What Are The Steps To Build A Social Media Strategy?
Social media channels are in a constant state of change. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to social media. But there are some basics that every business should consider.
Step 1: Set Goals For Your Business
What do you want to achieve? How will you measure success? Remember that not all businesses are the same, so not all social media strategies will be either. You’ll need to define what success looks like for your business before going any further.
Here are some examples of common SMM goals:
- Increase brand awareness.
- Increase website traffic.
- Increase sales.
Step 2: Research Your Audience
If you don’t know your audience, you can’t build a social media strategy for reaching them. You need to understand where customers their time online. What platforms do they use? How old are they? This information will help you tailor your messaging. It will help you create content that resonates with them.
Step 3: Research Your Competitors
Knowing who your competitors are is essential. You can learn a lot by watching what they do, including their successes and failures. You can also understand what content performs best for them. And how they engage with their followers.
Step 4: Choose Your Social Platforms
Choosing the proper channels for your business is essential.
For example, if you are an e-commerce company, Pinterest is a great way to drive traffic to your website. It will help encourage people to buy. If you’re an event planner, Instagram might be the best place. You can share photos of past events or promote upcoming ones.
Check out my blog on how businesses use each social media platform. It will help you build a social media strategy around your audience.
Step 5: Plan Your Content
Once you’ve chosen where you want to be active online, it’s time to develop a social media calendar. Your calendar includes social media post ideas, articles, videos, and other content.
This content may be yours and others in the industry. Sharing other people’s content is part of being social.
Schedule different posts for each day of the week. That way, people don’t feel bombarded with updates from one channel all at once.
On some platforms, like Twitter, it’s common to post 20-30 times daily. The average lifespan of a tweet is roughly 15-minutes. Twitter has a fast-paced environment. Twitter is a good place for small, brief announcements and conversations.
But, on platforms like Facebook, you should post no more than twice a day. Facebook is more suitable for longer posts. Each social media website has a purpose. So planning your content is essential!
Are you having trouble figuring out what to post on social media? I have a special “cheat sheet” for content writers with 121 social media post ideas. You can download it below. Save it for later. When you build a social media strategy, it’s a great reference.
Download Cheat Sheet (121 social media post ideas – Never Get Writers Block Again!)
Conclusion
Social media seems like a fun, easy thing to do. It doesn’t take as much time, and you don’t need much experience to be successful with it.
Social media can be a great way to grow your business. It allows you to network with other like-minded professionals. It can also add another revenue stream for your business. That is why you must build a social media strategy before you start.
