In today’s digital-orientated world, social media is essential for businesses. With a whopping 4.80 billion people – 60% of the world’s population – now using social media, it’s a super effective way of reaching and engaging with potential customers and driving them to your website; in fact, 75% of marketers said that social media marketing has significantly increased their website traffic.
And with the number of social media users expected to rise to around 5.85 billion by 2027, it’s worth getting your head around your social media marketing strategy so you can maximise the opportunities it offers sooner rather than later.
New to Social Media Marketing?
If you’re not sure where to start with your social media activity and don’t understand why it could be so valuable for business, take a look at these stats:
Let’s Talk Social Media Strategy
So now that we’ve covered some juicy social media marketing stats let’s dive in and discuss how to use it effectively so that you’re making the absolute most out of it. The most important thing to remember when using social media for your business is the importance of a clear social media strategy.
Embarking on a social media campaign without a strategy is like shooting in the wind. Blindfolded. With so many different networks and platforms and many businesses and brands posting daily, having a defined plan will help you structure your content clearly and ensure it gets noticed.
How to Create an Effective Social Media Strategy
Following a few simple steps can ensure your campaign succeeds.
Setting realistic business goals is vital; you need to know where you’re heading and how you will get there. Defining objectives gives you a purpose and something to track your progress against. Common objectives include awareness, customer experience, engagement, traffic and conversions.
Once you decide on your objectives, you can then create your S.M.A.R.T goals.
S.M.A.R.T goals are:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
Document what it is you want to achieve and when by, and regularly check-in on analytics to see how things are performing.
You need to know who you’re talking to to ensure you’re conveying the right message with your social media content. You need to research and get to know your audience to do this. Once you know who you’re talking to, you can ensure your messaging is relevant to them. Create customer personas using key information such as:
Remember that your customer personas should be based on your actual audience rather than who you’d like them to be. Audience research is key to getting this right; this is where your existing customer database will come in handy.
By looking at your current customers, you can get an excellent idea of the type of person you should aim your social media marketing content at. To learn about your customers, you can send surveys, use built-in analytics tools on social media platforms and examine your company’s online reviews, customer service records, and CRM data.
You can also use public forums such as Quora to learn which questions people ask about specific subjects and tailor value-driven content around these to help and support your audience. All these methods will allow you to understand your target market, what they’re looking for, and their pain points.
Consider who your main competitors are and look at what they’re doing on social media. Try to figure out what’s working for them and, more importantly, what isn’t, then use what you’ve learnt to inform your social media strategy.
When looking at your competitors, ask yourself questions such as:
Once you’ve got a grip on what others are doing, think about how you can do even better!
First, decide which social media channels you want to focus on. There are many options: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn – the list goes on. Once you’ve figured out which platforms are most relevant to you and your target market, then it’s time to create your content game plan. Everything you’ve done so far has led you to this point. By now, you’ve got your goals clear, you know your customer personas, you’ve checked out the competition, and you know which social media channels to focus on. You’re ready to create your content by tying all this information together.
When creating your content, even though each post might be aimed at different customer personas, your brand voice must remain consistent. This is the key to maintaining your brand identity. Think about what you want to sound like, what words and phrases you wish to use and what feelings you want to evoke: playfulness, boldness, quirkiness, seriousness? Once you’ve sorted that, stick to it with all your content.
Some people think you must be tied to your device all day to post on social media regularly. You don’t. There are lots of scheduling tools around that allow you to load all your social media content weeks or months in advance. You select the dates, times and channels you want it posted on, and away you go. It saves time and effort and lets you get on with other important tasks knowing that your social media marketing is taking care of itself.
With any marketing strategy, it’s essential to never get too complacent. Even though you’ve created your social media strategy, planned your content and scheduled your posts, you still need to continuously analyse it and make sure that what you’re doing is working. Use social media reports to help you see the whole picture. That’s the only way you can keep on top of your game. Keep assessing your data, and look at your KPIs and other metrics to check that you’re reaching the right people and achieving the results you set out.
How can we help?
Now you know how to create an effective social media strategy. You know why social media marketing is good for business, why a strategy is vital, and how to set goals and analyse your target audience. You also know how to check out the competition, create a content plan and schedule your posts in advance. But, if you need any further help or advice, we’ve got you. Book a free 30-minute strategy call with Sophie here.