From social media strategy to social media content management
Creating your social media strategy
When it comes to social media strategy people take many different approaches. To help our clients we focus on asking the right questions to ensure we can develop a strategy that delivers results.
Here are the 5 core questions we ask every client:
Goals: What do you want to achieve with your social media presence?
Ex. Drive Website Traffic of at least 3500 visitors per month and lead generation of at least 75
Audience: Who are your target audiences, and where do they spend their time online?
Ex. Gen Z and younger millennials. They spend time on Instagram and TikTok – and take advice from influencers
Content: What type of content resonates with your audience?
Ex. Video, how-tos, memes
Resources: What are your available resources in terms of budget, staff and time?
Ex. No in-house design capabilities, but strong copy-writing skills, dedicated team members and a $25K/month budget to support an agency, with an additional budget of $7500 for ads and tools per month.
Measurement: How do you define success? What metrics are most important?
Ex. Track referrals from social platforms to our website, amount of leads generated through social media campaigns, and engagement rates
Now that we’ve asked and answered our core questions, identified our goals and verified they are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound), it’s time to develop a strategy and map it to a tool. Here’s where the real work begins!
Understand your audience
Understanding your audience is a critical piece of developing your strategy. Conducting audience research through the use of analytical tools and surveys allows you the ability to understand things like demographics, interests, needs, preferences and behaviors. And of course, social media habits.
Analyze Your Competitors
Something many people don’t spend enough time on is competitive research. You can learn a lot by analyzing your competitors, including content topics and types that drive engagement or their strategy. This can help to set benchmarks and identify gaps or opportunities in your own strategy.
Getting the social media mix right
Once the audience and competitor analysis is complete, it’s time to select the right social media platforms and plan out your strategies. It’s imperative to choose platforms where your target audience is most active and likely to interact with your content and tailor your approach for each platform based on features and desired outcomes.
In addition to organic social, companies can often benefit from social media advertising or partnering with influencers to help amplify reach and/or credibility.
Create engaging content
Based on your audience and competitor analysis, start to plan out the types of content you need to create. This could include blog posts, videos, infographics and videos, among many others. Focus on the creation of high-quality, relevant and engaging materials that will be valuable to your audience. Materials should use a consistent brand voice and adhere to your brand design guidelines for cohesion and brand visibility.
Once you’ve engaged your audience, remember to engage back. It’s important to interact regularly by responding to comments, messages and mentions. This helps to build relationships over time with your audience.
Mapping your strategy to the tool
Now that we’ve established our strategy it’s time to choose the right social media management platform. Here it’s critical to match the strengths of the tool to your specific needs. For example, if analytics are very important, Sprout Social or Hootsuite might be the best tool. If integration with TikTok is important, then it might be best to choose Loomly or Later. The point is, choose the tool that fits your needs (and budget) without paying for features you will likely never use.
Once you’ve settled on your tool you will want to make sure you train your team, integrate the tool with existing tools, platforms or other workflows and get to the execution of your plan.
Monitor, measure and optimize performance
As with any marketing or communications effort, it’s important to know what’s working and what isn’t. You’ll want to make sure you have identified key performance indicators (KPIs). Some examples include engagement rates, reach, impressions, clicks and conversions. Then, use your social media analytical tools to gather data and insights. Plan for regular reviews of the tool performance and the effectiveness of your strategy so you can adjust and pivot as needed. Making data-driven changes to your strategy can improve outcomes over time.
Stay on top of trends
Social media is evolving at a rapid pace so it’s important to keep an eye on and be prepared to adapt to emerging trends, technologies and platforms to ensure you stay relevant and in front of your audience.
Need help?
Creating a robust social media strategy isn’t easy. There are a number of components to account and plan for. It can be an overwhelming task for many. But, we hope you found this guide to be helpful in setting you up for social media success.
If you have additional questions or would like to discuss how Highwire can support your social media challenges, please reach out. We’d love to chat.
