How to build the best Social Media Strategy: Part 1📱
We have noticed that social media strategy is a scary phrase. When talking about social media strategy, we typically get asked: ‘Is there really a strategy for social media? Since the space is moving all the time, why do I need to spend time on strategy when it will just change? I can barely figure out social media, let alone try to develop a strategy around it.’
Our answer to you is: why not advertise your business for FREE to hundreds of thousands of people?
It’s FREE!
At the basic level, social media can be easy to navigate, but in order to be effective on social media and utilize the FREE platforms, it’s important that you have a sound social strategy.
Open up the notes app on your phone or computer, grab yourself a coffee, and get ready to take notes on our secret sauce (it’s not really a secret) to build a great social media strategy. Keep in mind - this is only part one! ;)
Every effective social strategy starts with understanding the business goals.
It’s important to realize that the entire goal of your social strategy should be focused on the goals of the business. These goals should include monthly, quarterly, or even yearly goals. When creating content, you should always ask yourself what the monthly, quarterly, or yearly goals are and how the content you are developing is achieving those goals.
We like to think of business goals as our red carpet.
Amidst all the chaos at a grand event, the red carpet leads the way to the main show. It’s similar to your business goals: they lead you in the exact direction of the main ‘event’ that the owner is envisioning and wants to highlight. Make sure to understand and act on clear business goals as you are crafting the social media strategy.
Okay, okay - now let’s focus our attention on arguably the most important aspect of your social strategy: understanding your target audience.
Every effective social strategy understands who their target audience should be.
Without knowing your target audience, your social strategy has no direction. The audience should lead 90% of your content direction. When developing your audience it’s essential to look at the following factors:
Demographics: attributes related to age, generation, gender, income, ethnicity, education, occupation, size of family
Socioeconomic: attributes related to occupation, neighborhood, household income, educational attainment, and association memberships
Brand Affinity/Product usage: attributes associated with product usage and engagements
Psychographics: attributes related to personality, attitudes, opinion, lifestyles, life stage, activities, interests, and even voting behaviors
Geography: attributes related to the geographical area in which consumers reside and work such as city, country, state, region, and zip code groups
Distribution Channels: preferred shopping channels and preferred communication
Benefits Sought: attributes related to the features, functions, and benefits that consumers seek when they shop for products or services
Behavioral Segmentation: On what occasion do customers buy the product or service? What benefits do they seek from the service? For which purpose are they buying this service? Are buyers in the segment ex-users, potential users, first-time users, or regular users of the product or service?
Yes, it’s that detailed! If you feel like you are obtaining too much information - keep going. The more you can learn and find out about your audience, the better! (In this phase, you are kinda like a stalker, but not in a creepy way!) You should try to know everything about your audience in order to make sure that you are providing the most value in each post.
On top of understanding these attributes, it’s also important to keep a pulse on where your audience is consuming content. There is no point in pushing content on Instagram if your peeps aren’t there! (We learned this the hard way…).
As you’ve been reading and sipping your drink, you might find your coffee is kicking in at this point… so instead of continuing to read, use that energy to get to work! Start crafting that social strategy. We can’t wait to see it in action!
After you get phase one of your strategy underway, make sure to subscribe and keep an eye out for next month’s blog where we will dive into three more parts to develop the best social strategy for your brand. Until next time, spread positivity and stay #wholesome!