How to make a social media plan?
Before starting a social media plan, it’s important to
understand that social media is not only post randomly on Facebook and get
likes. It involves planning. And one must understand its importance for
business growth. It’s well known that current-marketing channels has shifted to
Internet and there are more mobile users than never before, therefore social
media has become so popular and it’s a cheaper channel for businesses to grow
their awareness and profits. In social media strategy there are some paid and
non-paid features.
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing, or SMM, is a form of Internet
marketing that implements various social media networks in order to achieve
marketing communication and branding goals. Social media marketing primarily
covers activities involving social sharing of content, videos, and images for
marketing purposes.
As part of social media plan is important to identify your target
audience, if possible even name them. As narrowed you target market is
better results you can achieve. Know what they like, the emotions related to
your brand, their age, demographics will allow you to use the same language and
create content that are relevant to them. Check your competition; learn
what they do, what is working for them and what is not. Perhaps you can get
some ideas and learn from their mistakes. Know your product/ service you are
offering.
After doing the background research its time to decide on
the best platforms to meet your ideal customers. Many businesses create
accounts on every popular social network without researching which platform
will bring the most return. (socialmediaexaminer.com)
For example B2B not necessary need to be on Facebook because
it will not increase their revenue, however LinkedIn is where they should
invest presence to meet possible customers. For consumer goods Facebook,
Instagram, Pinterest and Snapshat are great channels. It’s recommended for the
service industry to have a YouTube account where they can produce videos to
educate and interact with leads.
Answer to those questions: How do you want your brand to be perceived?
If your brand were a human what qualities would it have?
What adjectives would you want to describe your brand?
More interactions we can get with our customers more the
business grow. More the value of transaction more interactions it requires.
Phone and Twitter as customer service can also speed up processes and increase
customer satisfaction.
How to implement a social media plan?
Before implementing a social media strategy it’s important
to have clear goals on what you want to achieve with the social media
strategy: increase sales, have more engagement, get awareness, promote new
products.
The company should have a budget in place and a content
plan in place.
To budget for social media marketing, look at the tactics you’ve chosen to achieve
your business goals and objectives.
Make a comprehensive
list of the tools you need (e.g., social media monitoring, email
marketing and CRM), services you’ll outsource (e.g., graphic design or video
production) and any advertising
you’ll purchase. Next to each, include
the annual projected cost so you can have a high-level view of what
you’re investing in and how it affects your marketing budget.
Many businesses establish their budget first, and then
select which tactics fit that budget. But you can also take the opposite
approach. Establish a strategy first,
and then determine the budget that fits
that strategy.
If your strategy execution fees exceed your budget estimate,
prioritize your tactics according to
their ROI timeframe. The tactics
with the fastest ROI (e.g., advertising and social referral) take
priority because they generate instant profit you can later invest into
long-term tactics (fan acquisition, quality content creation or long-term
engagement).
Content and
social media have a symbiotic relationship: Without great content
social media is meaningless and without social media nobody will know about
your content. Use them together to reach and convert your prospects.
There are three main components to any successful
social media content strategy: type of content, time of posting and
frequency of posting.
The type of
content you should post on each social network relies on form and
context. Form is how you present that information—text only, images, links,
video, etc.
How to measure a social media plan?
The measurement is as important as the planning because it
can indicate the need to change the strategies. Each channel has its own analytics therefore, analysing the reports will allow you to measure the value of each channel and if your objectives and goals have been met. Sales are also
measurement tool and you can create specific promotions to know how people
respond to it. Things such as new likes, new leads and more website traffic are important.
When starting a social media marketing nobody knows what will really work for you therefore the analytics will also help you to keep doing what is good. The measurement can tell the best time to post, the type of content that best engage with the audience and the ones that don't.
If you don't spend time measuring all other efforts are in vain.
9 reasons for social media failure
- don't have a plan
- are not responsive
- don't follow stats and results of your efforts
- don't show a human side
- don't use CTA (call to action)
- don't speak your audience language
- don't test different options
- don't adjust your message to different channels
- Lack of consistency
Sources:
Social Media Marketing in Modern Business COM8H004-5
101 Facebook Marketing Tips & Strategies for Small
Businesses-Lasse Rouhiainen
http://www.wordstream.com/social-media-marketing
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/essential-elements-social-media-marketing-strategy/
Social Marketing Industry report-Social examiner
http://www.bobangus.com/free-editorial-calendar-template/
http://blog.brand24.net/reasons-social-media-strategy-failure/
