There’s no need to tell you how big social media is these days. But just to make sure you are aware of it, you should know that it is the fastest-growing trend in the history of the world. Even faster than the Internet itself.
Within the first ten years since its appearance, the Internet gathered nearly 1 billion users. That sounds like a lot, right? But social media did more than that. Since opening up for Internet users to sign up in 2006, Facebook already crossed over 2 billion monthly active users as of the second half of 2017. And, if that’s not impressive, let us tell you that today, one out of every four humans on planet Earth has a Facebook account.
That being said, it’s official: Social media presents an incredible marketing opportunity.
Now, whether you are just starting your entrepreneurial journey or looking to level up your social media marketing game, you need to get more serious about creating your plan. Yes, you need a plan because one or two social media posts won’t skyrocket your stores’ growth.
But how exactly do you build this plan? What things should you consider? And how do you make sure that you will find success? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are some killer tips that will help you create an efficient social media marketing plan:
Get a clear idea of your goals
Do you have a clear purpose for your social media marketing strategy? What do you want to achieve? And, can you name and quantify the objectives you have?
There are many things you can achieve through marketing including building brand awareness, attracting and retaining potential customers, as well as promoting a new product. So, before you start creating your marketing plan, you need to figure out exactly what you want to achieve.
Obviously, you can have multiple goals that you are planning to achieve through your marketing strategy. However, you need to know those goals right from the beginning. Why? Because you can achieve them only if the channels, posts, and strategy lead to the results you are hoping for.
Let’s say, for example, that you are launching a new product and want to share it with your loyal and potential customers. An explainer video or a post about the product, a giveaway or a launching event promoted on social media makes sense because they can all tell your audience about your product.
That being said, before you start crafting your social media strategy, make sure that you have a clear idea about your goals.
Analyze your existing content
You’ve probably been on social media for some time now and your social channels are already content-rich. Now, if you had other social media strategies in the past, you may already know which of them was successful. So, start by analyzing the content that got the most positive reactions from the audience. Also, analyze the types of content that were the most efficient in engaging potential customers and resulted in sales.
Next, you should also analyze your social media content that didn’t prove to be too successful and find out why by comparing those two. This will give you valuable feedback that you will use to improve and upgrade your new social media strategy.
Yet, if you are new to social media marketing, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look at your competitors’ social media accounts and analyze what it’s their approach to reaching out to their audience. There’s definitely a thing or two to learn from your competitors.
Rethink the channels
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube are all powerful tools for marketing your business on social media. And, you may obviously feel tempted to pursue all of them. Yet, you may not really have to do so depending on your marketing goals and the type of content you want to include in your marketing strategy.
We’re guessing that your business is already active on social media. So, the first step would be to think about the social channels you use to see if they are still relevant for your current marketing strategy. The reason is simple: if you are not using the right channels to reach your audience, you might be losing a lot of potential customers and your marketing efforts will be in vain.
Now, each social media channel usually attracts a different type of audience. At least in terms of the type of content, they prefer to consume. So, the best way to decide which channels are the best for you, you must first decide who your buying persona is. Simply put, who is the person you are targeting on social media? Is it a middle-aged woman or a 16-year old high school girl? The answer to this question is critical because those two buying personas represent a completely different type of audience.
So, before deciding on which platform you should use, make sure that you learn as much as possible about your audience, including features such as age, demographics, gender, personal interests, online behaviors, and most importantly, the type of content preferred.
Conduct market research
Market research is a critical component when opening a new business or launching a new product or service, or even when you are looking for a way to be a step ahead of your competitors. How? Because market research helps you understand everything from what your customers want to how your competitors are approaching the market.
How is that relevant for creating your social media marketing strategy? The experts from Sapio Research explain “Market research can help you find out who your ideal customer persona is. Therefore, it will be a lot easier to decide who to target on social media. Secondly, it can help you identify the weaknesses in your competitor’s approach, as well as their strengths. And, by learning what performed best for them, you will be able to think more creatively when creating your strategy. “
Be consistent
Like with any other type of marketing strategy, social media marketing will only be efficient if you are consistent with your posts.
Let us tell you that there are over 350 million photos posted every day on Facebook alone. So, with such huge numbers, the only way to make your voice heard on social media is by publishing fresh content on a daily basis.