Social media is now a must-have tool for many companies out there. Do these businesses use social media to their full potential, though?
Simply creating a profile , and posting random content occasionally isn't enough anymore. It's not. However, many businesses do not seem to have a documented strategy of marketing using social media that can bring them satisfaction.
It might not be a big deal at first, but not having an organized social media strategy and a well-planned workflow can mean not seeing any outcomes from your social marketing efforts.
If you commit your time to being a good job you will be able to easily define your goals and meet them quickly. In this article, you will learn how to create the social media strategy.
The first thing to consider is what is a social-media plan?
A social media plan, in other words a social media strategy, is essentially a concise summary of all the things you're planning on doing and hoping to accomplish through your social media platforms. Setting up a well thought-out plan for your company in terms of its social media presence will be extremely useful. The more precise and precise your plan is, better your performance will be.
In the event that your social media channels perform well, the brand's reputation will increase, you will attract more customers, your social proof will be noticed, and your company will be more reputable. All this helps in strengthening your position on the market as a reputable organization.
Now that you know what is a social media plan?' we'll examine some interesting statistics before we give you our ultimate guide for planning the perfect social media strategy.
The significance of social media for businesses in 2022
The days of businesses using social media solely for fun are over. Nowadays, it's all about building brand awareness and generating profits, providing evidence of social media, and expanding your business. Nothing is more reliable than numbers and statistics, and let's take a look at what the year has taught us regarding social media and its significance:
About 55% of world's people are active users of social media.
In October 2021, Facebook has been the world's most used social media platform, with 2.89 billion people per month using it. K is the most frequently utilized social media platform.
On average, users spend 2h 27 minutes each day on social media.
A majority of 93,33% Internet users are using social media.
It can be seen the social media platforms have many potentials that companies ought to consider investing in to grow their businesses. Without further ado, let's discover how to build an effective social media strategy.
How to create an effective social media strategy step by step
Simply knowing how to create a social media plan is not enough, you surely know that by now. Without further delay, let's discuss the secret formula for the most effective social media strategy you'll ever find. If you can develop a plan for social media that is effective and efficient, you'll be on the right track to accomplishing your goals.
1. Set your goal for the day.
Understanding where you are in terms of your social media marketing activities is the first step you take. Before you develop a proper social media plan, take a closer glance at your profile and those of your competitors. This will help you understand the things that work and what doesn't. How do you do this? Here is what we recommend before you start planning a social media strategy:
Conduct a SWOT assessment to assess what strengths and weak points of your business and the opportunities and threats it faces from the outside business environment.
Perform an PESTEL analysis to discover and determine where you and your company stands socially, economically, politically environmentally, technologically and legally.
Examine your competitors as as your industry to figure ways to distinguish itself from them to stand out as unique.
Conduct a social media audit to find out how, where and what you've been communicating the moment. This allows you to evaluate opportunities, growth, and everything that you can do to increase your social media presence.
Effective tools: Creately Competitors.app, Likealyzer, Facebook Analytics,Instagram Insights, Twitter Analytics, etc.
2. Specify your target group.
Understanding your audience is crucial to creating a successful social media marketing strategy. You should, after all, create content (from scratch or using curated content) which your target audience is happy with, likes and shares. Luckily, there are a few ways to get to know your target audience.
Before you do that, consider those who your content resonates most with and determine if that group is the ideal target audience for your business - with leads that are qualified, you can convert your audience to customers within minutes.
Take a look at relevant reports, surveys and statistical data to gain more information.
Create a few personas that represent your ideal target audience. This is basically a detailed description of specific peoplewith genuine desires and needs, that you'd like to transform into your followers and fans. Understanding the persona of your typical follower will enable you to modify your social media campaigns according to your real audience's expectations.
Utilized tools: Brand24, Make My Persona, Google Trends, Buzzsumo, YouGov, surveys and industry reports.
3. Examine your competitors' profiles on social media.
To devise a successful social media strategy, you need to understand your competition. What kinds of content are they posting What tone do they using and how often they posting?
