Guide To Build A Social Media Marketing Strategy will be described in this article. Every effective social media strategy begins with thorough planning. For this reason, creating a social media marketing strategy should be your first step rather than just launching in and winging it.
How To Build A Social Media Marketing Strategy In 2023
A social media commerce strategy is a planning document that details your objectives, the actions you’ll take to meet them, and how you’ll monitor your success. It aids in directing your actions and provides the clarity you need to stay on course.
This thorough guide will show you step-by-step how to develop a social media strategy that generates results.
1. Analyze your Current social media performance
You must consider your current situation before you can start to create your social media strategy plan for the future.
If you’ve been utilizing social media for some time, start by reviewing your past efforts. The objective is to learn:
- Which of your current strategies are successful and which are not?
- What social media sites are producing the best results for you?
- Which platforms have you already attracted the most fans?
- What kind of average engagement rate are your social media postings getting?
- What does the social media sentiment for your brand look like?
- How does your performance stack up against those of your rivals and industry standards?
- Did you accomplish your yearly objectives? What went wrong if not?
Knowing everything said above will provide you a better understanding of what you need to work on and which platforms you should concentrate on.
Additionally, you’ll be aware of your “starting point.” You might want to establish a target to increase your average Instagram engagement rate to 1% by the end of the year, for instance, if it is less than 0.5% currently (below industry benchmarks). Next, we’ll discuss more about establishing goals.
What to do first
If you haven’t already, it’s worthwhile to spend money on a social media management platform to assess your success on social media.
Agorapulse and SocialBee, two integrated social media management solutions, have built-in analytics that may be used to monitor your progress and unearth insightful information.
Social media management tool Agorapulse
Use these tools to conduct your own audit, evaluate how well your content fared in comparison to your objectives for the previous year, and identify any areas where you believe there was room for improvement or where changes should be made for the next year.
Agorapulse is a nice feature in that it has a social media monitoring tool. An alternative would be to use a specialized tool like Brand24.
With the use of these technologies, you may learn what online users are saying about your company. Not just when you’re @mentioned or tagged, but also when your brand is just referenced in passing.
You can then utilize this information to guide future decisions regarding your social media strategy.
2. Set Clear goals
Once you’ve completed the aforementioned tasks, you’ll be reasonably aware of your current social media performance status. You can now begin to consider your ultimate destination.
Clear, quantifiable goals are the foundation of any successful social media marketing strategy. What specifically do you want from social media? ask yourself.
For instance, do you want to increase brand recognition? entice visitors to your website? Boost customer involvement? produce high-quality leads?
As they will serve as the cornerstone of your entire social media marketing plan, make sure you take the time to hammer your goals into place right away.
How to get started
We advise using the goal pyramid when you’re defining your objectives. The goal pyramid suggests segmenting your objectives into three levels.
Goal Pyramid for Blogging Wizard
Your result target is located at the very top of the pyramid. The broad business objectives you wish to accomplish and the deadline by which you intend to do so are the overall goal. Always set SMART (specific, measurable, realistic, relevant, and time-based) goals for your outcomes.
Gain 10,000+ new followers on social media in the next 12 months.
By boosting favorable mentions from 40% to 60% by the next quarter, brand sentiment will be improved.
Drive a minimum of 1,000 monthly social media page views by the following year.
You can divide your result goal into performance goals once you have it. The next tier down in the pyramid is made up of performance objectives, which are essentially smaller goals that help achieve the outcome goal.
For instance, if your objective is to gain 10,000 or more social media followers in a year, the following performance objectives could help you get there:
- Publish more often
- Boost the average level of social media engagement
- Increase your overall reach and impressions
Then, you may further decompose that into process goals. These are the highly measurable behaviors at the base of your pyramid that you have complete control over. Asking yourself what you must do to attain your performance goals will help you identify your process goals. Assuming the aforementioned case, we may establish process objectives like:
Increase the weekly number of social media posts from 2 to 5.
To increase reach, add three or more hashtags to every post.
