Social media is a very powerful tool for businesses. No matter how big or small your company is, if you’re not on social media, you’re missing out on a huge number of potential customers. If you are already on social media, good for you! Now it’s time to take a look at your social media efforts and conduct an honest assessment.
Here are some questions that might help as you take a look at your social media activities:
- Do you have a scheduling plan or are you posting at random times on random days?
- Do you plan out social media content that aligns with your business priorities and advertising campaigns?
- How active are your followers? Do they engage with your content?
- Do you monitor your competitors?
Of course these are just a handful of things to consider; however, they will help you understand your current social media efforts and where there are opportunities for improvement.
Whether you’re looking to improve your social media efforts or you’re just starting out, you’ll want to make sure you have a social media strategy. Think of a social media strategy as a blueprint for your social media activities. Without one, you’ll find you lack goals, and ultimately, you may not see the results you hope for. By developing a well-planned-out strategy that aligns with your brand values, your business goals and your social media goals, the chances of success are higher. A social media strategy allows your approach to be serious and strategic.
It Aligns Social Media Activities with Business Goals
If your company sells custom-designed clothing, some of your business goals are likely to be: sell more clothing, acquire new customers and establish your company as the go-to for custom-designed clothing. That said, you’re going to want your social media activities to support those key business goals. Having a strategy requires you to list your business goals and then plan out how your social media efforts will support these goals. Whether it be through content, a customer-service response approach or ad campaigns, a strategy will keep the focus on your business goals and help you stay on track.
It Helps You Choose Channels
It seems like new social media networks are popping up every day. While it may be tempting to jump on the latest trend when it comes to social media, that may be the worst thing you can do for your business. It will stretch you way too thin.
After you assess where your customers are hanging out (which social networks), your social media strategy should include the networks you are going to be active on. If you’re a law firm, chances are you aren’t going to find much success in being active on Instagram; however, if you are an art studio, Instagram may be where you find some of your most loyal customers.
Also, your strategy should include your objectives for each network you are going to have a presence on. For example, objectives for your Facebook page may be to build brand awareness, share a mix of relevant links and promote upcoming events.
It Helps You Set Goals (and Reach Them)
For some people, writing down their goals helps them reach them. The same can be true with a social media strategy. Because it helps guide you and provides direction for all of your activities, having your social media goals in writing, may help you better achieve those goals.
Here are some examples of goals you can include in your strategy:
- Define the No. 1 reason you’re using social media.
- How will you listen to conversations taking place on social media?
- How often will you post on each network?
By including these things in your strategy, you will be able to stay on track and follow the direction you set for your company. The great thing about having a strategy is that if you find you are lacking direction in your day-to-day social media activities, you can always refer back to it.
It Provides a Snapshot of Content You Will Share
Your social media strategy shouldn’t go into detail about your daily posts (that is what a content calendar is for), but it should include the type of content you will share. Let’s go back to the custom-design clothing company. They will likely want to share content that includes custom-designed products for customers, behind-the-scenes moments, new product announcements and even employee spotlights to showcase the company’s talented staff.
Your social strategy can go even one step further and include ways in which you will create that content. Will you use photos, videos, blog posts and graphics? By focusing on the type of content you will share, how often you will post and on which network you will share this great content, you’ll eventually understand what works and what doesn’t.
It Helps Measure Social Media Results
Measuring your social media activities plays a huge role in social success. By continuously monitoring your social media efforts, you can see what is working and where there are opportunities for improvement.
Your social media strategy should spell out the key metrics you want to monitor. From likes, retweets and shares, to comments, new followers and unfollows, you must understand how your followers are interacting with your business on social media. Growing and nurturing relationships with your customers is what will help your success.
You also want to include the ways in which you will listen to conversations taking place on social media, especially those about your brand. Effectively listening to those conversations can be huge when it comes to acquiring new customers or getting ahead of a crisis.
Finally, you will want to monitor your competitors on social media. It’s important to see what they are doing right and what may not be working for them.
Social media is one of the cheapest ways you can increase brand awareness and build relationships; however, it must be done properly in order to be effective. Creating a social media strategy is one of the best places you can start. Remember, a strategy is a blueprint of your activities and will guide you to reaching social media success.
If you don’t have the expertise or time to get to that level of success, check out Social Creative’s social media management services.
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