How to Build a Social Media Marketing Strategy That Works
How to Build a Social Media Marketing Strategy That Works
Social media is dominating our lives. A study by Statista showed that people, on average, spent more than 2 hours a day on social media platforms. And frankly, that number is surprisingly small, given that people are constantly on their phones browsing through their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram pages, among others.
What this means for businesses is the market is ripe for social media marketing. It has been ripe for many years and if you’re not on this bandwagon, you’re going to get left behind.
If you’re just starting a business or someone who wants to up their social media marketing game; here is an easy way to build a social media marketing strategy of your own.
Building a Social Media Marketing Strategy
- Be SMART.
All strategies start with a set of goals; but not just any goals, the goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
- Specific – Goals must be clear, unambiguous, and well-defined.
- Measurable – Goals must have criteria for evaluating success or progress.
- Attainable – Goals must be achievable.
- Relevant – Goals must be aligned to your business’ objectives.
- Time-bound – Goals must have a start and finish date.
Identifying SMART goals give you a sense of direction; helps you organize your goals and your strategies, too; and holds you accountable for reaching them
2. Be audience-obsessed.
You must know who your current and target audience is and find out what they want, so you can create content that will engage them. The best part is that there is a lot of data-gathering tools in the market so knowing your audience does not have to be a guessing game. All the information you need to know about your target audience in order to tailor-fit your strategies for them is readily available.
3. Be on the lookout.
Everyone is on social media nowadays so it’s safe to assume that your competition is, too. If possible, do a competitive analysis. What is your competition doing right and whats wrong? By doing this, you get a sense of what marketing strategies work and what doesn’t, as well as gaps you can fill, in your line of business.
4. Be systematic.
Evaluation is the key to success. You must examine the steps you have taken and then evaluate your progress. Ask yourself what you have accomplished so far, what seems to be working (or not working), is your target market connecting with you or not, and why or why not. Once you have the answers to these questions and others, you’ll have a good idea of which strategies to continue doing, which ones to modify, and which ones to ditch.
5. Be seen.
Set up accounts or improve your profile, and then optimize. Ensure that your social media pages are up-to-date and pleasing to audiences. More importantly, use SEO to make sure your page shows up on the first page of search results.
6. Be tactical.
No one likes a spammer; but if your social media page’s last post was 2 weeks ago, it’s not a good sign either. Besides, obviously, sharing good and relevant content, it’s also crucial to plan when to post for maximum exposure and impact.
7. Be meticulous.
Social media marketing is a long-term and sustained strategy. You can’t expect to implement a strategy today and see results tomorrow. Additionally, you must keep evaluating and reevaluating, and testing and retesting, and then adjusting and readjusting to make sure you are up-to-date on the latest trends.
Social media marketing is essential to any business that hopes to succeed in today’s ultra-competitive market. A good marketing strategy will guide you in making tough decisions that could ultimately make or break your business. Keep these simple steps in mind to build a social media marketing strategy that actually works!
