How to create a successful social media strategy in 7 easy steps

Over the past 11 years at Convince & Convert, we've continued to refine our social media strategy. This is one of our latest iterations that we use as a starting point for our clients social media consulting ours.

Social media strategy in 7 easy steps (summary)

One of the key themes we use in our social media strategy is:

Companies should focus more on being social than DOING social. #social media Click to Tweet

In 2019, everyone is “doing” on social media. It's an established part of most marketing plans. But not many companies are also getting into social media.

With all the new tools and platforms constantly emerging, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking about social media through the tactical lens of a strategy instead. The best social media strategic plans are tool-agnostic and offer goals and metrics that supersede any particular social venue. Let's take a look at the best way to create a successful social strategy.

Step 1: Build a Multifunctional Team

No one should “own” a social media strategy in your organization. Social impact hits all corners of the company and should be more like air (everywhere) than water (you have to go get it). Therefore, the first step in this process is to create a cross-functional team to help shape and run the rest of the strategy. Decide who gets involved, including sales, customer service, marketing, content, etc.

Step 2: Set your goal (What is a goal?)

Yes, you can use social media to help accomplish a number of business goals. But the best social media strategies are those that focus (at least initially) on a narrower base for social networking. What do you mainly want to use social media for? Awareness? Sell? Loyalty and retention rates? Select one.

Step 3: Listen to your audience and competitors

In fact, your customers (and your competitors) will give you a good guide to where and how you should operate on social media, if you expand your reach. listening society in addition to your brand name.

Analyzing how and where your audience is holding digital conversations organically can save a world of trouble. Instead of starting from scratch, find channels where you can engage with an audience that is talking about (or trying to talk to) your brand.

Related articles: How to Use Social Listening to Improve Your Marketing (includes 3 tools to get you started)

Step 4: Define your audience

Now that you've listened to your audience, decide who you'll interact with on social media. What are the demographics and psychographics of your current or potential customers? How does that impact what you can and should try on social media?

Configuring your audience's personality, including their online behavior, values, and challenges, will help you determine not only how to talk to your audience, but where to continue these conversations. . Audiences of certain demographics and behaviors are easier to activate on some channels than others.

Step 5: Select Success Indicator

How do you determine if this really makes a difference in your business? What key metrics will you use to gauge the effectiveness of your social media strategy? How will you pass (hopefully) likes and engagement?

Choosing a KPI (key performance indicator) sets your organization's expectations for how the ROI of your social media efforts will be measured.

A social media strategy is an execution plan, not a quick fix. Success will be seen, but only with patience and persistence. Thoughtful KPIs and realistic quantifiable quarterly goals are essential to maintaining leadership over the long term.

A social media strategy is an execution plan, not a quick fix. Click to post

Your organization's success metrics are a reflection of your expertise. For example, advanced organizations track customers through the funnel – from social media interactions to sales. Organizations are just starting to focus on different reach, impressions, and engagements.

The three social media metrics covered in this e-book will help you get started on optimizing the way your organization measures and analyzes customer digital actions.

Step 6: What is your one thing?

Good isn't good enough anymore: your brand and content must stand out.

Good is no longer good enough: your brand and content must stand out. Click to Tweet

What differentiates you from your competitors? In a cluttered world, your brand must have a standout character to engage and engage your audience.

It doesn't matter who you are or what you sell. Your product features and benefits aren't enough to create a stir worthy of passion. How will your organization capture the heart of the audience, instead of the head? Disney isn't about movies; it's about magic. Apple is not about technology; it's about innovation. What kind of person are you?

Related podcasts: What makes people really interested in your social network (interview with Andy Sernovitz, CEO of SocialMedia.org)

Step 7: Create a channel plan

Only after you know why you are active on social media and how you measure the success of your social media strategy should you turn your attention to the “how” of Facebook, Twitter , Instagram and the rest. Your channel plan should help you understand what audience you want to attract, your content plan and editorial calendar, any necessary resources, and how you will measure the success of each particular platform. This channel plan should be different, in that you have a specific, defensible reason to participate in each plan.

The last part of my advice: you have to decide what kind of person you will be.

The workings of society force companies to compete for the attention of customers' friends and family members. Therefore, your company must (at least to some extent) operate as a person, not an entity. How will you do it?

Social media is about people, not logos. Click to Tweet

When we're working on social media strategy for large companies, the plan and alternative can offer quite a bit more comprehensive than what you see above, but it's based on this scaffolding and thought process. . I hope you will find it useful in your own efforts.