2. 2.1.1 Social Media Strategy
A social media strategy is a document outlining your
social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve
them and the metrics you will track to measure your
progress.
Your social media marketing strategy should also list all
of your existing and planned social media accounts
along with goals specific to each platform you’re active
on.
3. ➢Aligning your social media goalswith your business goals
➢Building andmaintaining yourbrandsvoice
➢Clearly identifies who your target audience / consumersare
➢Insight intowhat yourcompetitorsare doing
➢Maintain organization formaximumefficiency
2.1.2Benefitsof Social
Media Strategy
4. 2.1.3How to create a social mediamarketing strategy
Step1. Choose social media marketing goals that align to business objectives
1.Set S.M.A.R.T.goals
The first step to creating a winning strategy is to establish your objectives and goals.
Without goals, you have no way to measure success and return on investment (ROI).
Each of yourgoalsshouldbe:
✓ Specific
✓ Measurable
✓ Attainable
✓ Relevant
✓ Time-bound
Thisisthe S.M.A.R.T.goalframework.Itwill guideyour actionsandensurethey leadto
real business results.
2.Track meaningful metrics
Vanity metricslike number of followers and likes are easy to track, but it’s hard to prove
theirrealvalue. Instead,focusonthingslike engagement,click-through,andconversion
rates. Social media goals should align with your overall marketing objectives.
5. Step 2.Learn everything you can about your audience
Create audience personas
Knowing who your audience isand what they want to seeonsocial mediaiskey. That way you can create content that they will like,
comment on,and share. It’s alsocritical if you want to turn social media followers into customersfor your business.
When it comesto your target customer,you shouldknow things like:
Age
Location
average income
Typical job title orindustry
Interests
Step 3.Get toknow yourcompetition
Odds are your competitors are already using social media, and that meansyou can learn fromwhat they’re doing.
Conduct a competitive analysis
A competitiveanalysis allowsyou tounderstandwho the competitionisandwhat they’redoingwell (andnot so well). You’ll get a good
sense of what’s expected in your industry, which will help you set social media targets of your own.
It will alsohelp you spot opportunities.
Maybe oneofyour competitorsisdominantonFacebook,forexample,but hasput little effortinto Twitter orInstagram.Youmight want to
focuson the networks where your audience is underserved, rather than trying to win fans away froma dominant player.
Use social media listening
Sociallistening is another way to keep an eye on your competitors.
Dosearches of the competition’s company name, account handles, and other relevant keywords on social media. Find out what they’re
6. Step 4.Doa social media audit
If you’re already using social media, take stock of your efforts sofar. Ask yourself the following questions:
What’s working, and what’s not?
Whoisengaging with you?
Which networksdoesyour target audience use?
How doesyour social media presence compareto the competition?
Step 5.Set up accounts and improve profiles
Decide which networkstouse
As you decide which social networks to use,you will alsoneed to define your strategy for each.
BenefitCosmetics’socialmediamanager,Angela Purcaro,toldeMarketer:“Forourmakeuptutorials…we’re all
about Snapchat and Instagram Stories.Twitter, on the other hand, is designatedfor customerservice.”
Set upyour profiles
Once you’ve decidedwhich networks to focus on,it’s time to create your profiles. Or improve existing ones sothey
align with your strategy.
Make sure you fill out all profilefields
Include keywords people would use to search for your business
Use consistent branding (logos,images, etc.)acrossnetworks soyour profiles areeasily recognizable
7. Step 6.Find inspiration
While it’s important that your brand be unique, you can still draw inspiration from other businesses
that aregreat on social.
Social media successstories
You can usually find these on the business section of the social network’s website. (Here’sFacebook’s,
for example.)
Casestudies can offer valuable insights that you can apply to your own social media plan.
Award-winning accountsand campaigns
You could also check out the winners of The Facebook Awards orThe Shorty Awards for examples of
brands that areat the top of their social media game.
