Social media is a vital marketing channel for companies of all sizes. The common question a few years ago, “Why should our company use social media?” Now it is being replaced by “How can our company grow with social media marketing?”. As a social media marketer, this excites me a lot. What doesn’t excite me is the number of companies still trying to market on social media without a documented strategy. In this post, you will learn the simple steps your company must take to create an effective social media marketing strategy.
Step 1: Audit your current social presence
Before strategizing where you are going, take a quick look at where you are. Some areas to consider when auditing your company’s social media presence are:
-What networks are you currently active on?
-Are your networks optimized (cover photos and images, biography, URL, etc.)
-Which networks currently give you the most value?
-How do your profiles compare to the profiles of your competitors?
Step 2: Document who your ideal customer is
You will want to be as specific as possible with this part. For example, if you identified your target market as parents, that would be fine. However, if you identify your ideal client as a father who lives in India, is between 30 and 50 years old, earns Rs.25,00,000/- mainly uses Facebook, and is interested in outdoor activities, you will be much more successful.
Even the best marketers will fail if they market to the wrong audience. Answer the following questions to help you find a highly focused buyer image:
-Age
-Location
-Job title
-Income
-Pain points (that your business can solve)
-Most used social network
Step 3: Create and preserve engaging content
Unfortunately, many companies jump straight to this step. Hopefully, this post has made it clear that there are several vital steps you need to take before you start creating and selecting engaging content to share on your social media channels.
Now let’s take a look at the fun part, posting on social media. You know who your ideal customer is and used that information to create your mission statement on social media. Armed with this information, it should be easy for you to start creating and selecting content. So what exactly is considered content? Here are some examples of content you could create:
-Images
-Videos
-Blog posts
-Company news
-Infographic
-eBooks
-Interviews
The list of content ideas goes on and on, but be sure to focus only on content forms that align with your mission statement as well as your skillset. Content is what fuels social media, so it’s crucial that you consider creating engaging, high-quality content as a priority.
I recommend that you create a content calendar that describes how often you will post to each network, what topics you will share, and when you will share them.
Step 4: Invest in a social media management tool
Most sellers have a secret, they take advantage of tools to increase their productivity. Ok, maybe not a secret, but without tools, marketers would face constant wear and tear (many do it even with tools). When it comes to social media, having a social media management tool allows you to scale your efforts with ease.
One of the main benefits of a social media management tool is the ability to schedule posts in advance. Do you remember the content calendar you created? Make sure your scheduled posts in your social media management tool align with your content calendar.
Step 5: Monitoring, analysis, optimization
This may be the most important step when it comes to being successful on social media. Even the best social media marketing specialists trust trial and error. It may seem basic, but it’s crucial to track your results, analyse the data, and then make adjustments to optimize it.
Each previous step should be re-evaluated after you have had time to analyse the results of your marketing efforts. Let the data lead you. If it tells you that Facebook or Twitter is your most effective channel, consider doubling it.
A great social media strategy is never set in stone. It is a work in constant progress that changes when necessary. So, go out there, create a strategy, and start optimizing it as you continue to grow and learn more about your business and your audience.
