How To: Social Media Strategy

It’s 2021, by now social media should be an integral part of your Advertising strategy. If it’s not, it’s never too late to start and you’ll quickly see that it is worth your time. Over 3.6 billion people utilize social media across the globe, and users spend an average of 144 minutes per day on social media, so naturally there will be eyes on your social media advertising. Just like with any other form of advertising, it is best to go in with a plan, so we’re going to walk you through some beneficial steps and tips to succeed in your social media strategy.

To get started you need to think about what you want to achieve from your social strategy. These goals will allow you to measure your ROI going forwards and adjust your strategy accordingly. Some goals could be Brand Recognition, New Customers, Conversions, or even Building a Community. These goals will be the driving force behind the strategy you create and are an integral part of tailoring your strategy properly. If you currently have social media accounts set-up and you are just looking to liven up your strategy, you should start by auditing your current media to see what is working and what needs to be adjusted. If you do not have any active social accounts, your first step will be choosing which platforms will be valuable to you and getting accounts set up.

Now it’s time to create your strategy. First you’ll need to figure out which platforms you want to focus your efforts on. There are a plethora of social media platforms to choose from, from the original Facebook to the ever-evolving Tik Tok, but the audience and types of interactions on these platforms vary greatly. For example a B2B company will want to focus their social media strategy on LinkedIn and Facebook. While a B2C company will find success on Instagram and other more visual platforms. It’s important to remember what audience you’re trying to appeal to which will, in turn, dictate what content you’ll need to focus on.

A key part of your strategy is finding out exactly who your audience is, and how to best target them. Looking at past customer data will help you pinpoint exactly who you’ve already been successful with and you can continue to target these individuals. If you would like to expand into a new market you can also research strategies that will help you break into this new sector of customers. Regardless you need to be on the platforms your target audience engages with, and you need to push out content that you know they will respond well to. Looking at your competitors’ social media accounts is a great way to gauge what your audience is responding to and glean some ideas that you could incorporate into your own strategy.

Once you’ve pinpointed where you want to go with your strategy it is time to begin implementation. Staying organized and consistent are crucial to success in your social media campaigns and I have two main tips for this. Each month you should create a content calendar of what will be going up on your social media accounts that month. This calendar should include copy, image (if applicable), which platforms you will be posting to, and what the budget is if you are monetizing any of these posts. Posting consistently will keep your audience engaged and will cause them to start expecting regular content from you. Additionally you can create a section at the bottom of your calendar about what Paid Ad campaigns you will be running that month. Second, it is helpful to utilize a scheduling platform to schedule out your content ahead of time. Once your content calendar is complete you can use one of these platforms to schedule out the posts for that month, that way all you have to worry about during the month is tracking how this content performs.

Your goals are set and your strategy is up and running, so it’s time to check in on how it is performing. Start by identifying which metrics really matter for your advertising goals. Maybe you’re just interested in increasing traffic so you can turn your focus to impressions, but if you want more quality engagement with your social media accounts, you will need to look towards clicks or even something as simple as how many comments you are receiving on your posts. It is essential that you familiarize yourself with the reporting databases such as Facebook Insights so you can break down how your content is performing. Doing social media audits once a quarter, or even once a month when you are first getting started, will allow you to break down what content is working and what content you should refresh. It is highly valuable to test new content as well and run A/B campaigns for new ads. Social media is always evolving, thus your strategy will always be evolving as well, so you need to keep track of your metrics in order to maintain a successful strategy.

Finally, don’t discount the importance of community management. Your social media accounts are a way for consumers to interact with your brand and you want to encourage this by being responsive. Make sure you are responding to comments, as well as all direct messages so your customers feel heard on your accounts. The more you can incorporate the user into the experience, the better. Ask questions directed at the customer on your page, ask for user-generated content featuring your brand to be submitted, and host contests that keep the user coming back.

And with that, you’re ready to launch your brand into the world of social media. The possibilities with social media advertising are constantly expanding and will allow your company to reach an entirely new market of customers. Don’t be afraid to try new things - the beauty of advertising on social media is you can constantly experiment in order to find the perfect formula. Social media is the perfect place to widen your range and take (calculated) risks! Go out there and see what you can do!