Marketing Through Social Media

 Marketing Through Social Media

 

Social media 

If you want to conquer the world, you need a plan. The social media marketing plan is like the blueprint you would use to build your house: without it, you are totally lost and your actions will be meaningless or, worse still, will counteract each other.

To avoid starting to build on the roof, your marketing plan on social platforms must be clearly defined before you publish your first tweet. But do you know where to start? Don't worry: with this 8-step plan, you've got it done.

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How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan in 8 Steps

1) Set goals for your social media presence

The first step to a solid marketing plan is defining what it is you want to achieve. Without goals, you can't know if what you're doing is working or measure your return on investment. The idea is that your social media objectives respond to the general goals of your company.

To set goals that really make sense, remember the acronym "S.M.A.R.T.":

• Specific (specific)
• Measurable (measurable)
• Attainable (achievable)
• Relevant (relevant)
• Time-bound (with a deadline)

The second point, measurement, is very important to determine the success of the project. Instead of focusing on metrics like likes or comments, think in terms of KPIs that have a real impact on the business. 

Take into account the use that you are going to give to the different channels, since you may want to measure different things in each of them.

2) Learn everything you can about your audience

If you know the recipients of your communication in-depth, you can create content that will make them fall in love. This being a very inbound philosophy, that is, creating messages or content that attracts their own interest and value. Plus, this will help guide you on the path to conversion.

To start, you can create a profile of your ideal follower to have a clearer image of what you are looking for. Look for real data about the profile of the users of different networks and the analytics of your page; This will not only help you refine your strategy but also be more effective when it comes to launching advertising on social media.

3) Research the competition

In all likelihood, your competitors will also be using social media, and that means you can learn from their actions and incorporate these lessons into your marketing plan.

Doing a competitor analysis will help you understand who your competitors are and what they are doing well (or not so well). You will have a global image of what the expectations of users are in your sector and you will be able to adapt to them.

This analysis will also help you find market gaps and opportunities. For example, your competitors may have focused on Facebook, but Instagram is still terrain to explore. Thus, instead of competing directly with them, you can make a site on other networks.

When it comes to analyzing the competition, social listening is your ally. Keep track of competing brands and keywords in your industry and track results regularly.

4) Do a social media audit

In this step, you will start by analyzing what you are currently doing on social networks (if you already have a presence on them). Try answering these questions:

• What is working and what is not?
• Who is connecting with your brand on the networks?
• What social networks is your target audience on?
• How is your presence on social media compared to the competition?

Once you have this information, you can use it to see how to improve and add these insights to your social media marketing plan.

The social media audit is also a good time to solve these two pending tasks:

Check if you have an account that no longer serves you. If it doesn't have a clear goal and it's not delivering the results you expect, you may need to change course or even eliminate it altogether. Remember: it is better to have an active and focused presence in a few channels than to try to reach everything and fall short.

Detect possible impostor accounts, that is, accounts of other users posing as your brand. Remember that you can verify your profiles on Facebook and Twitter so that your fans know who they should follow.

5) Create profiles on social networks and improve the previous ones

Now is the time to take action! At this point, you need to be very clear about which social channels you are going to include in your marketing plan and what your strategy is in each of them. For example, you can use Instagram Stories to post tutorials and Twitter for customer support. To further focus your networking presence, try writing a mission statement for each channel outlined in a single sentence.

Once you have decided which channels you are going to be on, it will be time to create profiles or optimize the ones you already have. Make sure to fill in all the information fields and use keywords adapted to the user's search habits.

6) Get inspired!

Although it is important that your brand is unique and shows it, it is also a good idea to be inspired by the best success stories in your sector.

All social networks include success stories that show how brands are using their tools. You can usually find them in the information sections for companies of each social network.

Another very interesting option is to search for digital marketing awards, such as The Facebook Awards and The Shorty Awards, and see what the winners are doing.

Finally, you can also ask your followers directly or do social listening to see what their online behaviors are and how you can take advantage of them in your social media marketing plan.

7) Create a content calendar on social networks

Sharing valuable content is essential, but so is sharing it at the right time. A good content calendar will help you maximize the impact of your posts and make the life of your team much easier.

The content calendar should include the dates and times when you will publish each type of content on each channel. It's the perfect place to plan all your social media activities, from images and links to blog posts and videos. In this way, you will ensure that the content is distributed correctly and that you take advantage of the "rush hours" of social networks.

Depending on the objectives of each network, you will have to decide on a distribution of content accordingly. For example, you can define that 50% of the content will be focused on driving traffic to your blog, 25% will be curating content from other sources, 20% will be aimed at objectives such as lead generation or conversion and 5% The rest will refer to the culture of your company.

As a general rule of thumb, it is often said that 80% of your posts should inform, educate, or entertain your audience and only 20% should include direct promotion.

8) Test, measure and adjust the strategy

Developing a marketing plan is an essential first step, but you must bear in mind that it is impossible for it to be perfect the first time. In addition, social networks are a changing environment, so you will have to adapt to the habits of users.

Therefore, include regular checks and tests in your plan to analyze what you are doing and see how you can continue to improve. Thus, your presence on social networks will be more effective than ever.