Today social media is part of most marketing plans, but many companies are still not being strategic with it. Social media is so much more than posting a nice photo or scheduling a post. Like everything in life, to achieve certain results you (or your agency) need to have a strategy for your brand.
To quote Younited co-founder and C.E.O. Boris Turkić from an interview with the HTI News magazine: "For a company, creating a digital strategy is a road map in terms of what to do, where to go, what to look after, what to avoid, and the beautiful thing is, everything in our digital world is measurable, pretty much in real time, so you can react according to results."
In a nutshell, a social media strategy defines how to present your brand to the (online) world while achieving your goals.
So let's start with five important things to keep in mind when making a social media strategy:
1. Goals
2. Target audience
3. Competition
4. Content & tone of voice
5. Analyse and adjust
1. Goals
Every social media strategy starts with #goals. Before anything else, you need to ask yourself why are you using social media and what do you want to accomplish with your social media presence. Write your answers down - those are your goals.
For example, your goal could be to:
- increase brand awareness
- build a community around your brand
- drive traffic to your website
- generate new leads
- grow revenue
Now that you have your goal(s) it will be easier to define your content strategy. But before we can talk about content we need to find out what your audience likes and dislikes.
That brings us to...
2. Target audience
When we ask our clients what is their ideal consumer we usually get the answer: everyone. Although we want you to sell your product or service to as many people as possible, it is important to know that not everyone is your target audience because simply not everybody needs your product.
Knowing your audience is probably the second most important thing in your social media strategy after defining your goals. All content and effort will be for nothing if you don't know who are you talking to. When it comes to your target customer, learn everything you can about them and create buyer personas.
Basic things you need to know about your target customers:
- age
- location
- gender
- interests
- education
- language
- average income
- typical job or industry
- what problems you solve for them and how you make their life easier
The more details you know the better! Try answering these as well:
- relationship and parental status
- how they think
- what they fear
- what is important to them
- how can you reach them - through which channels
You might have a different target audience on different social media. That is one reason why you should create different content on each social media network you use
3. Competition
After reaching your target audience it is time for more research - this time analyse your competition. They are probably already using social media and you could learn a lot from them. Researching your competition should give you a good understanding of what they are doing well and what not so well. The latter could help you shine. Before you start creating your content, analyse content, post schedule, and what influencers are your competition using. But DO NOT COPY them. Just get inspired.
4. Content & tone of voice
After creating one or more buyer persona, you should have an idea what kind of content your audience wants to see. Define what you are communicating and how. Find your content mix which fits your goals and remember to create engaging content focused on your personality and values.
If you are still struggling with what kind of content to make, use the 80/20 rule:
- 80% of the time, share interesting, useful, educational, and entertaining content
- remaining 20% of the time sell your product or services
Testing is the key. Don’t be afraid to test different post formats (photos, videos, stories, reels...). Create a content calendar and see which dates and time work best for you.
There is one very important thing many forget - be human.
Ask yourself what are your favorite social media brand accounts? You are probably thinking about some brand that has creative, bold, and fresh communication, and follows social media trends. You might have noticed their unique tone of voice! That's why human touch is a MUST. Show your audience content they can relate to and speak their language. Nobody likes cold, robotic communication... well, except maybe other bots.
5. Analyse and adjust
The good thing about social media strategy - everything is measurable and nothing is set in stone.
You have your goals and metrics to help you track them. For instance, it could be:
- awareness
- reach
- engagement
- conversion
- click-through rate (CTR)
- cost-per-click (CPC)
Being data-oriented is the right way. Analyse your metrics regularly, see what’s working and what's not. As we said before, testing is the key. Learn by trial-and-error. Only then you will be able to adjust and improve your social media strategy.
We can help you create the best social media strategy for your brand. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for more interesting content.
