“Without a solid foundation, you’ll have trouble creating anything of value.” This Erica Oppenheimer quote couldn’t be more true in marketing.
With just one tap of the boost or promote button, platforms like Facebook and Instagram make it easy for businesses to set up their own ads. This results in companies injecting plenty of cash into their marketing but without a strategy behind it. The result? Inconsistent presence, lacklustre results and a poor brand experience for the customer.
If it’s one thing you take from this blog, let it be this – strategy is the key to success.
Without an effective strategy in place, you’re throwing mud at a wall to see what sticks. Become a marketing slayer by creating a social media strategy that helps you achieve your goals.
What does your business need for a solid media strategy?
Goals
A social media strategy should ALWAYS start with goals – business goals that can be mapped to marketing objectives and activities that help you reach your objectives.
Start by holding a team meeting to gather your company targets for the next three to six months. From there, map out what marketing activities will help you reach those goals.
Define your audience
How well do you know your audience? Many marketing strategies fail because businesses have not taken the time to segment and unpack their audiences. Ask yourself these questions:
- What are your audience demographics?
- Where do they spend their time online?
- What problems do they have that your service solves?
- What are their motivations and interests?
How do you find the answers? By using online tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and BuzzSumo. This will help you understand where your social media referrals are coming from.
Brand personality
How are you going to stand out from the crowd? By developing a unique brand personality, of course.
Social media is about building a community or a following around what your business does, and why. This builds customer relationships and loyalty – which leads to your followers sharing your content onto their own pages.
So think about your brand personality before launching your campaign. Your brand’s personality will portray your key messages, and shape the way your target audience thinks about you.
The results
Now that you’ve established your business goals, defined your audience and developed your brand personality, it’s time for the most crucial element of any marketing plan – figuring out what you want people to do once they’ve engaged with your content.
Take a look at your social media metrics, and compare them to your goals. Are people clicking through your content? Are they signing up to your service? Are they visiting your website after seeing your social media posts? If not, then there is a flaw in your strategy. It’s time to go back to the drawing board and review your plan.
If you’re looking for a partner to help you achieve your goals through an effective social media strategy, we’d love to assist. Find out more about our services HERE.