It seems, these days, you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t have at least one social media account. It’s understandable then, that many business owners use various platforms to reach their network and market their products or services.
Although social media is a great way to develop your business, it can also be one of the biggest time-wasters for many people. After all, there’s so much content to digest. It can be easy to get lost in your aimless scrolling and, before you know it, you’ve wasted a huge part of your day.
That’s why it’s important to know what you really want out of social media.
Everyone can leverage social media if they approach it correctly, and devise a careful and concise strategy. Your social media marketing plan should outline everything you plan to do on each platform, and how this feeds into what you hope to achieve. Get specific with your plan, but make sure that your objectives are realistic.
You don’t need to have a presence on every platform. Some people find that Twitter is the best place to find new clients, whereas others might prefer Instagram, to create a visual representation of their brand.
Take a look at the platforms you currently use and make a note of what works and what doesn’t. How many followers or connections do you have? What type of posts get the most engagement, and where are the majority of your leads coming from? When you start to go through your past and current content and interactions, you’ll begin to see a pattern emerging. Your aim should be to do more of what works.
- What is your main objective for your social media usage?
- How often do you plan to post on social media?
- How do you plan to interact with other users?
The next step in putting together your social media plan is to research the demographics for each platform. Find out where your target audience are, and ignore the platforms that won’t help you to reach the right people.
Know your target audience. You wouldn’t throw a dart towards the pool table and expect to hit a bullseye. Share on XCreate a mission statement for each social media account. Refer back to this whenever you come to create content, to be sure that you’re working towards your goals.
Finally, you need to outline your content marketing strategy. Have a look at some of the brands you admire, and people who work in the same industry as you. What type of content do they often post, and what works well for them? Your aims should be:
- To connect with your target audience
- To provide value
- To generate leads
- To educate and/or entertain
Think about the type of content you can post to fulfil each of these aims, and how often you will publish each one. In the early stages of your business, at least 50% of your content should drive back to your own website.
Bulk scheduling can save you a lot of time when it comes to social media marketing.