For learning and a laugh, check out Fridge-Worthy, Hootsuite’s bi-weekly awards show highlighting
brands doing smart and clever things on social media.
Yourfavorite brandson social media
Who doyou enjoy following onsocialmedia?What dothey dothat compelspeopletoengageandshare
their content?
8. Step 7. Create a social media content calendar
Sharing great content is essential, of course,but it’s equally important to have a plan in place for when
you’ll sharecontent to get the maximum impact.
Yoursocialmediacontentcalendaralsoneedstoaccountforthe timeyou spendinteractingwith the
audience (althoughyou need to allow for somespontaneous engagement aswell).
Set yourposting schedule
Your social media content calendar lists the dates and times at which you will publish types of content
on each channel. It’sthe perfect place to plan all of your social media activities—from images,link
sharing, and re-shares of usergenerated content to blog posts and videos. It includes both your day-to-
day postingand content for social media campaigns.
Your calendar alsoensures your posts are spacedout appropriately and published at the best times to
post.
Determine the right content mix
Make sureyour content strategy and calendar reflect the mission statement you’ve assigned to each
social profile, sothat everything you postis working to support your business goals.
9. 50%of content will drive trafficback toyourwebsite
25%of content will be curatedfromothersources
20%of content will supportlead-generation goals(newsletter sign-ups,ebookdownloads,etc.)
5%of content will be about your companyculture
Placing these different post types in your content calendar will ensure you maintain the right mix.
If you’re starting from scratch and you’re not sure what types of content to post, try the 80-20rule:
80%of your postsshouldinform,educate, orentertain your audience
20%can directly promoteyourbrand.
Thesocial mediacontent marketing rule of thirds:
One-third of your content promotesyour business,converts readers,andgenerates profit.
One-third of your content sharesideasand storiesfromthought leadersin your industry orlike-minded businesses.
One-third of your content is personalinteractions with your audience
Don’t post toomuch ortoolittle
Ifyou’re starting asocialmediastrategy fromscratch,you may not have figured out how often to postto each network for maximum
engagementyet. Posttoo frequently and you risk annoying your audience. But,if you posttoo little, you risk looking like you’re not worth
following.
Start with these postingfrequency recommendations:
Instagram(
feed)
:3-7 timesperweek
Facebook:1-2timesperday
Twitter:1-5timesperday
LinkedIn:1-5timesperday
You might decide that:
10. Step 8. Create compelling content
Remember those mission statements you created for each channel in Step 5?
Well, it’s time to go a bit deeper, a.k.a. provide some examples of the type of
content you’ll post to fulfill your mission on each network.
If you’re not sure what to post, here’s a long list of social media content ideas
to get you started.
The idea here is to:
• Keep your content aligned with the purpose of each network;
•Show other stakeholders (if applicable) what kind of content they can expect
to see on each network.
Ideally, you will generate content types that are both suited to the network
and the purpose you’ve set out for that network.
11. Step9.Track performanceand adjust your strategy accordingly
Your social media strategy is a hugely important document for your business, and you can’t assume you’ll get
it exactly right on the first try. As you start to implement your plan and track your results, you may find that
somestrategies don’t work aswell asyou’d anticipated, while othersare working even better than expected.
Look at performancemetrics
Inadditiontothe analytics within eachsocialnetwork (seeStep2),you canuseUTMparameterstotrack
socialvisitors asthey move through your website, soyou can seeexactly which social postsdrive the most
traffic to your website.
Re-evaluate, test,and doit all again
Oncethisdatastartscomingin,useit tore-evaluateyour strategyregularly.Youcanalsouse thisinformation
totestdifferentposts,socialmarketingcampaigns,andstrategiesagainstoneanother.Constanttestingallows
you to understand what works and what doesn’t,soyou can refine your strategy in real time.
You’llwant tocheckthe performanceofall your channelsatleastonceaweek andgettoknow the basicsof
socialmedia reportingsoyou can track your growth over time.
