Social Media Strategies

Social Media Strategies summaries how you plan to use social platforms to promote your brands and their services/products.

It is a big picture outline of how your company or brand will approach social media. 2019 is a  fast approaching and current online marketing space is experiencing more of an evolution than a revolution.

Social Media Strategies in businesses would be the foundation of a social media plan. Social media plan puts your strategy into action. It is a detailed report that you follows in a long way.

First, identify your business goals before moving to strategies. If you are in the right direction, then align your social media goals with overall business goals.

Each of your goals should be (S.M.A.R.T.)–

• Specific (think in number)
• Measurable (measures in numbers)
• Attainable (don’t expect high jump overnight)
• Relevance (don’t choose too many goals)
• Timely (put your goals in time-frame)

Here is an example, of aligned business goals with social media goals

      Business Goals                                                Social Media Goals

• Increase revenue                                            Increase online sales
• Generate x amount of business                Generate x amount of leads
• Grow brand awareness                                 Increase brand mentions, shares & RTs
• Increase in website traffic                            Increase click-through-rate

Next, plan your social media yearly campaign. Before you can figure out where you are going, take a look where you are.

What were your goals from this last year? Did you achieve them? Also, think about social media strategies you used this year.

How did they work out? Is your target clearly outlined? Make sure it is so you know who you are trying to reach.

You should identify the social media metrics for your campaign as under:–

# Who – to Target – In current social media branding, paid advertisements and boosts are the best way for you to cast a wider net and get in touch with new potential customers at a relatively low cost.

Retargeting helps to retain the interest in your brand with former visitors.

# What – Type of Content – Strong media following is a process and it takes time. Always consider creating a new theme or new visual / video content to make an online strong presence.

I really like about Instagram stories, a tool which provides deeper content for your audience.

#What – Different Metrics – Sometimes, one platform lags because you are posting in the wrong format or at the wrong time. Ask your audience where they hang out via survey or posts.

Piggybacking on a popular event that has nothing to do with your brand simply looks like sloppy social media.

Video tells the story of your business in a way that no other media on your website can. No matter what your video budget was for 2018, you should plan to increase it for 2019.

# How – Numbers of Posts – Part of creating a successful social media presence is to be organized.

Create the schedule that states the dates that social media posts are to be drafted, reviewed, edited and published. Once you are established on social media, you need to posts on a regular basis.

# Which – Social Media Networks/Platforms – Not every brand was built to suit social media platforms.

Trying to force your presence on a platform that doesn’t work for your brand will end up costing you time and money in the end. Pay attention to your networks giving you the best results.

One strategy that can help your business create personal connections with an audience is employee advocacy. Current employees can create posts about the company in order to gain wider exposure.

# Live chat & chatbots can be a great way to connect with your user when they are ready to talk to you. Many companies have made the switch to this type of engagement platform on their website.

Automated chatbots that help screen visitors and answer their initial questions before sending them through to a salesperson.

# Fix your budget for social media campaigning. Always take some time to regularly review your current campaigns and social media accounts.

By reviewing your benchmarks and where you can improve with new goals, you will have a much clearer picture of how your brand can maximize its social media budget.

# Analyze your results. Each month, go through your various point of data collection to take a quick look at how are you doing.

Stay up-to-date with changes in technology, web standards & search algorithms. Evaluate your website against best practices, industry standards, and your competitors. A shift to research growth was driven by website design.

# Blogging – The primary benefit for your business is that it can drive additional traffic to your website.

# By publishing quality – you show the search engines that your website is high quality and helpful for internet users, which can greatly increase ranking in search results.

The best way to write for the search engine is to write quality posts. Your blog can also establish you as an expert.

# Organic reach – increases consumer engagement, website traffic, name recognition and brand awareness in addition to showing followers why they should buy/use from you, maintaining a presence on the platforms your target consumers use can be helpful.

#Press releases – as long as you have something newsworthy to share, it can be used in many ways. If you release them on the wires, they can provide hundreds of links back to your website.

If you send them to their readers through specific media contacts, they can write about the company and introduce your business to even more possible customers.

# Editorial media coverage – a third-party endorsement from the journalist, telling their viewers, readers, and listeners why they should consider your business.

If the coverage runs online, the reporter will likely include a link to your website, which can make a positive difference for SEO and your website traffic.

# Influencer – The concept of the influencer has surfaced as an important alternative for reaching new audiences.

This marketing is incredibly effective because we inherently trust the people we follow on social networks. When an influence sincerely advocates for a product/service their audience listens.

# Researching competitors’ –  this stream is a very efficient way to build your social media strategies and you can also learn from their mistakes too.

In the manual part in which personally reviewing various social media platform and in automatic part, you can use online tools to analyze in a data-driven way.

Conclusion – Consumers are now more aware than ever. It is important to stay on top of the current trends in data privacy and make sure that your company is using data ethically and responsibly.