Life in the 21st century is interconnected and online-focused, and it’s estimated that we spend an average of 147 minutes a day on social media alone.
With such a high consumption rate globally it makes sense that as a business, an established social media presence is an absolute must. But creating and managing social media accounts may feel incredibly daunting, especially if you don’t have access to a full-time social media expert. However, the simple fact of the matter is that businesses simply don’t survive if they don’t compete in the world of online marketing and social media.
That’s why we’re here to share the foundational principles of developing a winning social media strategy—on your own or with a little bit of help.
Understanding Social Media Strategies
While most people have a vague idea of what social media is, a ‘social media strategy’ may be a totally foreign concept. In simple terms, your social media strategy is the overarching plan of action for the content you post, as well as where and when you post it. Your strategy will include the broad-stroke responsibilities of your social media team as well as short, medium, and long-term goals.
Your social media strategy will vary depending on the voice and target demographic of your brand. However, the overall objective always remains the same: to increase brand popularity and maximize profit.
Ultimately, your strategy will assist in establishing clear expectations for your social media efforts while allowing you to track goal performance.
Define and Research Your Target Audience
Before diving into any business or marketing venture, it’s absolutely vital to develop a clear understanding of your target market. A productive starting point is identifying key demographics such as age, gender, nationality, income bracket, occupation, hobbies, and defining moral characteristics.
Once you have identified these important factors, you can start conducting market research. Some popular strategies which have proven to be highly effective include interviews, focus groups, and far-reaching online surveys.
Do Competitor Research
Conducting thorough research on competing brands and organizations is an essential step in the development of any successful social media strategy. A popular method is that of social listening or social media measurement. This is the practice of monitoring or evaluating the social media of other brands and organizations in order to gain insight into their marketing strategy and customer engagement.
Competitor research empowers you to make data-driven decisions for your own social media strategy. Learning from the mistakes of other brands and businesses will improve your chances of success exponentially. With social media, you can access these valuable lessons at the click of a button.
Select the Right Social Media Platforms
At this point, you’re no longer debating whether to engage with social media, you are wondering how and where to do so.
The online world is increasingly saturated with different social media platforms, and choosing the right one is a tricky task. Many people have made the mistake of simply being on all of them just for the sake of it. We would strongly advise against this.
The social media platform you use will depend on your goals and your target audience. If you’re trying to reach a work-oriented group, you may want to invest in your LinkedIn presence more than TikTok. Furthermore, you would prioritize blog posts and share industry-related content. If, however, you’re wanting to sell a product to a younger audience, then Instagram and TikTok are preferable. These platforms work best when you share trendy product photos, engaging brand-related images and short-form videos.
Twitter, on the other hand, allows you to engage in a real-time conversation. This gives your brand or business the appearance of being up-to-date and in the know, which is highly desirable. Additionally, the hashtag function of Twitter is particularly well-established. It allows your brand to be in conversation with current trends, which ensures its longevity and, ultimately, its success.
Identify Key Metrics
Once you have established your goals, you can identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and key metrics. Each social media channel will have distinctly important metrics. Knowing how to utilize metrics will bolster the efficacy of your social media strategy and encourage the success of your brand or business.
If you’re using Facebook, then it is recommended that you prioritize reach and engagement metrics. For Instagram, discovery and reactions are key. Whichever metric you choose, you want to ensure that it’s relatively easy and time-efficient to track.
Remain Engaged
Your social media strategy is destined to fail if you don’t keep your audience engaged. Even the most aesthetically accomplished social media presence will suffer without effective audience engagement.
You need to look out for questions or comments that your audience might post. Your response will not only encourage the buy-in of that individual commenter, but also shows everyone else who looks at your profile that your brand is present and customer-oriented.
Engaging with your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram community, or any other community you’re part of encourages loyalty which could ultimately lead to informal brand ambassadors. When someone feels like their social media presence is noted and acknowledged, they’re more likely to be vocal about their admiration for your brand on online platforms. It may be time-consuming, but effective customer engagement is essentially a free form of marketing.
Be Adaptive and Flexible
The only constant is change.
It may be a cliché, but it’s certainly true with social media marketing. The online world promotes an increasingly fast-paced lifestyle—trends are rapidly changing, and these adjustments may seem arbitrary to someone who doesn’t keep their finger on the pulse. It’s important to remain open to the vital characteristic of flexibility.
This is not to say you should be lazy or discouraged in the development of your social media strategy. It simply means you need to remain aware that this strategy will require constant adjustment. These changes will vary in scale and they may be frustrating. But the quality of adaptiveness is a complete make-or-break.
With that in mind, we hope you feel confident and inspired to design your own social media strategy. The benefits are huge, the growth potential enormous, and the ROI is well worth the time and effort.
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