Social media marketing is one of the fastest-growing digital marketing specialties. Social networks are one of the main communication channels in the online world and therefore, any company that wishes to have a successful presence on the Internet needs to have a professional presence in these media. Social networks are a fundamental tool for brands that want to have an online presence that generates real results. This article offers eight steps to build a solid social media marketing strategy.
Initial Planning
There is no point in creating profiles and pages if you do not have a strategic plan to serve as a guideline for your actions. Everything in digital marketing requires prior planning. I recognize that the operational part is much more seductive than the strategic planning stage, but if it is, the rest will simply be a waste of time and resources.
Definition of Objectives
The second stage of a social media marketing plan involves defining the brand's goals in its performance on the various social media platforms. Brands have the following main objectives: brand exposure, traffic generation, lead generation, and sales. There is no way to create a “social media marketing strategy if you do not have these objectives very well defined, as they will even be part of your sales funnel”, says John I. Steele, marketing writer at 1Day2write and Writemyx.
Creation of the Marketing Persona
At this point, with the appropriate research tools, you will determine more detailed aspects of the profile and behavior of the public, or audiences, that the brand wants to impact with its social media marketing actions. The creation of a marketing persona is fundamental in a social media marketing strategy, as it is Persona that sets the tone of the type of content that will be served, dates and times of publications and even more, the setting of segmentation filters in tools like Facebook and Twitter.
Choice of Channels
With the right tools and even a competitive analysis process, it is possible to determine which social networks the brand really needs to invest in. Each social network has its own characteristics and audience and you need to take this into account. Trying to create a presence in all of them, thinking that with that you will get more exposure, is nonsense that will only make you waste your time trying to communicate with an audience that may not be interested in what you have to offer.
Adequacy of the Site
Another tip for those who want to know how to set up a marketing strategy on social networks is to check in advance if your website has the necessary resources to meet the technical specifications of the most modern online marketing tools. It is useless to invest in a social media marketing strategy if your platform is unable to track results or generate leads due to these actions.
Creation of Channels
In the rush to start publishing content, many people overlook some of these technical issues and the result is a complete failure in terms of social media marketing. Study in depth the tools and resources available on the “social networks in which you will operate, to get the most out of your potential and in addition to align them with other dimensions of digital marketing to create a synergy between your various actions”, says Doris J. Baxter, media writer at Britstudent and Nextcoursework.
Content Development
Contrary to what many people think, marketing on social media is not advertising, but creating relationships that provide conditions to present your product or service.
Monitoring and Metrics
Define a plan for monitoring and analyzing the results of your social media actions. Avoid vanity metrics and focus on what really matters, namely conversion. Publication on Facebook or Instagram that does not generate results is not marketing, it is just a publication, and that any graduate monkey knows how to do.
As the content is very dynamic, periodic improvements are essential. It is also necessary to understand that Content Marketing takes some time to have an impact, therefore, a certain degree of persistence and regularity in implementation is necessary!
Chris founded Youpreneur® in 2015. He is a serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker and author of the bestselling books “Virtual Freedom” and “Rise of the Youpreneur”. He hosts our podcast, live events and coaches our clients inside the Youpreneur Incubator. Chris is based in Cambridge, UK.