To increase reach and engagement, conduct at least one social media giveaway each month.
3. Identify Your KPIs
Any effective social media strategy is driven by data. You must set up some KPIs (key performance indicators)—crucial measurements that show how well you’re doing—in order to track your progress toward your goals.
Which precise KPIs you should be monitoring should depend on your aims. For instance, if your objective is to increase social media conversions by 25%, you should certainly track KPIs like reach, click-through rate, and conversion rates.
Depending on your objectives, you might also want to monitor the following KPIs:
Impressions and reach. You may find out from these metrics how many different people have seen your content.
rate of engagement. By dividing the total number of engagements (likes, comments, etc.) by the total number of impressions, you may determine engagement.
comments, shares, likes, etc. You may monitor specific engagement indicators like likes, comments, shares, and retweets in addition to the overall engagement rate.
rate of clicks. You should probably track the click-through rate if you use social media to direct traffic to your landing pages. You can see here how many people, expressed as a percentage of total impressions, clicked on your links.
Mentions of brands. This displays the frequency of social media mentions of your brand. You can use it to better understand brand awareness.
Brand emotion. By examining the context of brand mentions and whether people are talking about you in a good, neutral, or negative context, you can determine how consumers feel about your company.
rate of response. This indicator shows you how frequently and how quickly your staff responds to social media comments. If your objectives are customer service-oriented, it might be a helpful KPI to monitor.
ratio of voices. This information reveals how much of the social media landscape your brand controls in comparison to that of your rivals.
How to get started
Again, you’ll need the appropriate tools if you want to track KPIs. Utilizing platforms like Agorapulse and Iconosquare will make this simple.
Both offer robust social media reporting tools that can be used to monitor all of your KPIs.
Agorapulse, for instance, allows you to schedule reports and analyze your KPIs immediately.
View your KPIs or reports in Agorapulse
Check out our roundups of the social media analytics and reporting tools or social media dashboard tools for further inspiration.
4. Consider your target audience and choose your platforms
Next, give your target audience some thought. Who are you aiming to reach with your social media marketing efforts, you could ask?
Different social media channels are used by various audience categories. For instance, newer generations of customers, such as Gen Z and Millennials, prefer platforms like TikTok, whereas older users are more likely to utilize Facebook than other social media sites.
While LinkedIn caters to business-to-business users, Pinterest’s user base is largely female.
Additionally, the rate of growth of each social network varies.
Most widely used social networks, by year of growth
When you are aware of your target audience, you may concentrate your efforts on the social media channels where they are most active.
Examining the data is crucial in this situation. In our statistic roundups, you can learn more about the various demographics that make up the user bases of each platform:
- General statistics on social media
- Facebook use data
- Instagram usage data
- Twitter use data
- Statistics on LinkedIn
- Statistics on TikTok
It’s also crucial to consider how user interaction with each of these platforms fits with your company’s objectives. For instance, many individuals use Facebook and Twitter to get their news, but prefer Pinterest or Instagram to locate new things.
Once more, you can learn more about these user behaviors in our stats roundups. Consider all of it while choosing which social networking sites to use.
How to get started
Create a thorough target audience/buyer persona to begin with. Be careful to incorporate details like their:
- Sex/Gender
- Age
- Location
- Interests
- Typical income
- Preferred social media network
- Content type that you prefer
All of this will be beneficial for organizing your social media approach. Looking at your current audience may be helpful if you’re unsure of who your target audience is.
For this, Audiense is a fantastic tool. It helps you understand your various audience segments, how to reach them, and other important information based on your historical data. Even though it only supports Twitter, you can find demographic information that is helpful for your larger content marketing plan as well as other social networks.
5. Plan Your content and set brand style guidelines
Now that we are aware of our objectives, KPIs, and target audience, we can begin to develop a content strategy. Probably the most crucial element of your social media strategy is your content plan.
It outlines the kinds of material you’ll post and offers some broad principles to assist your team. Here’s how to assemble it.
