How good would it feel to have a clear plan of attack for your social media marketing? To save a heap of time each week because you have a pot of great content ideas and are very clear on who you are talking to and what you need to say?
I can tell you it feels great! And, it’s within reach for everybody.
If you find the time to invest in developing a strong social media marketing strategy you will discover the success it can create and wish you had done it months ago!
What are the benefits of social media marketing?
Some of the great benefits of social media marketing are:
Where do I start with creating a social media strategy for my business?
Go right back to your business objectives – what are you trying to achieve?
Next, work out what you need to achieve with your social media marketing in order to start meeting your business objectives. These goals will vary between short term, mid term and long term and will obviously change with time, so you need to revisit often.
What will success look like for you in terms of your social media marketing? Do you want a bigger following? Do you want a more engaged community? Do you want more traffic? More leads or sales? How much more?
Who are your ideal clients?
You need to go deep on this – figure out who they are, which platforms they are likely to hang out on, what problems you solve for them, what other things may be of value to them in terms of knowledge and inspiration and finally, talk to them with your copy and your images.
You can build your whole content strategy around your ideal clients. Don’t fall into the trap of using social media to sell, sell, sell. It rarely works. Be a resource; provide value to your ideal clients and develop the level of trust.
Setting up for success 🙌
Take the time to set up your platforms for success. Create cover photos and profile pictures to the correct size specification and don’t forget to check that they look great on desktop and on mobile.
This link will take you to a spreadsheet of all the current social media size secs, maintained by Sprout Social – you’ll wonder what you ever did without it!
Other top tips for setting up for success are –
What can I post on the business social media platforms?
Think about your ideal clients and post things that will appeal to them in a variety of formats. Bring them value, inspire them or bring them some joy. It’s a simple as that!
Also, show the people behind your business to help you connect on a deeper level with your ideal clients and customers. People buy from people – I can’t remember where I first heard this, but I think it is extremely powerful, and it is something we should always consider with social media marketing.
Social Media presents an amazing opportunity to showcase the people behind a business; whether you are a personal brand or a huge multinational company. Use this to your advantage; having a human, authentic presence is so valuable in today’s world.
How can I track the success and impact of social media marketing?
A few things here:
How much time do I need to mange social media marketing effectively for my business?
To have consistent success with social media marketing you need to invest time. You need to consider allowing time for:
And you need to consider doing this for every platform where you have a presence.
My advice; if you are time and resource limited you need to cut down on the number of platforms you post on or you need to consider outsourcing. Don’t let yourself become overwhelmed. Take one step at a time – allow yourself a chunk of 4 hours a week to focus on your social media strategy followed by ongoing management and strategically test.
Keep things simple and consistent, plug away and keep an eye on your data so you understand what works and what doesn’t. Help is always at hand; find someone to bounce off, or, if you like the sound of what I’ve been saying above, get in touch to see how I can help kick start you in the right direction.
I love helping businesses to create more success through effective social media marketing and some of the things I offer are:
Thanks for taking the time to read this; I hope it has helped in some way. If you have queries please feel free to email me here or contact me via DM on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
