Do you have a social media game plan for 2017?
Are you looking to have a competitive edge when it comes to your business? If you don’t have a written social media game plan then it is easy to allow this part of your marketing to fall to the wayside. You need to figure out the right balance of informative, advertising, and conversational posts when it comes to utilizing this power marketing strategy.
Social media should be used to generate leads and drive traffic to your website and/or offers. It is very clear that businesses achieve greater results and satisfaction when they take a more comprehensive approach to social media. Every action you take on social media needs to be a part of a larger social media strategy. That means every update, tweet, reply and comment should be part of an overall strategy that drives towards a pre-determined goal. This can seem a little complicated and daunting but if you take the time to create a written plan the rest of your social media efforts will fall into place.
Here are a few steps that you can take today to create your social media strategy for the coming year:
Step 1: Conduct an audit of your current social media strategy
Prior to creating your social marketing game plan you need to do an assessment of what your current social media marketing efforts are and how they are performing for you. Are they creating a larger following? Are they achieving your overall goals for your business? Are they helping to get your message out in a way that is cohesive across all platforms?
Step 2: Create or optimize your social media accounts
Once you have done a complete audit of your social media accounts it is time to drill down your online presence. You need to determine which social media platforms best meets your social media goals. If you need to create additional social media profiles on the platforms you are not already on then this is the time to create those profiles. If you do have profiles on your ideal social media platforms then this is the time to optimize your profiles so they best meet your business and audience needs.
Step 3: Create your social media goals and objectives
The first step in any plan is to sit down and establish clear, defined goals for your and your business. When you have these goals this will allow you to determine if your actions are moving you towards the end results you are hoping to achieve. If your efforts aren’t accomplishing your goals you can make tweaks along the way until they are.
A simple way to start your plan is to map out three goals your want for your social media efforts. You need to make sure you ask yourself what your goal will look like when completed and you need to determine what you will use to track your progress.
For example:
For Pinterest, we will share photos to communicate our company culture. We do this by posting three photos a week to achieve 30 shares and at least five comments.
Step 4: Get some inspiration
This step is designed to give you some inspiration that supports your social media goals. You can turn to industry leaders, your competitors, clients, industry publications and blogs. There is a wealth of knowledge already available to you that you can integrate into your social media marketing plan. This is great when trying to find out what type of content and information to share via all social media platforms. You need to determine how to give that information your voice which allows you to stand out and separate yourself from your competitors.
Step 5: Create your social media marketing game plan
Your social media marketing game plan is going to be essential to succeeding at social media. Your game plan should consist of strategies for content creation and content curation as well as a calendar for posting.
Your game plan should answer the following questions:
How often will you post your content?
Who will create or source your content?
How will you promote the content?
Who is your intended target audience for each type of content?
What types of content do you intend to post and promote?
Your editorial calendar will list the dates and times you intend to post content to your blogs and social media platforms. Create the calendar and schedule out your content in advance. Planning can be done on a weekly or monthly basis.
Step 6: Monitor, test and adjust your social media marketing plan
To determine if your social media efforts are obtaining the goals your have set forth in earlier steps you will need to be constantly monitoring and testing. You will need to build testing capabilities into every action you take on your social media platforms. You can track your links by utilizing url shortener’s and track your page visits by utilizing Google Analytics. Record and analyze your successes and failures and adjust your plan accordingly.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to social media marketing is its’ ever-changing nature. Sooner or later, you may realize newer platforms may better suit your needs than the ones you are currently using. Don’t forget that you can add networks if you think they will perform better and remove networks if they are not performing like you thought they would. As you grow you might need to grow your social media efforts as well. This type of marketing plan is meant to change so be flexible and open to new ideas and trends.
The team at Smart to Finish can help you to determine what your social media game plan should look like. We can help assess where your current strategies are, what needs to be optimized, and whether or not your current plan is obtaining the over goals you have set forth for your business. Contact us today to get started.
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