How to get started
We don’t have time to cover everything there is to say about content planning. Instead, we’ll focus on outlining the two key components of your plan that are absolutely essential.
Content mix
The many ‘kind’ of content you’ll be posting are referred to as your content mix. Consider the format (e.g., text updates, photographs, tales, brief videos, curated content, competitions, etc.) as well as the objective (e.g., instructive, entertaining, promotional, etc.).
The 80-20 rule states that just 20% of your posts should directly promote your brand, with the remaining 80% serving to inform, entertain, or educate. You might wish to follow this rule.
Aim for a good variety of post forms as well, to keep things interesting. Write out the percentage of each type of post you plan to publish on each site (for example, on Instagram, you might publish 50% photographs, 20% reels, and 30% stories).
Use curated content in your mix in addition to the stuff you produce yourself to save a ton of time. For this, Missinglettr is a fantastic tool. It automatically finds content that is popular with your audience and shares it on your behalf.
Brand style guidelines
When it comes to social media, consistency is crucial. Establish some style standards for your team to follow so that your visual social media posts all use the same colors, themes, and other stylistic components.
Utilizing templates is a fantastic method to accomplish this. You can create branded templates and reusable content blocks that can be used in all of your posts using design tools like Visme.
Visme’s brand style standards
Repurposing templates can aid in establishing a consistent style across all of your social media feeds in addition to increasing brand recognition. Additionally, you can save a ton of time after you include your brand’s colors into the platform.
In this list of the finest image editing tools, you may find further graphic design tools to assist you in producing scroll-stopping social posts.
6. Consider new content types
When developing your social media strategy, it’s a good idea to keep in mind that a new year signifies a fresh start.
It’s crucial to think about what kinds of content would perform best for your audience depending on your new goals if you discovered that your content didn’t produce the outcomes you were looking for last year or you’ve changed your focus to a different goal.
For instance, if you primarily offer image-based material, you might think about making brief movies. Instagram Stories in particular.
You may also turn blog content into easily readable social media postings using text, images, or even video.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a single strategy that works for all organizations when it comes to social networking. To keep your followers interested in and engaged with your post, it’s more crucial than ever to test out new and creative content formats. So, when selecting your content genres and organizing your forthcoming promotions, be sure to think creatively.
How to get started
Examine the material you produced the previous year and note the most successful post types. Make sure to take into account all the capabilities offered by your social media networks.
Consider new content categories that could assist you in achieving your objectives once you have an idea of the types of content that perform best on your social media accounts.
You can build compelling giveaways and contests that increase brand exposure, generate leads, and increase sales, for instance, by using giveaway tools like SweepWidget.
In a similar vein, you may design interesting questions to discover more about your audience with online quiz creators like TryInteract.
Influencer marketing campaigns may be a wise alternative for your companies if your objectives are to expand reach and visibility.
7. Set up your content calendar
It is not sufficient to just plan the kind of content you will create. In order to increase reach and engagement, you should also have a social media marketing strategy in place for when you’ll share it. Your content calendar will come in handy here.
All the hours and dates that you’ll be publishing material to various networks are listed on your calendar. It can be used to schedule posts far in advance and to plan your social media strategy. Additionally, it helps you to publish your content at the ideal time for your readership and guarantees that they are effectively spread apart.
How to get started
You’ll need a social media scheduling tool first. Both general social media management solutions and programs specifically designed for managing calendars are available. You can use the integrated calendar of these apps to schedule posts on your social media sites in advance.
Social media scheduling tool Pallyy
A fantastic choice is the social calendar provided by Agorapulse. Pallyy and SocialBee are also alternatives that are worthwhile considering. Additionally, Pallyy offers a free plan that may be sufficient for your needs.
After registering, you can begin scheduling events. The optimum times to post for your audience and the platform you’re scheduling to must first be taken into account. Your level of participation will be greatly impacted by this.
The optimum times to post are suggested by many research, but ultimately it comes down to your audience. Nevertheless, these research can serve as a helpful foundation.
Visit our article on the ideal times to post on social media for more information.
