Did you know that there are more than 3.5 billion social media users worldwide? Do you have a social media plan in place to help you reach as many of them as possible?
If you need help creating social media plans for your business, keep reading. We’re sharing 5 tips that you can use to get started today.
Why Social Media Plans Matter
Social media marketing, in general, is great for building your business and expanding your reach. However, it’s not enough just to post on social media a couple of times per week and share an occasional blog post or video.
If you really want to see results from your social media usage, you need to have a comprehensive strategy and a plan in place. You need that strategy to align with your overall marketing goals. A good plan can give you something to reference. It also makes it easier for you to track progress and see what’s working and what’s not.
How to Create a Social Media Plan
If you don’t have a social media plan in place, now is the perfect time to make one. Here are 5 steps you can take today to get started:
1. Set Goals
Start by thinking about what you want to accomplish. Are you trying to expand your audience? Do you want to drive more traffic to your website or increase sales? Get specific about the metrics that different social media platforms allow you to track. Define what success looks like and how you’re going to measure it. It is also important to set some time constraints to keep you on track. Set due dates for specific milestones.
2. Evaluate Your Audience and Competitors
If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to creating content or putting together a social media planning calendar, it helps to evaluate your audience. Who are you trying to reach with your posts? Consider your current customers, their demographics, interests, behaviors. What kind of content would attract their attention? Creating personas can also help you craft the right message.
Spend time ‘listening’ to social media. Successful brands know how to tune in to their audience’s conversations and keep themselves relevant to what’s going on. Remember, social media is not just about sending your message out there, but increasingly more about gaining an understanding of your current or potential customers’ ideas, needs, and interests.
Consider your competition, too. What are other businesses like yours doing on social media? What kind of strategy do they seem to be following?
3. Conduct a Social Media Audit
If you’re still lost, consider a social media audit. Work with a professional to see what you’re doing well on the social media front and what needs fine-tuning. This is a great way to find the most problematic aspects of your social media marketing and tackle those first.
4. Look at Example Plans
Many businesses find that it’s helpful to use a social media plan template or social media plan example when they’re getting started. This provides them with some guidelines to follow. It also takes some of the guesswork out of the planning process.
5. Re-Assess Regularly
Finally, be sure to monitor your progress over time and re-assess your plan regularly. You can’t just “set it and forget it” when it comes to social media marketing. Take note of what’s going right and wrong so that you can make adjustments and continue seeing results.
Start Working on Your Social Media Planning Calendar
Are you feeling more confident in your ability to create social media plans? Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be on your way to making a plan that works for you and your business.
If you need additional help, though, we’re here for you at Marketing Tech. Contact us today to learn more about our social media planning tools and services.