Spend some time studying your competition and discover how you can gain from their experience. Also, be aware of their metrics, like reach and engagement rates. These will give you a good idea of the quality of your rivals, as well as the amount of potential there may be for you to get into this niche.
Use the data to help you improve your own strategy.
Keep an eye on the strategies of your competitors after you've completed your content plan Staying up to date with each and every step they take will allow you to stay ahead.
4. Establish the goals.
The use of clear and precise goals can help you create well-structured campaigns, measure your progress, and enhance your social media strategy in the long run. What can you tell a genuine objectivefrom a vague one? Find out the difference:
VAGUE OBJECTIVE: I will increase my number of fans on Facebook.
SMART GOAL: By end of the year, I will increase the average engagement rate per message on my page by 2%.
There's a highly effective method of planning objectively called SMART, which can help you design your objectives when it comes to planning the social media strategy. Based on this model, the goals you should set should be:
Specific - sensible, significant and straightforward
Measurable - meaningful and inspiring
Achievable - agreed and attainable
Relevant - real, realistic resourced, results-based and resource-focused
Time-bound - time-based, time-limited and time/cost-limited
In order to make it all work to make it all work, you must:
Create your own expectations and set specific goals that are derived from the social media marketing strategy. What are you hoping to achieve with your social media presence? Do these objectives align with the overall marketing strategy of your brand?
Set relevant social media KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that will be used to guide the social media advertising strategy at all times.
Be sure that you are capable of achieving your goals.
Beware of"faux metrics! These are numbers that you can easily keep on top of, but they don't have any significance for your business similar to the number of followers on social media do. The most useful KPIs are engagement rate for the target audience; CPA and CPS; CPC, CPL and CPS; Reach and referral visitors to your site.
5. Pick the right communication channels.
Social media is far more than Facebook. When selecting the most effective platforms for your company be sure to look at the benefits of each and each. The goal is to select the networks that are used by your audience most and match your brand's image at the same time. After you've decided which platforms will be included in your plan for using social media to create an effective social media marketing strategy for each social media platform.
Be where your target group is. That doesn't necessarily have necessarily be Facebook or Instagram - you can find your target audience on other social networks as well. Check out some of the other popular social media platforms for 2021 across the globe, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, or even Quora.
Get familiar with the requirements and unique features of every platform. For instance, certain social media platforms offer live streaming of videos, while others let you make good use of groups,
Once you've finished making your social media strategy create your "missing" accounts and update your existing profiles.
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6. Consider the most effective channels for communication and formats for content for every platform.
To diversify your content, make unique posts for each social media platform with their features in your mind. Think about incorporating user-generated content live videos, stories, and polls in your social media content strategy just to name a few. There are many possibilities, but you should always make sure that at least the content you create is in line with your overall business goals. For instance, you might decide that some of your content is designed to increase traffic to your website, another part supports lead generation, while the remaining part informs and entertains your audience. The amount of content you include is completely dependent on you, however.
Choose what you wish to convey. What will be the most appealing to your audience?
Identify the content formats you will take advantage of and ensure that they're all well-designed.
Indicate how often you are going to update your social networks.
Create your own brand's brand characteristics, if you have any. These could be hashtags, including your logo on every image, or even developing an individual template for each the social posts you make.
Utilized tools: Canva, Crello, Easil, Biteable, Recast Studio, Splice, Oodls, Kaboompics.
7. Make your marketing plan to workby assigning the tasks.
A effective social media marketing strategy often requires a well-motivated team. It's important not only to be able to have the most effective people working together, but also to divide tasks between them wisely and make sure that they are working in a seamless manner to accomplish the task quickly.
Set out your social media workflow and assign specific tasks
Decide who is responsible for which part of the overall social media strategy for content (i.e. making visuals or copy as well as scheduling and approving posts, moderating profile),
Utilize the tools that are specifically designed to facilitate collaboration between team members.
Be sure to include the client (if you have one) as well. In reality the approval of your client is usually required to keep a specific branding voice. With this type of solution the work you do becomes more efficient and quick Instead of sending numerous emails, you can do everything in one place comfortably for everyone.
