Social networks have become the most powerful marketing tool of our era, attracting billions of people from all over the world. But their power doesn’t lie in sheer numbers. On the contrary, social platforms are so important because they are able to raise awareness while driving user engagement.
According to the report, a typical user spends almost 2.5 hours a day browsing social media. This means that, with the right strategy, almost every business can reach out to almost every prospect on a daily basis. However, only 30% of marketers say their content strategy is effective. Following a good strategy is effective in not only getting more Facebook likes, but it can also get you new customers for your business.
This is exactly why you need to develop a sustainable plan that guarantees to deliver results in the long run. Our post will show you how to design a productive social media marketing strategy for your business in seven phases.
How to Design Social Media Marketing Strategy
1# Evaluate Target Audience
The evaluation of the target audience is the first step toward creating a feasible social media marketing strategy. You probably know the traits of the average consumer already (or at least you should know that), but social marketing demands a complete revision because you need to have the latest information about:
- Demographic features: You must figure out the details such as age, gender, location, etc. It’s the essence of digital marketing that enables custom writing and gives you the chance to make content that fits the target audience.
- Education and income: It is also necessary to learn about their education and income. The two parameters will impact your way of thinking and the strategy in general.
- Lifestyle and values: You must know the preferences of your audience as well as their beliefs and values. You will use it to create the corresponding content and win over more fans.
2# Determine the Goals and KPIs
The next thing you have to do is determine the goals of your social media marketing. What do you want to achieve with it? Do you want to get Twitter followers? Is it to raise brand awareness or to generate verified leads? Perhaps you want to drive engagement or conversions? Of course, there is always the option of combining several goals at once.
As soon as you answer these questions, you can set key performance indicators to quantify the targeted results. These are numerical indicators that you can keep an eye on to eventually evaluate the performance of your social media marketing strategy.
3# Analyze Your Competitors
Competitor research is yet another important phase of strategic planning. You are probably dealing with dozens of competitors in your niche, with at least two or three brands being dominant industry figures. In such circumstances, you need to analyze their social activities and learn how to outperform them.
This is exactly why marketers write official assessments such as VelvetJobs or NinjaEssays review – they want to know how their rivals are doing and figure out their strengths and weaknesses. Once you are done with the analysis, you can use that knowledge to create content that is more appealing to your target audience.
4# Reconsider Social Channels
Our guess is that you already administer at least a few social platforms, but we strongly recommend you to reconsider the strategy and focus on the most relevant channels exclusively.
Each network has its own benefits:
- Facebook is an all-around player suitable for almost every type of business.
- Instagram is perfect for product-focused companies targeting younger audiences.
- YouTube is great if you are planning to create a lot of video tutorials.
- LinkedIn is the right choice for high-level brands and B2B companies.
- Twitter is known for its engaged and educated audience.
Think about it for a while and you will probably realize that you don’t need each one of these channels. Therefore, try to identify the best ones and concentrate 100%.
5# Prepare High-Quality Content
This goes without saying, but we simply have to remind you to prepare a whole bunch of quality posts for your social accounts. You have to be versatile and fulfill the demands of your audience, so make sure to make it entertaining, informative, funny, and inspiring.
Besides that, encourage the audience to engage and create their own brand-related posts. User-generated content will help you to raise awareness among potential customers and also prove that you appreciate and acknowledge your fans.
6# Mind the Schedule and Timing
We already mentioned the value of consistency in social media marketing, but there is a special phase dedicated to this feature separately.
You should create a schedule of activities and publish fresh content every day because it’s the only way to get noticed among thousands of other posts.
At the same time, you need to analyze audience behavior and learn when they spend most of their time online. Various studies report about peak times, while one research claims that the best moments to post to Facebook are Wednesday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. But this is just generic research, so make sure to figure it out on your own and determine the preferences of your follower groups.
7# Measure and Improve
The last step you need to take is to analyze the results of social marketing activities and react in accordance with your goals and target objectives. Since you’ve already determined the basic KPIs, it should be easy to keep track of your actions and determine the pros and the cons of your strategy.
Conclusion
Social media marketing has enormous potential to raise brand awareness and generate new leads, but it can also cost you a lot in case you don’t prepare for it thoroughly. It takes an all-encompassing plan to turn prospects into loyal followers, so you better make sure to stay up to date and use proven mechanisms only.
In this article, we discussed seven ways to create an effective social media marketing strategy for your business. It should be more than enough to give your brand a new boost, but let us know in comments if you have additional ideas – we would love to hear more about it!
More Read:
- 11 Digital Marketing Strategies to Add in Your Action Plan
- 7 Social Media Activities You Can Do Under 15 Minutes
- 10 Effective Content Marketing Ideas for Your Ecommerce Business Every Marketer Needs To Know
- 4 Inbound Marketing Trends You Need to Know for Your Business Success
- Influencers: How to Use Influencer Marketing To Help Promote and Sell Your Products
Author Bio: Susan Saurel is a full-time digital marketer and a part-time blog writer at Brill Assignment and Edugeeksclub. Susan lives in Houston, Texas, but she spends most of her spare time traveling around the globe and meeting new people and cultures. As a passionate marketer, Susan is eager to share the professional experience with her readers.
