Social media marketing is all about meeting your target audience, clients and potential customers where they are and as they socially interact with each other and your brand. Marketing is built on human relationships and social media has long been used to help grow these relationships, particularly in light of the past two years when online connection with others became so important.
How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy
Having a social media marketing strategy creates a framework for your social media to ensure that you are not just posting on social media platforms for the sake of posting, but to achieve measurable results. A social media marketing strategy helps you to understand what your goals are, who your target audience is, and what they want, and without this, it’ll be hard to achieve those results.
One of the simplest ways to create your social media marketing strategy is to ask yourself the 5Ws:
- Why do you want to be on social media? This is directly tied to your goals for your social media marketing efforts. Are you on social media to promote your products? To drive traffic to your website? To act as a resource for your audience?
- Who is your target audience? A strong strategy begins with defining your audience through persona identification—knowing who you are talking to will help you determine what you should be talking about and how you should be saying it.
- What are you going to share? Content is one of the best tools you have to build your brand and earn the trust of your audience. You have the advantage of entertaining and educating your consumers about what you do and why you do it. Rather than hoard your knowledge, share it!
- Where are you going to share? You may engage on a variety of platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, or you may choose to pick one or two platforms that are the most appropriate for your business and industry.
- When are you going to share? There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. In fact, it really depends on your audience. Before deciding exactly which time of the day and days of the week you want to post, consider the behaviors of your target audience. When do they usually use social media to find the type of content that you’ll share?
After you answer these five Ws, you will be well on your way to creating a successful social media marketing strategy. Now it’s time to execute it.
Executing Your Social Media Marketing Plan
Your social media marketing plan should be your road map to the successful execution of your strategy. Start out by pointing yourself in the right direction, then choose the way you’re going to get there, check-in regularly to make sure you’re on track and have some fun along the way.
Step 1: Choose your social networks – You should choose the social networks that best fit your strategy and the goals you want to achieve on social media.
Step 2: Create your profiles – Check regularly to ensure that profile photos, cover photos, bio, and profile information are up-to-date and complete.
Step 3: Find your voice and tone – Develop a few adjectives that describe the voice and tone of your marketing. Consider that the voice is the mission statement while the tone is the implementation of that mission.
Step 4: Pick your posting strategy – How often should you post? When/what should you post? It depends. So much of the social media experience is about your individual audience and niche. What works for you might not work for me, and you never know until you try.
Step 5: Analyze and test – The more you post, the more you’ll discover which content, timing, and frequency is right for you. Use your social media metrics to discover the best posting strategy for your business.
Step 6: Automate – Automation platforms allow you to create content all at once and then schedule to post as you choose. Automation is the secret weapon for consistently excellent sharing, day after day.
Step 7: Engage – Remember, social media requires engagement too. It is a two-way conversation between you and your audience. When people talk to you, talk back. Set aside time during your day to follow up with conversations that are happening on social media. Need some help with your social media marketing strategy? From strategy to execution, our team of blended resources can either supplement your marketing efforts or act as a full-functioning extension of your business to get the job done. Let’s talk!
