A social media strategy summarises your proposed social media activity and acts as a guideline to help your digital marketing agency strategically create and post content to achieve the businesses goals.
Identifying and understanding your consumer is crucial in order for your social media strategy to be successful. When you deeply understand your audience, you will be in a position to make relevant content that they will engage with.
Long term business objectives must be understood before setting measurable and time-bound social media goals. For example, if the business’s objective is to increase sales, the social media team will have to create a goal for conversion rates at the end of a set period. If the business wants to increase its awareness, the social media team will have to set a goal for reach and impressions during a set period. It is critical to set measurable goals in order to measure the effectiveness of a social media strategy.
When you understand your target market’s demographics you will be able to choose the most relevant platform to gain maximum exposure for that specific demographic. For example, the majority of users on Facebook range from 18 – 49 years old, whereas the majority of users on Instagram are between the ages of 13 – 29 years old. For more information about the demographics of the leading social media sites have a look at this blog post from Sproutsocial.
Once you have chosen your platforms the next step is to create a content plan. Your content plan is a more document that focuses on which content will be posted when. A content strategy aims to achieve the goals set in your overall social media strategy.
When your content plan has been finalised, it is the creative team that will be responsible for creating the different forms of content for the content plan. This content will then be scheduled and posted at the most effective times on the chosen platforms.
When all the content from a content plan has been posted, a social media analyst will review the results and provide insights and recommendations about which content performed best. If the goals outlined in the social media strategy were not reached the social media strategy may have to be changed or the content plan may have to be executed more effectively.
Benefits of a Social Media Strategy
A COHESIVE BRAND MESSAGE
A social media strategy will form part of the businesses overall marketing strategy. This ensures that your social media content will portray the same brand message that is found in the other forms of marketing that your business is implementing. Creating a cohesive brand message between all forms of media increases the overall efficacy of your marketing efforts.
CREATE MEASURABLE GOALS
A social media strategy is important because it contains measurable goals. This makes it possible to measure the success of all your social media activities and indicate whether or not improvements have to be made.
IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING EFFORTS
A social media strategy will act as a guideline for your social media marketing team. The social media marketing strategy will provide your social media team with a plan that will make your social media marketing efforts more efficient and more effective.
CONSISTENCY
Creating a social media strategy will help your content portray your brand’s message and tone consistently throughout the different social media platforms. This is crucial in order to achieve a successful marketing campaign and a trusted brand image.
Frequently Asked Questions About a Social Media Strategy
WHY IS A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY IMPORTANT?
A social media strategy is important because it makes your marketing efforts more efficient and effective. A social media strategy does this by providing your social media marketing team with guidelines and measurable goals.
WHAT IS A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY?
A social media strategy is a document that summarises your proposed social media activities and goals. It forms a part of your businesses overall marketing strategy.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY AND A SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT PLAN?
A social media strategy outlines your social media activity with measurable goals, a social media content plan is a detailed document containing what content will be posted when. A social media content plan forms part of your social media strategy.
WHAT DOES A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY CONTAIN?
A social media strategy will contain consumer profiles, the social platforms you will use, what topics/products your content will cover, a content plan and measurable goals.
CAN I USE MY MARKETING STRATEGY AS A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY?
No, a social media strategy forms part of your overall marketing plan. Your marketing plan is a broad outline of how your business will market itself.
HOW DO I KNOW IF MY SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY IS WORKING?
Your social media strategy is considered successful if the measurable goals that were decided upon, are reached. If these goals are met, your social media will be successfully helping your business achieve its overall objectives.
HOW DO I IMPROVE MY SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY?
Hire a social media analyst who, in combination with the social media team, will look at the performance the previous content plans and provide insights and recommendations on how to improve the current strategy.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY?
A good social media strategy will increase your businesses sales by providing a clear and effective guideline for your social media team to work with.
DOES A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY COST MONEY TO MAKE?
This depends if you hire a social media agency or get a team within your business to prepare it.