Create Your own social media strategy
Once you have filled in this booklet, you should be well on your way to understanding what information creating a social media strategy demands and how you are going to incorporate it into your campaign. Don’t forget to contact us here at TalkWeb if you need a hand. Best of luck, TalkWeb
introduction
A social media campaign can do more harm than good if executed poorly. As well as that, it can be an unecessary drain on resources, time and personnel. A simple way of avoiding this is by devising a comprehensive social media strategy before embarking online, allowing your company to achieve it’s goals in the most efficient way possible.
First things first, you need to pick the right people to be in charge of updating your profiles, creating content and measuring performance. A common mistake is letting ‘the intern’ take control of all things social media or letting any member of staff update in a free moment. Remember, the people listed below are the voice of your company, make sure it’s one you want to be heard.
The Team
Name
Position & Duties
objectives
When creating your social media strategy, you need to ask yourself what you want to achieve. By creating 3 goals, you can then measure the success of your campaign and ensure it stays on track. These goals can detail how many people you want your campaign to reach, how you want the campaign to effect the success of your company and the way in which you are going to execute your campaign. 1.
2.
3.
• 80 percent of a corporate blog’s visitors are first-time visitors. Focus your topics and include a selection of keywords to increase SEO. Make sure readers can easily share your content on their own networks too. • Build relationships with other companies online. Feature them in your content and help them share theirs. If you’re lucky, they will return the favour. • Posts linking to content can work well, but you won’t build a strong following based on the links you share. You need to balance this with some personality, so you followers can get to know you.
content
You can’t create a social media strategy without considering the content. No matter how well your strategy is thought out, the execution is crucial is to the campaign’s success. Here are some factors to consider:
1. How often will you update each of your profiles?
2. What types of content will you be posting on each profile?
3. How much time will you spend creating original content?
implementation
According to the 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, most companies can maintain a strong social media presence with six hours a week, including research and production time. Ask yourself:
audience
Look at your current customer base, what demographics are you currently catering to? Does your social media campaign aim to interact solely with current clients or do you want to expand to other demographics? Your potential audience affects the platforms you implement in your campaign and the tone of any updates. List below who you will be marketing your social media campaign to and how you will target them.
hints & secrets
No-one gets it right the first time, it takes experience and a few trial runs. Here’s a few tips to get you started along your way: • If you are finding it hard to maintain a regular rhythm with your profile updates, assign particular topics to each day. For example, on Mondays you could create a ‘how to’ post and a then a video on Thursdays. • Build relationships with other companies online. Feature them in your content and help them share theirs. If you’re lucky, they will return the favour. • Remember, if you don’t have the resources or know-how to successfully manage your own social media campaign, hire an agency. TalkWeb will happily manage your social media campaign for you.
Read up on the latest demographic figures when deciding what platforms to use and consider which one will suit your content. Informal updates about the company may be best suited to Twitter, whereas connecting with clients on a professional level may be more suited to LinkedIn. Less is often more when it comes to social media: create just a few profiles, but do them well.
networks
As mentioned earlier, the prospective audience of your campaign can affect the platforms you decide to maintain profiles on. For example, Facebook has more female members when compared to LinkedIn and Twitter has more users aged 35-44 when compared to Facebook. Knowing what content works best on each network and what people will be reading it is the key to an effective campaign.
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