Every successful social media campaign starts with careful planning. So, gather your whole marketing team and set up the whiteboard.
Your social media strategy must describe your goals, the steps to reach them, and how you will track your progress. A well-thought-out plan will help you navigate toward success and achieve your goals much faster.
Below we compiled a comprehensive guide that will show you how to create a social media strategy that delivers nothing but results.
Analyze your current performance
Before building your social media strategy for the future, it is essential to reflect on where you currently are. Start by looking at your social media platform metrics if you have used them for some time. Many, if not all social media channels are equipped with tools that enable their users to view pertinent metrics.
This is your chance to discover:
- What strategies work well for you?
- What social media platform brings you the most success?
- What number of followers do you have on each platform?
- What is your average engagement rate per social media post?
- How does your performance compare to industry competitors?
- Are you achieving all set milestones, or are you lagging?
By analyzing the data, you can pinpoint where you need to focus and where your strategy bore the most fruit.
When it comes to strategy, you should stick with one approach, depending on the social media channel you choose to use. There’s a unique method for each social media platform, but you need to stick with that method as it might require some time before noticing results. For instance, to grow Instagram followers organically, you need to post more visual content, while on Facebook, you will have to showcase your diamond-sharp writing skills.
With data on your side, you can set achievable goals. For example, if your current engagement rate is below 1%, you can develop a plan for your marketing team to do their best and create content that fosters engagement.
Focus on the content
Once you have established your goals, you can create a content strategy. It’s safe to say that your social media strategy’s most crucial component is your content plan.
Providing your users will valuable information regarding services and products will always take you far. But, you should expand your content output beyond just that. You can delight, entertain, and engage with your audience on social media platforms.
As we mentioned, a high engagement rate is of utmost importance as it can be the only thing that can convert many leads and prospects into loyal buyers. Recently, promoting fun and engaging content has been the right approach for social media. So, your best bet is to try to create content that is trendy and relevant to your brand.
Bear in mind that before you start posting, it’s vital to have at least a month’s worth of content ready and waiting to grace the feed of all your followers, regardless of the platform.
Plan your influencer campaigns
Whatever your social media goals for the year are, you should strongly consider working and connecting with influential people. Influencer marketing is a great way to increase your reach, improve brand awareness, and grow your audience.
Collaboration with influencers can be an excellent option for solopreneurs and brands. However, it can be tricky. There are a few things to consider so that your influencer campaigns run smoothly.
For instance, make sure you only choose trustworthy influencers suitable for your business. You don’t want to waste your marketing budget by following an influencer that does not understand your brand’s vision. Instead, choose influencers with a lot of authority in your niche who are professional and skilled content creators.
Influencer collaborations can be made more accessible if you have a clear content plan and a brand style guide.
Analyze the success
You will have to spend a lot of time analyzing and looking for cracks where there are none, but that will only ensure that you are not leaking company funds. To perform solid analysis, you can either find third-party service providers or look for tools online to help you gather the required data.
When it comes to social media, most businesses favor it due to its cost-effective nature. As we stated above, some platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have built-in features such as Facebook Audience Insights and Instagram Insights that allow you to analyze your channel’s performance.
Don’t forget to ask your clients and employees about your current marketing efforts so that you can optimize and perfect your overall strategy.
Final thoughts
Marketing on social media takes work. But if you come prepared with all the tools and information, you can expect to reap benefits in no time. Follow the tips we shared with you above and analyze your social media performance. Data can help you get your business to the level you want.