Useful tools: Kontentino, Asana.
8. Choose the right social media management tool.
Speaking of tools, you'll require one, not just to oversee your team, as well as your social media profiles all around, particularly when you're the one in charge of some of them. Actually, a good social media management tool usually can be a must for marketing on social media.
Take a look at your needs. Instead of rushing straight into research, specify your goals and priorities before you do anything else.
Do your research. If you are aware of what you're looking for, finding tools that have the potential to meet your requirements is much easier. In reality, you'll have an established set of criteria to evaluate the options against.
Test out a few different tools before you decide which one would suit your business best.
Useful tools: Kontentino.
9. Organize your content properly.
Having a content calendar is an excellent method to keep track of all holidays, events and other important dates. In fact, social campaigns that are based on certain events are more likely to draw interest. That's not the only advantage that comes with having a good social media calendarhowever. You can easily make plans and schedules for your posts (as outlined in your social media strategy for content), and ensure that you're keeping your brand voice across multiple social networks.
Make use of your social media management tool. Most likely, the software you've selected lets you make your own content calendar. Make good use of this feature.
Create your content with care. Choose the optimal time and frequency that works for your audience.
Make sure to plan your content in advance and keep an eye for current trends and events which could be suitable for your business posting on topics that are trending that use popular hashtags will allow you to stand out more.
10. Maximize your reach.
Nowadays, posting just your content may not be enough to get plenty of attention. Fortunately, there are some methods that can help you increase the reach of your content.
Invest in paid-for campaigns. It is easy to boost your posts , and also target the people you wish to reach. Make sure that your posts are optimized.
Retargeting is a great strategy to use. In order to get your message across it is important to target those who already know your brand. While you're at it, you can also make use of linking retargeting to increase your customer base by doing this. If that sounds like something that might be of interest to you, take a look at the ways to do it with Rocketlink.
Join forces with influencers. Look for influencers who have the same target audience as yours, who post attractive material and have an impressive reach at the same time.
Make use of other marketing strategies to supplement your social media plan. As mentioned before, a social media plan should be part the overall strategy and can help you get closer to achieving your goals for business. If it is possible, don't just put all eggs in the same basket. Instead, go for omnichannel campaigns instead.
11. Analyze the results and constantly improve your social media marketing strategy.
Finding out what is effective and what's not your primary goal from day one. Technically, the more you track, the more data you'll be able to gather - and that's precisely why you should monitor the way your content is performing.
Decide how you're going to track the results (you are able to take advantage of your native features offered by each network or you can use your own social media management tool, for example).
Be sure to improve conversions and improve your strategy for social media content always. If you notice that certain posts aren't doing as you would expect them to investigate the reason.
Useful tools: Kontentino, Social Blade, Sotrender.
12. Establish KPIs on social media marketing for your brand
Key metrics (KPIs) can help you track the success on your social media marketing strategy and determine your returns on investments (ROI).
Some common KPIs include:
engagement rate and/or reach in the target audience
Traffic to websites from social media sources
conversion rates based on social media users
leads generated through social media activity
earnings derived from social media marketing
Select the KPIs you believe are most important to your brand and follow them regularly. This will help you decide whether or whether your social strategy is working.
Without KPIs you will not know what goals you're working towards or whether your efforts are producing results. So, you should definitely look for a place to include them as part of your online social media plan.
Social media strategy - Template
Developing a social media strategy could seem like a lot to process. If you feel overwhelmed, don't fret. We created a social media strategy template you can download free of charge:
Download our social media marketing template in PDF. Sign up to our newsletter and never miss content like this again.
A sample of a social media marketing plan:
You now know how to write your social media plan (and you have even an example of it! ) It's time to be inspired and learn from the best. For those who are interested, Nike definitely has one of the best strategies in social media. It is mostly because the brand's posts are in line with the athletes they collaborate with that they partner with, and using concise copy and a motivating tone of voice, which seems to do wonders among followers and fans (given the numbers). Although Nike has distinct profiles for different product lines, it's obvious that they have a carefully thought-out social media strategy for each one of them.
