How to create a social media plan, 9 step plan to a strategic social media marketing plan

How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 8 Easy Steps

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For instance, you might instinctively think that Facebook is a better network for reaching Baby Boomers than Millennials, but the numbers show that Millennials still outnumber Boomers on the platform. Social media analytics can also provide a ton of valuable information about who your followers are, where they live, which languages they speak, and how they interact with your brand on social.

These insights allow you to refine your strategy and better target your social ads.

Jugnoo, an Uber-like service for auto-rickshaws in India, used Facebook Analytics to learn that 90 percent of their users who referred other customers were between and years-old, and 65 percent of that group was using Android. They used that information to target their ads, resulting in a 40 percent lower cost per referral. This analysis will also help you spot opportunities.

For example, maybe one of your competitors is dominant on Facebook, but has put little effort into Twitter or Instagram. You might want to focus on the networks where your audience is underserved, rather than trying to win fans away from a dominant player. Social listening is another way to keep an eye on the competition.

Or, you might spot a specific post or campaign that really hits the mark, or totally bombs. Keep an eye on this information and use to it evaluate your own goals and plans. Ask yourself the following questions:. Your audit should give you a clear picture of what purpose each of your social accounts serves.

Create great lead-gen campaigns

Asking these tough questions now will help keep your social media strategy on track as you grow your social presence. These imposter accounts can be harmful to your brand never mind capturing followers that should be yours , so be sure to report them. You may want to get your Facebook and Twitter accounts verified to ensure your fans and followers know they are dealing with the real you. As you decide which social channels to use, you will also need to define your strategy for each network.

Twitter, on the other hand, is designated for customer service.

1. Define Your Purpose and Goals

Notice that Facebook and Instagram outrank even email for this purpose. These one-sentence declarations will help you focus on a very specific goal for each account on each social network.

In general, make sure you fill out all profile fields, use keywords people will use to search for your business, and use images that are correctly sized for each network. All of the social networks feature success stories that highlight how brands are using their tools effectively. For example, take a look at the Facebook business success stories.

A 9-Step Guide to Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan

These case studies can offer valuable insights you can apply to your own goals for each social network. You could also check out the winners of The Facebook Awards or The Shorty Awards for examples of brands that are at the top of their social media game. Check them out for inspiration:. In some cases, other sites including LinkedIn, Pinterest and Houzz may also be appropriate. It is important for all of your social media to have the same look and feel as your company website as in the example below:. Facebook cover pages do have some flexibility and allow you to have some very specific elements can be incorporated for maximum impact:.

After you create your social pages, be sure to include links on your website and invite all of your customers and friends to join your pages. Ideally, this should be done on a monthly basis. Your planning calendar may outline the following:.

A planning calendar lays the foundation and ensures you are maintaining your social sites and posting on a regular basis. Of course, you can also post other news, tips and ideas as they arise. The biggest pitfall businesses run into are they generally have a lot of excitement when they first establish their social media presence, but the momentum quickly fades.

Having a monthly planning calendar will help keep your social media efforts moving forward.

Now that you have identified a manager, set up your pages, and developed a planning calendar, it is time to start generating engaging content. What type of information is not only engaging, but is something followers would like to share? Creating sharable content is one of the quickest ways to pick up new followers. It is imperative to monitor all comments and respond in a timely manner. Good or bad, all feedback needs to be addressed.

If they have a complaint or concern, reach out to them. It is important to investigate the validity of the negative comment and address it immediately. Also be sure to incorporate a good tracking system. This can really provide important insight into your customers and their behavior. Companies such as Global Response provide excellent outsourced social media analytics programs that can be easily incorporated and integrated into your social strategy.

While every organization's content strategy should be uniquely tailored, it's always worth looking for opportunities to engage directly with your audience. Measure the results of your work. Measuring Social Media is one of the most vital and beneficial pieces of advice. During the experimentation stage it is vital to test, experiment and measure your social media execution. Your measures should help you decide if what you are doing is working. Measuring can include mentions in blogs, tags, tweets, news articles and other forms of exposure for your business.

Be cautious in your measures though and be sure to assess the real problem. Keep your options open when it comes to the different social media engines — setting up boundaries is contradicting the limitlessness of social media! Adapt to the insights of your results.

One word of caution — beware of your measures. For example, you may have started using Twitter to build awareness, but find that it is actually really effective for customer service. If you only measure awareness you may miss the boat. So, while your measures might be specific, be sure to look at tools and success in a comprehensive way. Where can I get some case studies and examples of social media plans? Answer this question Flag as Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Already answered Not a question Bad question Other.

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