As beneficial as social media may be to a brand’s success, many business owners shy away from it simply due to the time commitment involved in updating regularly. However, when a thoughtful strategy is applied, social media can easily foster consumer recognition, loyalty and engagement.
Here’s how to effectively utilize social media to attain its benefits without the burdens:
Create a Content Calendar
The best way to keep your social media marketing strategy in place is through the use of a content calendar. Your calendar may be written or digital and it should be organized via categories such as blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. The goal of your content calendar should be to streamline content effectiveness across the mediums used by your business.
In many cases, social media content calendars include daily themes to follow on a consistent basis. For example, Mondays at Keystone Click are reserved for motivational quotes and messages. While the theme of the week stays constant, the target audience of the post may rotate on a week-by-week basis. In doing so, you can be sure each segment of your audience is being targeted at some point within your monthly schedule.
We all know social media is centered on buzz words and trends. Be sure to consider this when brainstorming themes for your initial content calendar! Including themed #hashtags and buzz-word phrases in your posts will increase engagement while enhancing your brand’s overall theme and message.
Begin a Running List of Content Pieces to Share
At Keystone Click, we practice the 70/20/10 rule. This means that 70% of our posts are dedicated to sharing valuable content pieces with our audience. Additionally, 20% of our shared posts are aimed toward other users within our industry. Finally the last 10% of the content shared is intended for generating leads and profits for our brand. You may be wondering why you should post “selling” content pieces only 10% of the time – And you aren’t alone! Your social media presence speaks volumes about you as a brand. By tailoring your posts to feature informative content the majority of the time, you will ultimately become a valuable resource within your consumer’s eyes. Thus the 10% of sales posts you create will be optimized and less likely to be overlooked!
With the 70/20/10 strategy in mind, isolating content pieces specific to your industry and audience becomes crucial to your social media strategy. We recommend starting a Google or Word document where you can save articles and shared posts you find interesting as you explore the web on a daily basis. When the time comes to schedule weekly social media posts, you may refer to your saved document and easily locate pieces appropriate for your brand. As mentioned above, using a content calendar is a great tool for organizing weekly posts by subject nature and usefulness.
Utalize Social Media Scheduling Functions
Most social networks have functionalities that allow business profiles to schedule posts in advance. By utilizing this feature, you’ll save yourself the extra time and stress involved with logging into your account each day to share a content piece!
On Facebook, you’ll find the scheduling feature within a drop down menu prior to publishing. From there, you’ll be able to view your scheduled posts separately from your live feed. This will give you a chance to double-check your posts for errors or topic inconsistencies within your content calendar. If you haven’t already, we recommend trying out Hootsuite for scheduling tweets associated with your business.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: How to Plan a Week’s Worth of Social Media Posts in One Hour
More Digital & Social articles from Business 2 Community:
- Why Email Marketing Beats Social Media in Lead Generation, And What You Can Do About It
- Here’s Proof that Video is Good for SEO
- Social Media Glossary – Understanding Social Media from A to Z
- Which Form of Digital Advertising is the Most Effective?
- SEO Optimization for Video in 5 Easy Steps
