How to Build
a Social Media Strategy that’ll Catapult You to Success
E
very business today needs to have a strong social media presence as it’s been proven time and time again that being active on social media is one of the most powerful ways to grow a business. But before you can benefit from social media, it’s important to come up with a social media strategy that helps you make the most of the time and effort you spend being social. The businesses that do well on social media have specific social media strategies in place that help guide them along the way to social success. Here is a short step-by-step guide designed to help you build a strong social media strategy that will assist you in getting the most out of your social efforts.
Step Establish Your Social Media Goals
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The first order of business is to establish the goals you wish to accomplish with your social media strategy. Setting goals is important because without them, you won’t have any way to gauge your success. These goals should align with your broader marketing strategy so that all your social efforts work toward meeting your broader business objectives. You should start with at least three goals along with what each goal will look like when completed. These goals should all be specific, measurable, attainable and relevant. Common social media goals to consider are enhancing consumer awareness, sharing info about your brand and promoting your staff’s accomplishments. Whatever goals you wish to strive for, try to break them down into easily
2 A Guide to Building a Social Media Strategy
definable and measurable objectives. When you do this, be as specific as you can so you can see what efforts are moving you forward toward completing your goals.
Step Run a Social Media Audit
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Now it’s time to assess your current social media usage to find out how well it’s working for you. This involves conducting a social media audit so that you can find out where you stand on the various social channels you’re using. Conducting an audit is easier than it sounds. It is done by examining your social media profiles. To begin your audit, locate and document all your social media profiles. It’s important to be also be the lookout for imposters who’ve created social media profiles in your business’s name. Dig deep and go beyond Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to make sure you find all social media accounts you have created. Remember to check social sites like Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Quora and YouTube as it’s very possible you have accounts you don’t remember creating. As you locate your profiles, make a note of those you find and keep track of the following elements: • • • •
The social media channel and url Your profile name The number of fans or followers The date of your last activity
A good way to stay organized while conducting your audit is to put all this info into a spreadsheet. Once you have
your list completed, clean it up by deleting those social accounts you don’t use or have any use for. For those accounts you do wish to keep, ask yourself what your goals are for these platforms. Additionally, give all the profiles you wish to keep a good look over to make sure the profiles are completely filled out and that there is consistency in details and imagery across all the channels you’re on. Once you’ve conducted your audit, you should have a clear picture of each of your social profiles and what purpose eac
social media. Jot down a list of the top three to five competitors in your industry and then see what each is doing on the social channels they’re using. How are they engaging with consumers? What type of tone do they use and which types of content are people responding to most? Once you understand how your competitors are using social media, you can fine-tune your own strategy to make yourself stand out from the crowd.
There are many free tools out there designed to help you analyze your social media traffic so find one to use. Then utilize the tool in order to review your posts over the past three months, six months or a year. See which posts got you the most traffic, shares and other types of engagement. Once you figure out what types of content worked best in the past, you can reinvigorate your social strategy moving forward.
Now it’s time to start creating engaging content to share on your social channels. All the content you share including videos, hints & tips, articles, infographics, how-to guides and simple status updates and tweets should all line up with your business objectives. When creating content, be sure that you share it across all your social channels as doing so provides you with the greatest reach possible.
Step Check Out What Your Direct Competitors are 3 Doing on Social Media Now it’s time to find out what your direct competitors are doing on
Step Create Engaging
4
Content
Step Always Stay Engaged
5
It cannot be stressed enough how important engagement is on social media. Whether someone is leaving a comment about a Facebook post you made or mentioning your
business on Twitter, it is important that you respond. If you neglect your fans and followers, they will neglect you by finding another business similar to yours they can engage with. It is just as important to respond to negative comments and feedback as it is to respond to those which are positive in nature. When you do respond to something negative, it shows that you value what people have to say about you, good or bad. The last thing you should do is delete a negative message or simply ignore it as this is a sure-fire way to turn people off.
Step Track and Improve
6
Upon Your Efforts
The final step in developing your social media strategy involves tracking and improving upon your social efforts. Use a tool to track your success such as Google Analytics to see which of your posts are driving traffic, conversions and overall revenue. Then build on the success you already have by creating content that is similar to the content that has done well in the past. This is an on-going process that will help you develop and fine-tune your unique social voice.
A Guide to Building a Social Media Strategy 3