Social networks: the marketing plan for success
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When it comes to social media marketing, there are probably more creative ideas than marketers to implement them. And as you read this, you're probably imagining a great marketing or advertising stunt by a big brand done on social media.
Now, let's face it: the sophisticated and ultra-creative stuff works (maybe that's why you remember it in the end!) But you can also incorporate a ton of marketing requirements by simply executing your core principles consistently and regularly.
Are you wondering why? When it comes to marketing, it's not the one-off strokes of genius that get results. Change the rules of the game, get creative!
In simplicity, we will describe the structure of a dedicated social media plan. We will also look at how you can leverage it in the simplest way possible while getting the best results in terms of marketing efforts and expenses.
A good starting point is to understand the strategic cycle of social media.
What is the strategic cycle of social networks?
Think of the strategic social media cycle as a process that helps you develop and implement an effective strategy.
The cycle consists of the following four steps: planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation. By following this process, ensure that your social media efforts are aligned with your business goals.
- The first step in the cycle is planning.
This phase allows you to map out and clearly define your social media objectives. You also need to identify the target audience for your media efforts. In addition, you need to determine the content that you will share on social media.
- The second step in the cycle is execution.
Here, you must create and implement a dedicated social media plan. This plan should include a content publishing schedule as well as an engagement strategy. Also, think about how to gauge the success of your social media efforts.
- The third step in the cycle is monitoring.
This is where you will track their social media statistics. In this step, you need to regularly review your dedicated social media plan to ensure that it is still effective. In addition, you want to respond to any negative comments received on the media.
- The fourth and final stage of the cycle is evaluation.
In this phase, you need to evaluate the results of your social media efforts. You should also identify areas that need implementation or improvement.
What should a social media plan consist of?
Content strategy
A social media plan should include a strategy on how you will use social media to achieve your business goals. This strategy goes hand in hand with an understanding of your target audience, your goals and the unique strengths of each social media platform.
You must then build your content around this strategy. To get the attention you need to generate and maintain an audience, you must constantly create and share content. This can be blog posts, infographics, explainer videos, tweets, even memes!
But while content creation is just one aspect, selection is another. No one wants to interact with multiple posts on social media that are solely related to your business. Instead, expand your content to other topics that, while not directly related to your business, are of interest to your audience.
KPIs and performance tracking
When developing a strategy, you should define your goals and then specify the KPIs with which you will measure your progress. These may include content engagement metrics and sales conversion rates.
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Ideal customer profile
Different products have different audiences. As an example, while a company that makes golf clubs needs to target an active, affluent demographic, a company that makes skateboard apparel might get more bang for the buck by targeting teenagers.
Identifying your ideal audience is another crucial element of social marketing. So, based on your product and who your potential customers are, develop an ideal customer profile.
Social media channels
With so many social media channels, it's nearly impossible to establish a presence on all of them. What can you do? Identify the channels where your ideal audience is most likely to be found and "build your show" for them.
Competitor Research
Today, everyone is on social media, including your competitors. And researching their activity could prove to be an essential part of your dedicated social media plan.
By following their activity, you can identify what they are doing right and improve accordingly. You can also identify gaps in their strategy, then adapt yours to gain a competitive advantage.
Content Calendar
This calendar should be tailored to your content strategy and should take into account things like vacations, events and product launches.
Publishing periodically can build brand awareness in the minds of your audience. And when there's a trend in it, they respond even more favorably. To borrow from Pavlov's famous experiment, we are more likely to respond positively to stimuli (or social media posts, in this case) if we have been conditioned to expect them.
By using readily available user trend data, you can identify times when your ideal audience members are more likely to be active online, and then build a content calendar to plan your network activity targeting those times.
Engagement
Since social media algorithms are designed to prioritize relevance based on content, they tend to rank posts based on engagement metrics. That's why engagement tactics should be part of any dedicated social media plan. You can directly drive engagement by asking your audience to comment or share their own stories.
Additionally, you should like and respond to their comments. This signals to the algorithm that healthy engagement is underway.
Trends on social networks
There are always trending storylines on social networks, some socially and politically sensitive (think minority or LGBTQ rights), and some harmless (Will Smith memes, for example). You can hardly predict what the trend will be, or when it will happen. But you can create a framework for participating in these trends.
Regarding LGBTQ rights, you may want to place the Pride flag somewhere on your social media profile and reaffirm your company's commitment to equal rights. As for the innocuous stuff, you can simply join the party by creating and sharing hilarious memes.
However, keep in mind that you don't need to force marketing messages into these memes; it shows and can be horrifying. Just look for a laugh and the rest will happen naturally; virality is an advertisement in itself.
Influencer marketing
Even with the best possible media management, it can sometimes be unlikely to generate increased buzz by posting from a single account. This is where influencer marketing has become an increasingly important part of social media plans.
By paying a few individuals (usually influencers) to share your message with their audiences, you can amplify your brand's voice and message.
To do this, you can't just bring in anyone with a few thousand followers on their accounts. Some due diligence is in order before selecting influencers. You need to be sure that the person you choose has cultivated their audience organically. And the easiest way to verify this is to see how their followers interact with their posts.
Also, people are very sensitive to being pressured into selling and can quickly tip over into defensiveness. However, by selecting influencers whose content niche matches your product, you can be sure that your message will reach their audience more organically.
Crisis management
Social media managers are human, and from time to time, they can make blunders. Posts may be considered offensive by segments of your audience or may simply be inappropriate. At other times, it may be a stream of bad customer reviews. For all of these scenarios, you need to make plans to capture the situation and minimize the damage.
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