8. Organize your team
You might wish to skip this part if you don’t have a team and don’t intend to outsource any components of your social media strategy. To deploy specific tools in advance, it is worth reading this section if you intend to outsource in the future.
There are two strategies you can use for social media marketing. All of your social media accounts can be managed internally, or you can delegate particular responsibilities to social media managers, virtual assistants, and content producers. The best solution among the two will rely on your company’s requirements.
Outsourcing is frequently the most effective and cost-effective solution for smaller businesses with a small social media marketing team.
However, managing your social media efforts in-house is preferable if your business has a sizable social media marketing group and you want to place a big emphasis on consistent branding. Regardless of the path you choose, it is crucial to have protocols in place that allow your team’s members to cooperate effectively.
The use of content calendars, as we indicated above, as well as the usage of technologies that compile all of your social media interactions into a single user-friendly inbox are some ways to accomplish this.
It’s a good idea to pick a platform that enables you to quickly assign duties and communicate with the various team members if you’re outsourcing to social media managers, for example.
How to get started
Making the appropriate tool choices is the first step in structuring your social media team.
Although Agorapulse has previously been covered extensively, it merits a mention since it has robust team functionality. It is the same instrument that Blogging Wizard employs.
You may easily set up workflow approvals and create accounts for your team members. I personally enjoy the social inbox because it makes it simple to view all of our mentions, comments, and messages in one place. There’s no need to switch between different social networks. I may also quickly delegate social media messaging to another team member.
Agorapulse can be used to deliver reporting and post material to social media.
Consider using technologies like Slack or Trello to manage remote teams and facilitate communication. These tools will improve the efficiency of your workflow management.
Check out Notion if you require a more robust project management tool. The fact that it is block-based and modular sets it apart from other tools. This implies that you can develop a project management system that benefits your company. rather than being compelled to follow a particular workflow.
Notion is unique since it is a modular platform. You are not compelled to work within someone else’s process. You may design your own. We experimented with a variety of project management solutions before settling on Notion to create our own unique approach.
9. Consider and plan your influencer campaigns
Whatever your social media objectives are for the year, networking and collaborating with influencers should be top of mind. Influencer marketing can assist you in increasing brand awareness, reaching a wider audience, and enhancing your business’s reputation.
Although working with influencers is a wise move for both companies and solopreneurs, it can be challenging, so there are a few things to keep in mind to ensure that your influencer campaigns are successful.
First and foremost, you must make sure that the influencers you select for your brand are trustworthy and a good fit. Your marketing cash will be wasted if you choose any influencer with a large number of followers. You should pick influencers who are well-known in your niche, adept at producing quality content, and easy to work with.
Influencer collaborations can be made much easier by having a sound content strategy and brand style requirement in place, but you must still manage your campaigns carefully to guarantee you receive the desired outcomes.
How to get started
To locate relevant and prominent creators in your niche, use influencer research tools like BuzzSumo and Upfluence. Then, get in touch with them by email or social media.
The influencer research tool BuzzSumo
Influencer marketing can be approached in a variety of ways. The simplest approach is to just include influencers in your material. This can be accomplished by asking influential people to contribute a quotation to a post, appear on your podcast, or be the subject of an interview.
You assist them, and they assist you. Consequently, your circle of influence will expand the more influencers you network with.
The other strategy uses paid advertising efforts. Because it can be much more effective, many firms have started shifting budgets away from traditional advertising and toward it.
However, always act ethically when working with influencers on paid projects.
This entails carefully going over their media kits, establishing precise guidelines for your cooperation, and employing contracts to make sure that deadlines are fulfilled and everyone is aware of their roles throughout the campaign.
Although interacting with influencers can sometimes seem informal and laid-back, it’s crucial to establish professional bonds early on to safeguard both your and their brands.
Watch out for false followers when working with influencers on platforms like Instagram. When the quantity of likes on each post is abnormally steady, you can typically tell if an account is using phony followers. Although it’s uncommon, brands should be on the lookout for it when selecting influencers to work with.
