Your social media posts can turn your followers into fans and your brand into a household name. This type of influence is only possible when there’s a sound content strategy in place for social media.
The best way to be seen on social media is to have clear objectives, write insightful posts supporting them, and share the right content on the right channels.
There isn’t any instant social media plan that will lead to success doesn’t exist. Your strategy will shift over time depending on your audience, industry, and performance. However, there are specific strategies that a business needs to use when implementing a strategic plan that grows your business and brand.
In this blog we will lay down points that will help you to create a winning social media strategy.
1 Establish Specific Objectives
Start by establishing what you hope to accomplish through your social media. Otherwise, you can easily go off in circles with no course. Your objectives should be based on what you want your business to achieve. Depending upon whether you want to enhance brand awareness, generate traffic, or perhaps generate more sales, the more defined your objectives, the better.
Make sure your objectives are SMART:
- Specific: Specific and clearly understandable about what you want to accomplish.
- Measurable: How will you measure and track progress?
- Achievable: The goal should be attainable.
- Relevant: The goal should be connected and relevant to your business goals
- Time-bound: There should be a deadline for the time frame of achieving it
For example, “Increase Facebook page followers by 15% over the next three months” is a SMART objective that you can work towards in a structured way.
2 Know Your Audience
Knowing whom you are talking to marks a winning social media strategy. If you do not understand your audience, your content will miss the mark. Start with knowing the following about your target demographic:
- Age, gender, location
- Interests and hobbies
- Social media habits
Using Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, or even client surveys can be an amazing source to gather any information about your target group, such as who they are. From there, it’s easy to create content that serves their needs and preferences.
3 Competitor Analysis
Before delving into your strategy, take a step back to analyse your competitors. And you can learn from everything that they’re accomplishing right and everything that they’re not so good at. So, when it comes to social media, let’s take a peek at what they are doing:
- Which platforms do they use?
- What type of content is getting them the most engagement?
- How often do they post?
This research will outline areas that are not being met and provide ideas on how to put you in front of the game. Perhaps your competitor is not leveraging video content-you can be the first to break this cycle.
4 Content Strategy
Once you are armed with information about your audience and your competitors, you need to create your content calendar. Your content has to fit into your brand message, and it has to be of value to your audience. Some examples of this include:
- Educational content: Blog posts, tips, tutorials
- Visual content: Photos, infographics, videos
- Engagement content: Polls, quizzes, contests
- User-generated content: Share your followers’ posts
Be consistent-you can make a content calendar of what to post and when to make sure you maintain that steady presence and aren’t bombarding your followers.
5 Use the right channels
Be present where it matters most; you don’t have to be everywhere, so focus on those places where your audience is most active. For example:
- Instagram works great for visual content and younger audiences.
- LinkedIn is good for B2B connections as well as having thought leadership.
- TikTok would be used for short-form fun videos that better match the demographic of younger people.
Post differently on all sites rather than posting the same thing everywhere.
6 Establish a Posting Routine
You want to post often, but you shouldn’t post so much that it becomes overwhelming to your followers. Any less, and you become forgettable. Here are some general guidelines to get started:
- Twitter 3-5 times a day
- Instagram, Facebook: 3-5 times/week
- LinkedIn: 1-2 times/week
Use social media management tools, like Buffer or Hootsuite, to post at scheduled periods even on hectic weeks.
7 Engage with Your Audience
Engagement is what defines social media. It is not enough to create content and hope for the best; you need to interact with your audience. Here’s how to connect with them:
- Answer comments and messages fast
- Like, comment on, and share user-generated posts.
- Host Q&A or live stream sessions for interaction.
If your audience feels heard, they are likely to interact with your content and become loyal to your brand.
8 Monitor Performance and Improve
A social media strategy is never “finished.” You must always monitor your performance and adjust your tactics based on your performance. Key metrics to monitor include:
- Engagement rate: likes, comments, shares
- Reach: how many people see your posts
- Conversions: How many followers take action (e.g., visit your website or make a purchase)
Use analytics tools like Facebook Insights, Instagram Analytics, or Google Analytics to track data. It’s information that’ll help you know what’s working and what needs tweaking.
9 Stay Adaptable
Social media is constantly evolving. New platforms are popping up, algorithms are changing, and audience behaviours are shifting. To stay on top, be flexible with your strategy:
- Keep updating your content calendar to abide by changing trends.
- New types of content – such as live videos and reels.
- Keeping up with updates the platform makes that may impact your reach.
Conclusion
Proper planning of social media strategy creates an opportunity for achieving the marketing objectives. It will provide you with the ability to target better, engage your audience, and align your efforts with business objectives. So, if you are planning or if you are reframing an existing strategy, there could never be a better time than this.
If you are looking for a professional partnership to help craft a customised, results-driven social media strategy, contact The Lunn Agency. Get in touch with us today for a free consultation or download our “Social Media Strategy Template” to get started on your path to social media success.
