Social Media Plan

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

1. don't have a plan
2. are not responsive
3. don't follow stats and results of your efforts
4. don't show a human side
5. don't use CTA (call to action)
6. don't speak your audience language
7. don't test different options
8. don't adjust your message to different channels
9. 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/