Domino's may not be an example of a great social media strategy, but it's still certainly worth looking at. Domino's is well-known for its inventiveness when it comes to advertising campaigns generally. In fact, a lot of them revolve around social media, but Domino's does a pretty good job when posting on their pages regularly as well. Its content may not be innovative, but it's definitely coherent and often attracts lots of attention.
Another excellent example of a successful strategy for social media is Missguided. In reality, Instagram appears to be an important channel for the fashion retailer. This is no surprise as a well-balanced combination of user-generated content, lifestyle posts and special promotions keeps their customers interested at all times.
Common errors of a media strategy
Uncertainty about a goal
Before you create any kind of social media strategy, you need to know the goals you're trying to reach. Do you want to increase awareness of your brand, drive more visitors to your site, or increase leads?
Once you have a clear idea of your objective and what you want to achieve, you can design campaigns and content that go with it. If you don't set out with a clear objective, there's no way to know how effective your efforts are , and your efforts may be wasted.
There are numerous goals you could set for your social media strategy however, some of the most well-known ones are:
Increasing brand awareness
Driving more website traffic
Generating more leads
Engaging customers and increasing loyalty
Supporting other marketing efforts
Ignoring metrics of vanity
Vanity metrics aren't always a bad thing However, you must be careful with these. They don't offer any data about the results in your online social media strategy or how much they earn for your company.
A few examples of vanity metrics are:
the number of followers you have on social media channels
the amount of comments and likes you receive on your posts
the amount of times your content is published or retweeted
If you're using social media channels as a method of marketing then these metrics aren't really the most important aspects to monitor. Concentrate on KPIs that can provide an accurate picture of how well your campaigns are doing and whether they're paying off in terms of revenue.
Ineffectively targeting the right audience
It is important to determine who you're targeting with your social media marketing strategy. Just because you have an impressive following doesn't mean that each and every individual is the right target audience for the product you offer or provide.
If, for instance, you have an Italian restaurant in Paris, it wouldn't make sense to target those living in Brussels using your social media strategies. You would be better off targeting people who live in or around Paris with an interest in the cuisine.
Be sure to know who your ideal audience is and you're creating captivating content for them. This increases the likelihood that your online social media strategy being successful.
Inattention to other marketing channels
It's crucial to determine the areas where your potential customers spend the most time online. If they're not active on social media You might want to concentrate on other marketing strategies instead.
For instance, if large percentage of your target group uses Instagram frequently, it might make more sense to invest time and money into running an Instagram campaign rather than attempting to advertise your restaurant on Twitter.
If you do use social media to promote your business, it doesn't mean that they are the only ones you should be making use of or paying attention to in your strategy.
Posting without a schedule or plan
The need to have a social media content strategy or schedule prior to when you post anything is crucial to the effectiveness for your overall social media marketing strategy. It will mean that all of your posts will be relevant, timely and in line with your other marketing efforts. But, of course, you should be ready to alter your social media plan when required.
If you don't have a plan or schedule for your posts, they will likely be all over the place and not very efficient. A content calendar will help you stay organized and avoid this problem.
Insufficiently using social media to its full potential
It's easy to post content and let it be at the same level. If you'd like for your strategy on social media to succeed, you need to go another step forward.
Add value by creating engaging posts that give people useful information or suggestions on topics they are interested in. It is also possible to run contests giveaways, surveys, or contests to keep your readers engaged.
This will help you create a loyal community of followers who not only follow you for updates about the happenings at your company as well as because they appreciate interacting with you on the internet.
How to develop your social media strategy in a short manner
If anyone asks you "What's a social media plan?', you'll be able to answer that question. While creating an effective strategy for social media may seem like a lot work but in reality, it's fairly simple. Making the right social media plan is highly beneficial for companies seeking to boost their online presence and expand their business. Once you've planned it out and set out your social media workflow, managing multiple social media profiles will come naturally. That's precisely why you should invest some time in beginning stages of making sure your social media plan is in order and select an effective social media management tool that can organize your content across multiple social media platforms.