona research should give you an idea of the ideal person you want to reach.
You should know things like their:
- Age
- Location
- Average Income
- Interests
Once you have a good understanding of your target audience, you can start creating content that appeals to them.
Step #5: Gather Data
You can use social media platform insights or Google Analytics to get an idea of the demographics of your current social media following.
This will give you a good starting point for understanding who your social media audience is.
Step #6: Research Your Competitors
The sixth step is to research your competitors. You need to understand what they are doing well and what they are doing wrong.
You can do this by following their social media accounts and taking note of the content they post, the frequency of their posts, and the engagement they get from their followers.
You can also use social media tools like Sprout Social or Hootsuite to get insights into your competitor’s social media strategy.
Step #7: Find Inspiration
The sixth step is to find inspiration. This can be done by looking at your competitor’s social media accounts, following social media influencers in your industry, or even just browsing social media platforms for content ideas.
Step #8: Create Social Media Content Calendar
The seventh step is to create a social media content calendar. This will help you plan and schedule your social media posts in advance.
When creating your social media calendar, be sure to consider the following:
– Posting frequency
– Type of content
– Platforms
– Target audience
Step #9: Keep on track of your metrics
The eighth step is to keep on track of your metrics. This will help you determine whether or not your social media strategy is working.
Conclusion
Creating a social media strategy doesn’t have to be complicated.
Start by setting up your initial goals, and understanding what and who you want to achieve.
Constantly measuring your metrics is the key to understanding what’s working or not, so you can adapt your content calendar for your plan to work.
Have you used any of these tips in your strategy? Let me know in the comments below!
Also, you may like our guides on Content Marketing and on SEO.
