Social media plays a crucial role in raising brand awareness, without a doubt. So, in 2023, why are so many businesses still posting without thinking and hoping for the best? Developing an efficient social media strategy is essential.
When it comes to a social media strategy, there is no one-size-fits-all approach; however, there are several steps you should take to ensure that it is appropriate for both your audience and your brand. Continue reading for my nine-step procedure, which includes locating the appropriate metrics and determining your target audience.
1. Fix your goals Before you start
you’ll need to sit down and write down exactly what you want to accomplish with your social media accounts. SMART goals should be established here:
S – Specific – When setting goals, it’s important to be clear about what you want to achieve because it will be much easier to see exactly what you want to accomplish. Set a goal, such as “increase Twitter followers to 10,000,” for instance, as opposed to simply stating that you want to “increase Twitter followers.”
M – Measurable – for each goal you set, make sure you know how you will track your progress and success.
A – Achievable – for social media goals, choose ones that are difficult but not impossible to achieve.
R – Relevant – social media marketing works best when it is aligned with the rest of your business’s goals and objectives, so make sure your social media goals support your company’s larger purpose.
T – Timely – when you set goals, include a A great way to make sure you stay on track is to include particular milestones along the way.
2. Check where you are now
Before you can start planning your new strategy, you need to know how well your current social media channels are doing. This will help you figure out exactly how and where you need to improve.
This procedure consists of two steps:Your most recent progress and outcomes To begin, you will need to make a list of all of your social media platforms, channels, and handles so that you will know precisely what you are auditing.
Then, examine each channel’s:Which kinds of content are most popular on which channel?Which kinds of clients interact with you the most?Which platforms are bringing the greatest volume of visitors to your website?
In a similar vein, you will need to make sure that your accounts are consistent across all of the platforms. It’s all about presenting a unified front so that your customers can find and remember you.
This means making sure your handles are the same and using the right logos, images, and tone of voice depending on the platform.Just keep in mind that your audience and the social platforms you use will affect your tone of voice and the content you post.
Businesses that want to reach both B2B and B2C customers will need to make sure their content is tailored to both groups.Don’t forget to check for any old or duplicate accounts as well as accounts that may have been set up by former employees because this can confuse customers.
Analyzing your competitors will not only help you determine what works in your industry as a whole and highlight any areas for improvement, but it will also help you gauge your success based on your own growth.
Find out who your rivals are:
If you don’t already know who your competitors are, use Google or other keyword tools to look up the keywords that your customers use to find your company and those that are relevant to your sector.
For the most accurate comparison, keep in mind that you should only ever compare your social strategy to businesses that are also actively using social media.
Collect the data: A spreadsheet, in my opinion, is the clearest method for organizing everything in one place and works best for this. You’ll need to find out which social media platforms they use, how many followers they have, and what kind of content they post.
You’ll also need to find out if they use any platform-specific features like Facebook Shopping or Instagram Stories. You should also look at how their audience is growing, how engaged they are, and what hashtags or keywords they use.
Social Blade is an excellent free tool that can be used in this situation to get a clearer picture of your competitors’ social presence. It provides an in-depth look at various metrics.
Examine their actions: examine their particular use of social media. How quickly do they respond to questions or comments? When was the last time they posted, and how frequently do they post?
You can get a much clearer picture of your industry as a whole and what works and doesn’t by delving into what they post about and how they act on social media.
3. Create detailed buyer personas
These buyer personas will be imagined, broad-based depictions of your ideal clientele.Utilizing your native analytics, conduct an audience analysis by collecting the most valuable information from your social media channels, such as:Demographics, location, language, attitudes, interests, and beliefs are all good places to start.
Using forms on your website that capture important persona information such as job role or which forms of social media your customers regularly use, taking into consideration your sales team’s feedback on the leads they are interacting with most (what generalizations can they make about the different types of customers you serve best?) and looking through your database of contacts to uncover trends about how certain leads or customers find and consume your content
Metrics such as impressions, shares, post reach, follower growth, and brand mentions should be tracked if your objective is to increase brand awareness. Metrics such as conversion rate, click-through rate, and bounce rate should be tracked if your objective is to increase conversions.
Metrics such as shares and retweets, audience growth rate, post engagement rate, and response rate should be tracked if you want to use social media to build and manage an engaged community.
Although it is not necessarily a metric, you should also track your customer response rate because there is nothing worse than a brand that does not respond to customers’ comments or questions on social media, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. A customer response rate of 100 percent is the ideal goal for all businesses.
5. Define the purpose and key messages of your social media channels.
It can be much easier to decide what content to create and share and what key messages you want your target audience to take away from your social media channels if you clearly define the purpose of your channels.
An illustration of an e-commerce business is as follows:Uses for the platform:LinkedIn: for adding value to individuals and businesses through longer-form content and thought leadership positioning:
for participation and interaction: posting news about the company and its products as well as relevant industry news on Facebook: Instagram is a great tool for making connections with your followers, imparting useful information, and sparking conversation.
for customer connection, inspiration, engagement, and visibility Key messages:”The best-selling xyz product on the market” or “High-quality products at the lowest price point” or “Carbon neutral and eco-friendly” are all examples of key messaging that should be supported by supporting messages and proof.
6. Identify your platforms
It’s better to look at what’s working for you and make adjustments to your social media strategy based on what you find. While it’s tempting to try everything and see what sticks, this is not the best approach.
You should have an overall view of your industry landscape, including where your customers spend their time and the types of content they enjoy consuming, following your competitor analysis.
You can choose precisely which social media platforms to use from there. It’s great to be present on multiple platforms, but it’s pointless to waste time on a platform where your audience isn’t active.
Keep in mind that every social media platform is made for a different purpose, type of content, and audience; therefore, you should always make sure the platform is right for you and what your objectives are.
7. Planning and creating content
Unfortunately, this is where most businesses start. However, if you follow all of the aforementioned steps before getting to this point, you will know that the content you create is geared toward your ideal audience.
Make a plan for your social activities as well as any actions you’ll need to take to reach your objectives. Be sure to always keep your audience and goals in mind whenever you create video content or participate in influencer marketing activities.
But what kinds of content are available for social media sharing? Here are some straightforward suggestions if you’re unsure:
Video material: On social media, video content is extremely popular, from Instagram Reels to Facebook Lives. In point of fact, marketers who use video increase revenue 49% faster than those who do not:
Text posts are ideal for providing value to your audience, and they range from LinkedIn articles to sharing company blogs to takingaways from a webinar or event. Infographics:
Graphics are a catchy and simple way to give your audience value. Competitions: Polls and interactive content: Running competitions from your social media accounts can increase social shares, encourage engagement, and help you reach more people.
These kinds of posts are great for getting more people to engage with them, but they also let you ask your followers questions and get important information from them
8. Go live
Now that you have established your goals, organized your platforms, and created your content, the only thing remaining is to implement your strategy across all of your social media platforms.
Investing in a social scheduling tool, such as Later or Sprout Social, is a great way to visualize your social feeds and ensure that you are sharing a variety of content types.
9. Measure, monitor, analyze, and modify Constantly monitoring your progress is essential to developing a successful social presence. Even if you’ve done all of your research, there are no guarantees when it comes to social media; all you can do is test and retest.
Your social media strategy should change on a regular basis, and it’s important to keep changing it so that it works best for you and your audience.