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Strategy
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How to Create Your Social Media Strategy
Social media is one of the most effective communication tools at our disposal in recent times. Most of us are familiar with Facebook and Youtube, but we usually don’t think about how they can help our business. Your business can definitely benefit from employing social media, but its usage seems deceptively simple at times. Using social media is not merely about posting random status updates. To utilize it effectively for your business, you need a well planned social media strategy.
Developing your social media strategy requires planning and research.
An overview of the various steps shown in the social media strategy creation process
Target Audience
The initial phase of the social media strategy creation process involves defining who you are targeting. Businesses usually target current and potential customers through social media but your target audience can also include employees, investors and journalists etc.Competition
You cannot create a highly effective social media strategy without identifying your competition and analyzing what your competition is offering. This includes but is not limited to what your competition is doing via social media and the marketing/ promotional activities they indulge in.Research
A thorough research should be conducted and results compiled on the lifestyle, habits and expectations of your target audience. Where can they be found online? What activities are they involved in? What kind of communication do they respond to? Research should also be conducted on businesses you compete with and their marketing activities, especially the ones which are very successful. What activities and discussions are they promoting? Why are they successful?Goal and Objectives
Every plan is created to achieve specific goals, and these goals cannot be achieved unless they are clearly defined. You need to define your social media strategy goals and objectives. The research you have carried out on your target audience and competition will help in this regard.Value Proposition
You need to define a value propositions that your product or service offers to your customer. These can be an extension of your unique selling proposition. This should preferably be unique as compared to what your competition is offering. Your value proposition should offer something that your target audience values.Tactics
Once you are clear about the goals you want to achieve and the value proposition you are offering, you can come up with tactics to achieve goals while delivering value. For example if your goal is to expand customer base, your tactic can be to launch business profiles at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Linkedin etc. as well as your own corporate blog.Content Plan
Content is essential for any social media strategy. It can be in the form of text, videos or images. Your content plan has various components:
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Avenues
You need to choose the social media avenues that you will be using, for example Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Slideshare, Forums, Blogs etc. -
Activities
What activities or topics will you communicate about? You can have an activity calendar for promotions/events/workshops etc. You can also have surveys, competitions and sweepstakes. Involving people in a discussion about your products/services is another idea. -
Frequency
How frequently will you be posting content to the chosen social media? -
Volume
What will be the average word count for the posts you make? -
Time Table
After deciding all the above factors, you can create a time table outlining the activities and their frequency and the exact dates when they will be created.
Monitor and Improve
The best social media strategies keep evolving as we are bound to learn from our experiences. If you closely monitor the results of your strategy you will be able to identify areas of improvement. For this purpose you need to identify the results you want to achieve from the strategy and compare these with the actual results. -