Social Media Strategy: Why It Works And What It Can Do For You
In an online world with more content, networks and notifications than ever before, a successful social media strategy gives you the tools you need to cut through the noise and put your brand in the best position to meet your goals.
Whether you’re refreshing your company’s social strategy for the new year or considering introducing a strategy for the first time, PSA Marketing Consultancy is here to guide you toward success.
What Makes a Compelling Social Media Strategy?
A compelling social media strategy outlines what you plan to do and hope to accomplish on social media. There are four simple steps to creating a compelling social strategy: define your objectives, understand your audience, curate content and review performance.
1. Define Your Objectives
A quality plan has objectives that will measure its success and return on investment. Start by asking yourself what you want to gain from social media. Then, align your answers to the company’s business objectives.
Common, obtainable goals include increasing brand awareness, growing your followers, generating leads, driving traffic and boosting community engagement. While these are all important, they are broad. It’s crucial you dive deeper into these topics to set realistic objectives for your unique brand. The smaller you start, the more you can scale.
Professionals suggest two to three goals to start your strategy. Keep in mind this will determine how much time and effort goes into your social media.
2. Understand Your Audience
Your audience consists of existing followers and who you want to target as prospective followers. To identify and target your audience, you need to learn everything you can about them.
Research is key. Remember your followers are real people, so assumptions will not take you far when creating audience personas. To help with this process, there are online data tools, resources and services such as PSA Marketing Consultancy. To help you get started today, explore the following list of characteristics to consider for your audience.
Their most active social platform
The popular times and days for social activity
Their most liked and engaged with content
Demographics including age, industry, average income, location, interests, etc.
What are they looking for on social media? Business, connection, lifestyle, etc.
3. Curate Content
After drilling down your goals and getting to know your audience, you’re ready to start posting! Well, planning to post.
A social media content calendar ensures your curated content lands at the perfect time. Here, you’ll layout when and where your content will have the most success based on social platform, relevance and balance.
When creating content, aim for a consistent voice, appropriate platform and opportunity in your industry. Analyzing your competitors’ content will show you what’s working and what topics are missing or undervalued. Seizing missed opportunities in your industry can be a jumpstart for your content’s engagement while you master your common, day-to-day topics such as company news, product and service promotions, culture, business insights and more.
4. Review Performance
Fortunately, nothing is final. Social media will shift and so will your business.
There are many moving parts in a successful strategy. To maximize its performance, it requires constant monitoring and maintenance. If something isn’t working, tweak it and try again. Social media is a trial-and-error process. Measuring your objectives and making small changes can lead to big wins!
How Does a Social Media Strategy Benefit My Company?
Following a social media strategy and content calendar is less time consuming and less daunting in the long run. If your company lacks the bandwidth to devote staff to social media, a strategy and calendar make it possible to run successful company profiles without sacrificing valuable time.
USAV and PSA’s Marketing Consultancy offers social media strategy and services, so you have more time to focus on your business while simultaneously generating growth on social media. If you’re interested in a custom strategy or want to learn more about our offerings, schedule a FREE consultation today!
