Social Media for Business Requires a Strategy

It’s really hard to work out where to get started with social media.  There are platforms galore – each with it’s own features, benefits and – quite frankly – quirks, there are so many different options for posts. There is all kinds of advice, there are tools by the dozen and there never seems to be enough time!

Having a clearly defined strategy takes all the muddle and mystery out of social media. It helps to understand WHAT you want to achieve, WHO it is you need to reach, WHERE they are, WHEN is best to reach them and HOW you’re doing so that you review and revise where necessary.

It’s not that difficult once you get going and it makes your life a million times easier when it’s done

Social Media Goals

If you’re don’t know what you’re trying to achieve, how do you know if or when you get there?

You need to have goals – ideally at least one BUSINESS goal (such as increasing sales, generating leads etc), one SOCIAL MEDIA goal (like growing followers by X) and one or more SOCIAL MEDIA KPI’s (such as growing your database using click- throughs from social media to your web site by X%).

Social Media Follower Profile

If you don’t know who you want or need to talk to, how could you possibly know whether or not you’re reaching them?

You need to understand as much as you can about about your target audience – from DEMOGRAPHICS (age, sex, education level etc) to BEHAVIOUR (likes, dislike etc) to LOCATION (where they are active in the physical and digital world and how you reach them) and their business or social NEEDS (understanding how your product or service can solve a problem they may have).

A quite a fun – and effective – way to profile your customer is to create a character or persona. It may sound a bit simplistic but it really brings your customer to life. Give the person a name and describe him/her in the first person – “I am May, I’m 21 years old and at university. I still live at home…”

You may have to create more than one to cover all your bases.

Social Media Platforms

This is probably the most scary part because, even in your personal capacity, there are some platforms that you understand and resonate with, and others that you just don’t.

Start off by understanding what each can do for you. Then you need to decide which are the most important because you CANNOT have presence on all of them. It’s just not practical.

It’s perfectly acceptable to start on one and grow into others as you find your feet. It really depends on your business or service – one business may get the best results from Pinterest whilst another may feel that Twitter is all they need.

Social Media Posts

Once you have an understanding of the platforms you’ll be using, you need to consider what you could be posting.

There are SO many options to consider.  You can:

• Quote
• Share
• Teach
• Show, or
• Promote.

You can compile:

• Lists (Top tens, Top things, Top places etc)
• Reviews (of products, events etc)
• Industry related jokes (clean!)
• Interviews with people in your business or industry
• Interview influencers or happy customers
• Gather information through surveys or polls
• Share interesting charts or graphs
• Hold competitions and give away prizes
• Identify trends
• Get expert options etc etc

Social Media Content Planning

This is a lot of work upfront but you won’t regret it.  When it comes to posting, it will all be done in a matter of minutes.

Upfront

• Consider any monthly themes you may want to run – eg Back to school in Jan, Valentine’s Day in Feb etc
• Also decide on weekly themes or posts such as #ThrowBackThursdays #TBT etc
• Slot these into your content calendar (click here to download ours)

Next step

• Slot in your posts for the month on each platform
• Include all the details:

1.Day of the Week

2.Date

3.Time – especially if multiple posts are planned

4.Message – the actual words to be posted (include length for Twitter posts)

5.Link – the URL being shared (if applicable)

6.Theme – monthly and/or weekly theme

7.Image – file name and a brief description

Measuring up your Social Media Efforts

The final step before you get started is defining measurement.  

You need to decide:

1. What you’re going to measure and report on (based on the objectives you defined upfront)
2. A format for your reporting
3. The frequency of your reporting, and
4. Your audience and who needs each of the elements of your report

Google Analytics offers a rich database of statistics and analytics that can (and should) guide your posting and strategy decisions.

Reassess, Revise, and Rework. If something isn’t working, try something else!

Final thoughts about your Social Media Activity

• Involve your WHOLE team
• Support your posts with eye-catching visuals
• Keep it short and sweet
• Track likes and dislike
• Get your spelling and grammar right
• Make sure your web site is worth visiting
• If you don’t have a site, make sure your page is doing the work properly
• Display your social media icons EVERYWHERE
• Be thought provoking
• BE AUTHENTIC and HAVE FUN!

So, in essence, you need to know what you want to achieve, who you need to reach, where to find them, when is best to reach them and how you’re doing so that you review and revise where necessary.  It’s as simple as that!

Chat soon