Set Up An Effective Social Media Plan For Your Business
Contact Us Today To Get Your Social Media Strategy on The Right Path
Creating and executing an effective social media marketing plan is vital for all local businesses, regardless of sector, product or service. It should feature as part of your overall marketing plan. Not having a plan in place will be detrimental to your company and ensures, your customers are buying from your competitors who have an active social media marketing campaign.
Social media has emerged as a capable marketing platform for all kinds of businesses. A good number of firms use the different social media platforms for differing commercial reasons, and a well-crafted plan will take advantage of the increasing number of users on and across each of these social media apps. In the UK alone, there are approximately 42 million active users from teenagers through to retirees on the leading platforms. By anyone’s estimation, that’s enough of a market for any local business.
The internet’s awash with social media strategies, some simple and others, more complicated. Whether you’ve drafted and delivered the plan yourself or you’ve engaged a social media marketing agency or digital agency, the following will help. The approach recognises the challenges local business face and is designed accordingly.
Social Media Marketing Plan for SME Local Businesses
Below is a simple three-step social media plan, specifically with small and medium-sized local businesses in mind. It will give you a solid footing on which to build your customer base and generate leads through the social media channels.
Analyse Your Current Social Media Situation
Before making any solid decision on how to handle your social media strategy, analyse your current position. Determine where you are, your business and social media goals, who and how you will manage your social marketing activities. Prioritise your focus. This is important as it will demonstrate those aspects on which you or your social media marketing team need to work on and those that are already up to scratch. If you’re starting anew, you’re in a good place. If you’ve been active, the following are key points to review.
Elements to consider are:
- your current level of activity
- how well your profile is optimised on each site
- how/which platforms bring in the best returns
- how your profile compares to your competitors’
- your response to current trends
It’s fundamental to model your ideal customer. Diving into the vast consumer pool with no idea of who it is you’re targeting is a bad thing and will lead to waste of resources – time, effort and money. It is vital to be as precise as possible when identifying your ideal customer; there are many free examples online to help. As a minimum, identify:
- their profile (age, sex, occupation)
- their “pains” and gains
- who/what are their influencers
- their thoughts & emotions
Fail to do this or get it wrong, and you’ll spend your scarce resources with little to no meaningful return. Even seasoned marketers fail when they market to the wrong people! Now you know what to do, you can position your resource accordingly.
Create The Strategy
With a clear understanding of what social marketing is and your existing social media position, you’re now in a good place to write or update your plan. Six factors to address:
- Define your social media business goals, both tactical and strategic. The ultimate goal is highly qualified leads that convert to sales.
- Note, the ultimate success of any social media marketing strategy is not primarily about the followers and popularity, though, that’s a core part; it’s the actual sales and money your business is making as a result of your marketing efforts.
- Define the related success metrics. Ensure they’re specific, measurable, achievable realistic and timely.
- Invest in creating and sharing engaging and quality content for your social media pages. This underpins the success of any strategy.
- Remember, you’re the expert. While you can outsource your content creation, you’re entrusting that the person or team has the same level of knowledge and understanding in your field of expertise, as you; that’s very unlikely. It’s far better if you take your cues from them if need be, with you providing the raw content and finessed before sharing.
- What’s posted and the format will vary according to your business, the social media platforms and how your audience likes to consume your content and interact with your business.what you post mainly depends on the line of business you are in and the target audience.
- Good, valuable and engaging content underpins the success of every social media marketing strategy.
- Determine which social media sites your target audience use and prioritise your activities accordingly. In the first instance, focus on one site, expanding to others if applicable, afterwards. Remember, don’t run before you can walk.
- Provide value to your audience.
- Be active on the site; interact and engage with your audience. If you receive a negative post, respond professionally and seek resolution.
Track, Analyse and Optimise
Track your social media activity; it can be cumbersome, but it’s key. Consider investing in a social media management tool to help you keep track of the key metrics. There are resources available online, some free or low cost for an entry package.
It’s vital to keep tabs on what’s working and what’s not. Knowing what’s generating a positive return can be scaled, while those that aren’t either tweaked or stopped.
Running a social media campaign in isolation and which is not part of your overall business marketing plan, is asking for trouble. You need to have a social media strategy that’s integrated and aligned with your business’ objectives.
To discuss how we can help you, contact the team at Digital Marketing Surrey today
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