How to create a social media strategy

Social media is your all-access pass to connecting to your ideal customers!

Best of all, it’s FREE!

Less than 50% of small and medium-sized businesses have a social media presence.

In a real-life example, that’s like having a line-up of 20 people for your shop but only welcoming in 10.

Half of the businesses are closing the door on a massive number of potential leads, sales and returns.

Social media may not seem for you, you’re not one to take a photo of what you had for breakfast, but when it comes to your business and social, it is far more than #inspo pics.

For those businesses that are on social (well done), only about 40% have a plan.

Let’s go back to the example of the 10 people entering the store; it is essentially now those entering, but there is no sales staff. 

So how can you have strategy and serenity when it comes to your business and social media.

It’s easy.

What do you want to achieve?

Write down the goal and objectives you want to achieve and make them measurable.

It may be to generate leads, drive more traffic to your website or encourage customers to ask for help via the social page than the hotline.

Follow the S.M.A.R.T goal setting format: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

Choose the social network that is right for your business.

How much time can you dedicate to the social network?

What resources and skills do you need? Does the platform you want to use require you to take great pics or do you need to learn how to write short snappy content?

Where does your audience hand out?

Does the platform meet my goals?

Set up the profile.

Keep it consistent; think about the types of colours and images you use and make sure it all ties back to your brand.

Use programs like Canva to set create your social header images to the right size.

Make sure you include all the information your customer would want to know when they look in the bio plus tailor how it reads to how your customer speaks.

Give the profile a voice.

What type of tone will your social persona have? Determine what the best way to talk to your customers – eg. the social tone of MTV is different to the sound of NAB. 

However, while your brand may be serious, don’t be afraid to use humour, remember people are on social media for enjoyment. An excellent example of the is the NSW Police who continuously use the #lols to communicate serious reminders to citizens about safety. 

Determine how and when you will post – create a social media content calendar.

A calendar will outline the date, time and what you want to post on social. This allows you to really plan out the key messages you will be sharing over the week/month/year so you can best meet your goals. 

Determine what type of content you want to post and who the audience is.

Decide on how often. 

Outline who will do it. 

Strategise how you will promote it. 

Test, test and test. 

Like many things you’re only as good as your last post so test everything you do and pull out the key learnings to make your next post a winner. 

Now go forth and post, tweet, share, pin, snap and whatever else the kids are doing.