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In this fast-paced world, seven out of ten Americans regularly tap into social media to connect with friends, family, and their community. They also use those platforms to engage with their favorite brands and even research their next purchase. So, if your company is not using social media to generate leads and support existing customers, you are definitely losing out to competitors who are.
You cannot just make an account and post wildly while hoping for the best. You have to create and follow a social media plan to achieve the best results. To help you do that, we’ve created this informative guide.
Define Your Goals
Every company’s goals are different, so you have to sit down and define yours to create a plan that will work for you. Think about where you want your company to be in one year, then start defining general and specific goals. With those goals in mind, you can create a list of 10 SMART goals to work on and link them to key performance indicators. Then, create a roadmap of tactics to use in meeting those objectives.
For example, instead of stating you want more leads, your SMART goal might look like, “Attract 15 new website visitors every month.” To track that metric, you would view your unique website visitors to record your baseline, then check back monthly to confirm you’ve met your goal. For that objective, your roadmap might center around sharing new blog posts on social media and creating a dialogue with customers who engage with them.
Outline Your Budget
You can go big or start off modestly with your social media marketing efforts. It just depends on your budget. The most important part is getting out there and creating a brand presence on the most popular platforms, including Instagram and Facebook.
Before you can allocate funds, you have to see what you have available in your budget for marketing. Once you have a clear picture of your finances, you can think about where you will spend your funds on staff investments, paid ads, and more. You might even find you have enough available to hire a marketing company to manage your social media accounts for you.
Establish a Timeline
Once you have well-defined goals and an overview of how you will handle those tasks, you will need to create a timeline. Although your social media plan should extend across the entire year, it is important to assign a shorter target date to every goal. You can then effectively assign out your tasks and measure the results. You can also make adjustments on the fly if your efforts do not seem to be panning out as the deadline draws closer.
Build Your Team
If you have the staff on hand to handle your marketing efforts, start building your social media team. Look at each person’s strengths and weaknesses to see who will excel in completing each task. Those with excellent customer service skills might be phenomenal at creating dialogue on your posts, for example, while creative-minded individuals can create your blogs, graphics, and more. Make sure your team will work together well in revising your marketing strategy each year, as it will need annual attention to continue supporting the success of your company.
Iron Out the Details
Upon completing the above steps, you are well on your way to achieving your marketing goals through social media. There are a few more things to take into consideration, however, such as:
- Keep all your staff members in the loop, so they can support your social media marketing efforts
- Review your metrics to ensure you are focusing on the channels that make the biggest impact
- Experiment with content types and posting frequency to find the sweet spot for your company
- Talk with your sales team to see what your customers need support with during the buyer’s journey
Above all, be ready to revise, revise, and revise your social media plan to continually adjust your approach to best meets the needs of your customers.
Need Help with Social Media?
If you prefer to leave the social media planning to the professionals, partner up with our team at fuze32. We will create an effective plan that helps your company stand out as a leader in your industry. Then, follow all the steps to drive new leads to your company and help all your customers feel supported and valued. If that sounds good, give us a call today to get started in creating an effective social media plan for your company.
Originally published 4/21/20 - Updated 3/10/23