10. Set up automations where possible
Making the ideal approach and putting it into action need several distinct processes. Considerations include creating and curating content, engaging with influencers, linking, branding, communicating with followers, and more.
It’s crucial to find time savings opportunities because there are so many micro-tasks involved.
Fortunately, you can automate some of the most time-consuming aspects of social media marketing, such as answering frequently asked questions from your followers, with the aid of social media automation tools. Even automating the creation of content using data from your blog’s RSS feed is possible.
However, you must set up your automation using the technologies that are most effective for your company’s objectives before you can enjoy its benefits.
It is ideal to finish this at the beginning of the year when you are finalizing your planning. Depending on how your strategy and results change over the course of the year, you can then adjust and improve your automation.
How to get started
Consider your regular work processes and your yearly strategy to decide which social media automation will be most helpful for your company.
Next, locate the appropriate tools for the work. The top social media automation tools are illustrated here along with some instances of how they can be useful to you:
Using Missinglettr, you can create drip campaigns that are automated for your social media accounts. The application allows you to easily make social media posts by pulling content from your site. This is a wise option for businesses that want to keep up a strong social media presence but don’t have a lot of free time to create content. For some customers, their free plan will be sufficient. Additionally, you may use their premium add-on “Curate” to increase the number of shares for your material.
You may manage and automate various components of your Twitter campaigns with the aid of Audiense. Using this tool, you can set up a chatbot to respond to frequently asked questions and sign ups from your followers. Additionally, you may filter your followers to make smart Twitter lists, explore reporting, and manage your following much more effectively.
IFTTT – You may use IFTTT to link social media sites and automatically post information to all of your associated social media accounts. For instance, if you publish an image to Instagram, you can use IFTTT to automatically post the same image to Twitter, Tumblr, and other social media platforms.
Quuu Promote – You may share posts across social media directly from your RSS feed using this application to automate content promotion.
Although it is not necessary to set up social media automation, it is a good idea to do so when you develop your entire social media strategy. They can make your social media efforts more efficient and consistent, which will improve outcomes and give your team members more time to concentrate on your objectives and KPIs.
11. Analyze results and optimize regularly
Understanding what is working and what isn’t is ultimately the key to developing an effective social media strategy. This entails routinely reviewing and improving your social media performance.
No matter how carefully you arrange your material, you can never be completely certain of how your audience will react to it. By closely monitoring your social media analytics, you can be the first to learn if one of your campaigns isn’t doing as well as you had hoped, and you can adjust your plans to include fresh ideas that will be better suited to assisting you in achieving your objectives.
You must pick a solution that will deliver analytics consistent with your objectives if you want to analyze and optimize your campaigns effectively.
For instance, you’ll need a product that offers sophisticated engagement statistics if your objective is to boost engagement. A brand monitoring tool may also be a good fit for you if you want to enhance your brand’s reputation and increase online brand mentions.
How to get started
If you don’t already have one, the first step is to select a suitable social media management tool with analytics capabilities.
Once you’ve done so, decide how frequently you’ll analyze your campaigns’ analytics. Setting a routine for analytics checks will make it easier for you to spot trends and get insights than checking your social media analytics at random intervals.
Every few days, once a week, or at significant times during your campaign, you might wish to evaluate how well your campaign is doing. Setting up a weekly or biweekly report to be emailed to important team members is a smart idea if your program has an automated reporting capability.
Your objectives and KPIs should constantly be in mind when you analyze the information. If your campaigns are not functioning as you had hoped, work with your team to make the necessary adjustments. Don’t be hesitant to try new things or put new concepts to the test.
It takes a lot of trial & error to do social media marketing right, so keep an open mind, be patient, and be adaptable.
Final thoughts
It’s difficult to develop a good social media strategy, but if you pay attention to the advice in this article and build the ideal social media tool stack, you should be able to do it without much difficulty. This will enable you to reach your objectives, whatever they may be.
Finally, be sure to read our post on the most recent social media data and trends if you want to further refine your social media approach.
