Creating a Social Media Strategy in 7 Easy Ways
Who in today’s world isn’t aware of social media influence? Almost all major brands and small ventures are figuring out smart ideas to hit their jackpots. Social media strategies and planning a few of them aren’t painful.
What is a Social Media Strategy? How is it influential? How does it work? Where to start from?
With so many questions and answers to guess, let’s start with the most basic question: What are Social Media Strategies? A social media strategy, as the name suggests, a social media strategy is nothing but a planned book of achieving more heights in your business leveraging the various boons of social media platforms. And by social media, we don’t mean just Facebook or Instagram. Social media has expanded a long way and advanced itself, capturing a major part in digital marketing. A social media strategy comprises competitor research, interpreting risk factors, using the apt digital listing platforms, establishing an online presence, creating strong content, and engaging customers. The list is never getting low.
The more specific your business strategy planning is, the more effective results you can expect. Otherwise, if social media strategy planning didn’t exist, how could brands go from ‘why use social media to ‘how to use social media campaigns?’
Although you must have been practicing a few social media hacks, let’s take a detour from the initial starting point. To ensure your business receives enough spotlight and credibility, this post will cover the various ways to accomplish digital recognition.
Why need Social Media Presence?
Just how easy did you think social media could get you the much-required recognition? That, too, with just a few posts and shares, your innovative business ideas cannot travel longer. You need a proper strategy amidst your other business strategy planning to succeed. You need to articulate why you need to have a social media presence and what exactly you wish to achieve in return.
Is it just for promoting your new launches (mostly when you have enterprises) or attracting more clients (when you are just flourishing)? Next is to ask yourself what problems are falling in your way and how social media can address those issues. How can your social media boost sales, and is it recognizable to your potential audiences? Ask these questions to yourself, and here you have your first strategy to get started.
- Plan Upon Your Targeted Audiences
It might already be in your strategy planning, but did you know that there’s always a need to research your targeted audiences and put them in priority whenever you use a new social media platform. The more specific and tailored your social media content is, the better. While it may seem like a good idea to post anything on Facebook or Twitter as soon as something happens to not miss out on any potential followers, this isn’t always working for every audience.
When you know your target audience, it’s time to get specific about their interests and desires. I recommend creating an “ideal customer” — a detailed persona sketch of the type of person we want our message aimed at. What are those few information you might need for sketching your ideal customer:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Income
- Occupation
- Most used social media platforms
- Leverage the Apt. Social Media Platforms
The best way to get a return on your investment is by using platforms that will provide you with plenty of exposure. A lot goes into building up an account, and it can be difficult for small businesses without any resources like money or workforce. Undoubtedly, social media has become increasingly important in today’s age. When you invest in social media, it’s important to do so with an eye towards ROI. The most lucrative platforms offer a high return on investment and low maintenance costs for your business resources. Meaning they’ll be able to give back more than what was spent getting them started in the first place.
For instance, Yelp, Facebook, Tripadvisor, etc., are some top social media platforms to list restaurants. Whereas, for medications, it’s always Healthgrades, Vitals, etc.
Didn’t yet read our innovative social media strategies to capture online customers?
- Look Out for Competitors
When you can have a social media profile, why can’t your competitors too? Undoubtedly, social media platforms are the channels your competitors are leveraging to attract more clients and promote their business from a wider angle. While they may have more audiences and reach, you can check their social media practices and interpret their strengths. In doing so, you will get an idea of what might work at your company and how you can add new features.
With time, you can also market your products using the same platforms and see the gapping spots in your services. Why not use a social media tool that keeps you updated about your customer experiences and thus, helps you take necessary steps.
- Evaluate from your Existing Online Presence
To improvise your brand recognition, you must know where you are standing. Without that, you won’t even know where you need to lead your firm. If you are already into social media platforms and have listed your business on relatable sites, why not take some time for social media auditing?
Don’t worry since you won’t require any CA for that. Maybe a normal consultant for business management might help. More than that, YOU are the real boss. You can complete the process of in-depth auditing easily since you are aware of what’s working and what’s not. Check out who’s the real ones that are truly engaged with your online content and what’s keeping the rest from checking your business website or profile. Once you have the right answers, you can have your mind formulate the right business strategy planning.
- Content, More Content, Creative Content
This is where the fun part begins. What’s social media without content? It’s the curating of creative and unique content — something that the readers and potential clients favor. Nothing much, all you have to show are your goals, missions, visions, achievements, innovative business ideas, testimonials, and so much more.
Now, content doesn’t mean just write-ups, but it includes photos, videos, blog posts, podcasts, eBooks, emails, infographics, interviews. Create a mix of creative content with specific marketing goals and categorize each with a different mission. For example, 50% of your posts must tend to educate, 30% must tend to entertain, 20% must promote your brand.
Yet again, another idea is to create a content calendar that is meant to plan and schedule your content. This method is quite efficient in engaging more clients and reaching their targeted audiences.
- Track and Measure Performances
The numbers on your social media posts should reflect how well you are doing. If it looks like people aren’t engaging with what you post, then rethink the content and strategy for that particular audience or group to avoid losing their attention any longer than necessary. The online space is always changing, and it’s important to keep up with the latest trends. If you are unaware of what will happen next, your competitor certainly does. You should also consider how changes in demographics or new networks could affect your business strategy planning.
The only way to ensure yourself on top of your game is by engaging a professional marketer who leverages your statistics and streamlines your work with notable results. As these platforms are constantly evolving, marketers need to keep themselves informed about what works best online.
Expert Mind Solutions will help you evaluate your business management skills and provide management training needed to improve them. They have a team of coaches with years of experience managing large companies, so they’re perfect for any firm looking at rising above its competition.