Many businesses that begin using social media have the best intentions, but often end up coming out short. Some groups are too aggressive in their approach, while others could simply care less. These groups are surprised when they don’t see any results. The key to social media is to have a strategy in place. In this post, we discuss how to create an effective social media strategy and provide tips when using popular channels.
7 Actions to Include in Your Strategy
- Set specific goals: Why are you investing in social media? What’s the purpose? What do you aim to achieve? Kevan Lee, blogger at BufferSocial, mentions creating SMART goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound.
- Identify your audience: What topics are important to your audience? What issues can you help them solve? Many businesses run reports on customer data and market research to identify social profiles. Once you identify social profiles you can move on to the next action in this list.
- Select the right social channels: More and more social channels are popping up every day. Start small and do your research. Look at where your audience is interacting and talking about topics in your industry. Next, review your own experience and resources. Do you have the graphic design and photo editing skills to would put you ahead on Instagram or Pinterest?
- Choose strong metrics: Debbie Hemley, blogger at Social Media Examiner, describes the metrics needed to fulfill specific goals. If your goal is to generate traffic, you should be tracking unique visitors. If your goal is to generate interaction, you should be tracking shares, likes, retweets, and replies.
- Create a content strategy: Pre-plan the content you’re sharing on social media channels to ensure a steady activity stream. You can use a social media calendar to identify topics, organize posts into categories, determine the frequency, and assign authors.
- Leave room for curation: Many businesses often think they have to work round-the-clock to produce original content, like the elves of content creation. Following the The Golden Ratio helps you create balance in social media marketing, allowing for 10% to be promotional content, 30% owned, and 60% curated. The art of curation allows you to take a recent topic or area of interest already published, comment on or add to it, and share it as your own post.
- Assign proper resources: Before jumping in head first, think about how much manpower you have to create content and post on social media. Do you have a team of people? Are you flying solo? You may need to modify your social media strategy if you don’t have the resources to pitch in. If you have the budget, try outsourcing. You’ll find the investment is worth it.
Social Media Tips
Here are few things to consider when posting:
Twitter:
- Post 5x/day,
- Images boost retweets by 35%.
- Age group with the most users: 18–29
- Post 5–10x/week,
- Images increase sharing by 87%.
- Age group with the most users: 18–29
- Post 2-3x/day,
- Images boost comments by 98%.
- Age group with the most users: 30–49
Becoming a Star at Social Media Strategy
It may look easy to navigate and post on social media, but to be successful you must develop a strategy that reflects your organization’s mission, values, and goals. Start off with the basics and avoid being an overachiever. Always keep an ear to the ground, constantly leave room for improvement, and adjust the strategy as necessary.