SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY – WHAT IS IT COMPOSED OF AND WHO NEEDS IT?
Why is it worth creating a social media strategy?
Unfortunately, good intentions, enthusiasm, the legendary light pen, and even high amounts to be spent on advertisements may not be enough. If you want to start a business – you need a business plan. If you want to run a marathon – you need a systematic training plan. If you want to professionally run social media channels – you need a strategy.
It is the strategy that defines the goal, direction and method of your actions. It is a kind of plan that will allow you to achieve the expected (or even better) results, motivate you to work systematically and allow you to observe a constant increase in results. The strategy will be an inspiration for you when you run out of ideas for new content and a benchmark in statistical analysis.
Social media strategy – where to start?
At the beginning, answer the key and basic question – what is your goal in conducting social media activities? It depends on the chosen goal what measures will be useful for its implementation, so do not skip this step and think carefully about what you want to achieve thanks to the brand’s presence on social media.
The most popular goals of brands in social media are:
– gaining recognition and increasing the reach of content,
– building an engaged group of fans and potential and real customers around the brand,
– increasing product sales.
You don’t need to choose one of them, of course – your strategy should be structured to help you achieve them all.
Market and competition analysis – the basis of a social media strategy
Another, equally important aspect is the analysis of the market in which our company is located and of companies that offer similar products / services. At this point, it is worth considering what constitutes the strength of competitors and where are their weaknesses. On this basis, we can build a communication strategy in which we should highlight those aspects that differ from other companies in the same industry.
Persona and target groups
When building a social media strategy, it is necessary to consider who is our target customer.
We can also view customer messages that will help us find out. what are their interests, problems and doubts. It is also worth creating examples of behavior patterns of our target group, for example – how often and how do they use social media? How much time do they spend on each channel? What language do they speak?
The schedule and budget are also important elements of the social media strategy
Create a schedule and budget in order to know how, when and for how much. How to go about it?
First of all – make a schedule and create sample creations that fit into the communication lines of the posts. If you intend to post 12 times a month (which is about 3 times a week), 3-4 main lines of communication will suffice. Remember that systematic posting is very important because thanks to this you are able to constantly increase your ranges.
Second – think how much money you want to spend on promotion and what idea do you have for promoting your activities in social media. I can say right away that if you want to see the real effects of your strategy (once you put it into practice), then you will have to invest. The more you expect, the more financial contribution you will need.
Of course, Social Media has the advantage that you don’t have to pay for advertising. For example, on Instagram you can build an account and gather a lot of potential customers around the channel. An example is our Instagram and many of the clients we work for.
Message types
At this point, it is worth considering what we want to convey to our audiences? What type of content and how often do we want to publish? A good idea will be to focus on original and valuable content that will interest users. Also, be sure to reply to customer questions in the comments. Occasional promotional material of course won’t hurt, but you can’t go overboard with it. The type of content published should depend on the target audience. For example, memes aimed at younger audiences or short and concise information on business topics for older users.
Consistent actions
The hardest part. 🙂 Put the entire strategy into action. Running all channels, planning and uploading content, coordinating the work of the team and much more.
Optimization and fixes
Last, but not least! Without optimization, there is no effective action! We will not always achieve the intended effects in 100%, so you should not rest on your laurels. Constantly improve the quality and form of communication with customers.
Oh, and if you need help creating and taking care of your social media channels, or you are just looking for a good photographer, please contact us 🙂 We will be happy to help.