Social Media Strategy – How to create one that is effective?

When we think strategy, we think complex. When we think Social Media Strategy, it becomes even more complex to most of us. But what if I say, all it takes is a realistic and concise approach to develop a successful winning strategy.

Yes, You read it right! And the success of any social media strategy depends upon how successfully it can be executed.

This article should help you develop a social media strategy with only 10 steps. Whether you are a new or an experienced professional, this article should undoubtedly act as a guide in creating an effective strategy for you.

But first, What is a Social Media Strategy?

A social media strategy is a summary of an actionable plan which is prepared for the brand’s growth and development online. It is a road map. Once created, it helps attain the set goals with the right execution and analysis. What is also important is to keep the strategy result oriented. This is possible only when the goals are clear, precise, and attainable.

10 EASY STEPS TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY:

1. Categorizing it right

It should be noted that categorizing the plan, in order, is essential for the desired outcome. It is important to understand the subtle differences between goals, strategy, objectives, and tactics. Popularly known as G’SOT.

1. Goals: The final desired outcome.
2. Strategy: A road map or a pathway to attain the outcome.
3. Objectives: Analytical steps that are designed in accordance with the strategy; and
4. Tactics: Tasks and tools used to act as per the objectives.

Let’s understand this with the help of the following example:

1. Goals: To become a number one seller of a smartphone that is quite appealing, and it is to be done through its advanced key features.
2. Strategy: Publishing more about smart phone and its advanced key features related content on the brand’s Social Media Networks. This not only brings the awareness about the newly launched smartphone models, but it also helps to highlight its advanced features.
3. Objectives: Inspire the visitors and as a result get the target audience to move from brand’s social media page to brand’s website.
4. Tactics: Promoting the product with the help of right influencers. Using branded hashtags while also posting behind the scenes stories on social media networks.

2. Identifying the goals of your Social Media Strategy

No strategy can come into existence without goals. Maybe the goal is to generate more revenue or brand promotion or to increase the loyal fan base. Having precise goals is unquestionably important. Also, it should be noted that the goals must be realistic and attainable. Just to understand it better, the goals can be made to fit in the S.M.A.R.T Framework:

For instance, conducting a Question & Answer via Instagram stories to answer the product related questions that are directly asked by the followers every Friday.

3. Auditing the current strategy

In case you’re new to creating Social Media Strategy, this step would even help you later. After you create your first strategy, it would help you refine it even more. This step majorly emphasizes on auditing the brand’s current social media strategy status. Auditing gives answers to the most potent questions like:

• Is the current Social Media Strategy yielding results?
• Which social media platforms are doing better for the brand?
• Is the brand promotion working?
• How much traffic does a brand website drive through the social media page?
• Are visitors turning into customers and What is the percentage of such visitors?

Auditing the current strategy is vital because it gives a clear picture about what is working. It also gives a brief idea about where to make the necessary changes.

Did you know that ethical practices are an important aspect of any Social Media Strategy?

4. Selecting a social media platform as per the brand needs:

There are plenty of platforms available on social media. Each platform has its own unique essence and presence. However, it is not obligatory to be on all the platforms as that is not the determining factor of success.

But choosing the right platform as per the brand requirement is extremely important. The requirements can be further classified as target audience, content type, amount of time you can spend on social media and so on.

For example, if the brand requirement is to find the target audience, then studying the surveys like Pew Research for reference can help you to make the work easy. This survey contains a detailed information about the audience and demographics on various social media platforms.

5. Identical profile approach:

Identical and up to date brand profile is perceived as professional and authentic. No matter what and how many social media platforms a brand uses, the profile must remain intact and identical. Which means the profile photo, the bio and anything that is combined in a profile must be the same on all the platforms.

6. Building and managing the brand persona:

We’re just one step away before implementing the strategy. And this step is undoubtedly inevitable as it is about creating a brand persona. Creating a brand persona means how do you want your brand to be perceived if your brand was a person? What would be the personality traits of that person? How will that person communicate with the customers? For instance, like a coach, guide, or a friend? Setting a voice and tone of a brand persona is equally important. Because the voice defines your goals and tone determines the execution of the strategy.

7. Adopt a relevant posting strategy:

This step gives a clear picture about what to post. When to post? How often to post? Moreover, it depends upon the brand niche and the target audience.

What to post?

To give you a brief insight about how and where to begin, every research says that videos receive more engagement. According to Buffer, Facebook videos get higher engagement as compared to image or link posts. Even on Twitter, videos receive more engagement as compared to other content.

But this should not limit you to make your own trial and errors. Experiment sharing various content types like plain text, images, videos, quotes, links, reshares. Analyze the response from your followers and see what works best for you as a brand.

When to post?

Although it depends largely on the brand niche and the target audience, it also depends on the individual social media platform. You can also use your particular social media platform insights to get an idea about the best time to post. According to Devopsschool, every social media has its own time frame to post based on the engagement it drives.

It is always recommended to experiment sharing the content at your local time because that gives the best results. The results vary depending upon the brand you are posting for, their target audience and even how the brand is perceived by the target audience.

How often to post?

The general rule of thumb is to post content at maximum twice per day. But it also depends on the platform on which you’re posting. As Research says, posting thrice a week is minimum for Facebook. But when it comes to Twitter, even posting more than 10 to 51 times a day yields better results.

8. Strategy analysis with the help of social media insights

There are many analytical tools available in the industry. Besides these tools, social media platform insights also provide accurate analytical data. As per the latest survey, 72% businesses rely on social media insights for further development. Most platforms give a detailed breakdown about how well the post performed. Understanding the analytics would even tell you the why of its performance. Analytics include likes, shares, views, comments, profile visits and every other contributing detail. They also provide overall statistics of a profile. As a result, you get a clear view about the strategy’s performance. And you also get to understand the areas which need improvement.

9. Customer Engagement

The success of a strategy depends not only on understanding just the analytics but also on the customer engagement. Giving response to feedback and queries is also particularly important. Set aside the time to respond to them all. The customer feedback will also highlight the key points of the strategy performance. What worked and what not, their feedback usually has it all covered. To know more about how an engaged community can help your brand, read our blog about the importance of Community Management.

10. The key to catch the eye

As has been said “Content is the king”, coming up with unique content for your products, services and ideas is the best way to stand out as a brand on social media and in your own industry. It is easy to rank higher when the content you post is unique and different. Think about it. What new or better you can offer to the visitors on their social media feed?

Summary

The success of any social media strategy is largely dependent on how realistic the goals have been set. Measurable and attainable goals always find its ways to accomplishment. And with the above 10 easy key steps, developing your own strategy and attaining those goals should not be a big deal.