Feeling overwhelmed by the thought of implementing a solid social media strategy? It might seem daunting, but it is actually fairly straightforward. Let’s break it down, shall we?
Social Media Today details 9 vital steps for building a social strategy that will help you on your journey.
- “Do you even need social media?” Sure, brands everywhere are focusing energy, budget, and personnel towards social media, but does that mean you have to as well? No, of course not. We’ve said it many times, but we’ll say it again: there is no one size fits all. Think about the bigger picture. What are your short term and long-term goals for the business? What do you need in order to make those goals happen? If social media aligns with those goals, then yes, you need a proper social strategy. On the flipside, though, if you don’t have the resources to dedicate and your clients aren’t spending time on social platforms, you should probably push your budget elsewhere.
- “What Channels do you need to be on?” As you all know, you need to do extensive target market research. While you are figuring out their likes, dislikes, motivations, etc., you must also discover the social platforms they spend the most time on– and what type of content they enjoy there. Once you do this, you will know which direction to take your plan.
- “Set a goal (and write it down)” What are you hoping to gain? You already thought through your goals in step one, now it’s time to write it down! This is a great practice for manifesting your goals. By making it real and tangible, you will work harder to make it happen. What do you are you looking to do for your business? Are you hoping to increase brand awareness, drive new leads, nurture existing customers, or maybe some combination of all three? Write out your goals and how you plan on measuring that success.
- “Create a Strategy” You’ve done a lot of this leg work already in step 3. Use that to plan out your content details. What type of content do you want to post? When will you post and what are your brand guidelines? Figuring out these things will level up your strategy.
- “Delegate” No one person can tackle everything on their own. You already have all the plans outlined, so now you need someone to drive and oversee the implementation of your social strategy. If you have the resources to hire a content and/or a community manager, all the better!
- “Create a library of content” You have a solid plan in place, you have a person or team to manage the social media strategy, now you need to build out your content library. You should stockpile content monthly- images, copy, blogs, etc. You also don’t have to limit yourself to your own content. You can source relevant content from other mediums and share it out in a timely manner.
- “Plan it out” Make sure to plan things out in advance. Listen to the guidelines you’ve set and just bust it out. We suggest planning out about two weeks of content. This helps ensure you your content is relevant, paced amongst the platforms, and impactful. You can use amazing tools like Hootsuite, Gain, and many others to manage your content and scheduling.
- “Take 15 minutes a day” Spend time everyday working through social activities. It’s important to engage real time on all the social platforms. This helps you stay in touch with your audience, their thoughts, and the trends of the market. If the social manager spends just 15 to 20 minutes a day engaging with your social platforms, great strides can be made.
- “Evaluate” Of course, all of this work must be tracked and analyzed. If you are not measuring your goals, how will you know if you achieved them? Social media doesn’t happen overnight, but you can quite easily track movement and momentum. Put together monthly reports to highlight what is working, what’s not, and how you can move forward productively.
The key to social media is consistency, integrity, and genuine messaging. Be real with your audience and they will respond much more positively to you. Keep working at it and you WILL see results.
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