Jumping onto Facebook is easy …
Developing a strategy to reach your goals using Facebook (or any other social network) is hard.
And what if Facebook isn’t the right social network for your business?
That’s what the Social Media Strategy Template and worksheet will do for you: help you develop and optimize a no-fail social media marketing strategy unique for your business.
Socialmediaonlineclasses.com turns four this month, and I’ve learned much about how people use social media marketing to promote their brands. People usually assume Facebook is the first place they should start, when it could be that it’s totally the wrong platform for you.
So here’s a step-by-step process for developing the perfect social media strategy using our template …
1. Who’s Your Customer?
All your social media marketing efforts will be for nothing if you’re not reaching the right people. Who are your customers? Even better, who are your ideal customers?
Here’s a hint … it’s NOT everyone.
I’m surprised at entrepreneurs who can’t answer this question. Or, if they can, they are often too vague. Be obsessively specific here. While we all would love to think everyone will want our products, it just isn’t so. Identify your potential customers down to their:
- age
- sex
- education level
- income level
- what publications they read
- what websites they visit
- what their budget is
- are they local or nationwide
Use the Social Media Strategy Template and Spreadsheet as your guide to identify your target audience (link is to my free Social Media Strategy class).
Social Media Strategy Class Develop your social media strategy in this free class
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2. What Are Your Goals?
Don’t know?
That’s okay. That’s why you’re here, and you’re in good company. I have clients who are ranked #1 in their industry nationwide, making seven figures, who’ve told me “I don’t know what social media marketing can do for me.”
Let’s take a look:
The top three goals for members here at Socialmediaonlineclasses.com are:
- Grow my business
- Increase my sales
- Get more visibility
Other common goals are to get more traffic to my website, launch a new product, develop a personal brand, and do fundraising for a non-profit.
You achieve all those goals with social media marketing.
Ask yourself: what do you NEED to accomplish with social media marketing? Use the template and spreadsheet as a guide to answer questions to help you identify your primary goals.
Download this spreadsheet to build your social media strategy
Which social networks can help you reach your goals? That’s what you’ll answer in #3 …
3. Where Are Your Customers?
What’s the primary social network your customers use? Once you’ve identified who your ideal customers are (step #1), you can identify where they are in social media.
It’s likely they use more than one social network, but don’t feel like you need to be on ALL of them. You want to fit your marketing to the optimal social network:
- where your customers are
- has the ability to help you reach your goals
For example, if you are a local florist and use Instagram to show beautiful photos of your arrangements, that’s great for increasing your visibility. But if your goals is to drive traffic to your website or get people into your shop, Instagram won’t do that for you.
Poppies and Posies shares gorgeous photos of their flowers & arrangements on Instagram
Google+ and Facebook are much better choices for driving traffic. Google+ (even if your customers don’t use it) helps you rank higher in Google search (when your customers ARE searching for a local florist) and the majority of your customers are using Facebook. Offer Facebook fans a Valentine’s Day special, or even better, offer them an exclusive during your slow season.
If you need help identifying which social network is best for your business, take this 60-second quiz to find out.
4. When Will You Communicate?
How often do you plan to post to your social networks — multiple times per day, once per day, or a few times a week? Be realistic about your schedule and what you can accomplish.
What I’ve found is that most entrepreneurs get excited about starting their social media marketing, post for a month or two, and either get frustrated over a technical issue or life gets in the way.
And they stop …
… then it gets even more difficult to restart. It’s cumbersome for them because they’ve lost their proficiency with their social networking, and they end up having to start over again.
When did you last post on your social networks?
Thanks okay — we all have stuff that gets in the way.
However, I do have a recommendation that makes it much easier to continue your social media marketing even during your busy season or when life throws you a curve ball — an editorial calendar.
They’re also called a content development schedule — call them what you like — but by identifying what you’ll be posting about each month and eventually each week, you make social media marketing much easier (and far more likely to be consistent with it).
Social Media Strategy Class Develop your social media strategy in this free class
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5. What Differentiates You?
They key to making a connection with potential customers in any form of marketing is the right message at the right time.
The right message is one that sets your brand apart, differentiating it from the competition and a perfect fit for your ideal customers.
Differentiating your brand is often the hardest step in developing a social media strategy (even for the professionals). So let’s take a look at some brands who do it well:
ImagiBrand clearly differentiates themselves directly on their Twitter profile by saying “Every brand has a story. Let’s have some fun with yours!” What a great motto — you know if you hire them you’re going to get a company with a great sense of humor:
Molly McGrory, a real estate broker who sells over $100K in her own listings from social media alone, brands herself as a real estate agent who can sell your home quickly, shown here in this Facebook post:
Getting some ideas for your own marketing?
6. How Will You Execute?
The devil is in the details, isn’t it? The perfect social media strategy won’t produce results until you execute it consistently. So how do you do that?
Make it so simple you can’t fail. You’ve already identified the elements of your strategy — now you need to combine those into a simple, elegant action plan for your social media marketing.
To do that, download the spreadsheet that accompanies the social media strategy template (you can get both of these in my free Social Media Strategy Class). The spreadsheets guides you, step-by-step, through each of the six elements, plus what you need to have in place to put your strategy into action, helping you to identify:
- what you need to learn to do your social media marketing
- what tools you need to use
- who is responsible for doing your social media marketing
- how will you measure success
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Social Media Strategy Template: Develop Your Social Media Strategy In 60 Seconds
More Digital & Social articles from Business 2 Community:
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- Creating Loyal Customers and a Successful Business with Social Media – Warby Parker
