4 Tips For Creating A Solid Social Media Strategy

F or a lot of brands, social media is a fly-by-the-wheel activity. Led by guesswork and mimicking what’s seen from others, this lack of strategy can lead to some frustrating ends and little to no increase in sales, followers, or engagement. If you’ve found yourself in the same boat, then we’ve outlined a few helpful tips to get your social media strategy in tip-top shape. Check them out below:

Do An Audit Of Your Brand

Before you start posting and sharing, it’s important to decide if your brand is even strong enough for a social media presence. While that might sound harsh, a lot of companies don’t quite put the investment into what their brand is or what it represents, leaving it somewhat in a gray area of being something that stands for nothing. That’s not to say a brand that doesn’t have a modern logo or fancy aesthetic can’t be a great brand; in fact, the biggest characteristic people look at is authenticity.

According to LucidPress, 64 percent of consumers cite shared values as the primary reason they have a relationship with a brand, which is true across the board. Just think of your mainstay neighborhood restaurant, which probably uses a hand-painted sign or some sort of relic that gives it a ‘staple’ or ‘classic’ appeal that despite being something we’ve seen before, is authentic to that brand. Your brand should aim to be successful beyond the confines of social media by creating a foundation that stands on its own. Although not always the easiest thing to admit, sometimes doing a reassessment of your branding can be a huge help in forming a better identity for social.

Analyze What Tools You’ll Need

With a solid brand in place, it’s time to look at what tools you’ll need, as well as why. As noted by Brandwatch, there are currently over 3.37 billion social media users in the world, making it practically something nearly every other person is using. Targeting the proper niche audience for your brand from this is going to be a challenge; that’s why looking for the best tools is such an advantageous route.

First, take a look at what platforms your community is the most engaged on, no matter if it’s Instagram, Twitter, or even LinkedIn. Next, once you find the proper channel, take a look at what’s popular and why. For example, when looking at top Instagram tools, make sure to check that they include scheduling features. Instagram can be somewhat strict about what third-party features are allowed. The more you’re able to dive into what can generate traction from your base, the better, as it’s all about learning about who will eventually use your product or service.

Have An Engagement Plan In Place

As you now have a better understanding of who your audience is as well as the tools you’re going to use to reach them, the next logical move is to start working towards an engagement plan. This is essentially how you’re going to interact day-in and day-out with your followers, including having a rough understanding of customer service protocols as well as other interactions. However, before we dive too deep, we first have to have an understanding of what engagement looks like on each platform you’re aiming to tackle.

List out all the social media platforms you plan on using, as well as what type of engagement patterns you’ve already seen compared to the averages. For example, as noted by Social Bakers, brands generate 4x more engagement on Instagram over any other platform, which is why your views, likes, and comments are often going to be much higher on there, as a better starting place to compare against the rest of your engagement. When you’re first starting out, enlist the help of an engagement agency like SocialSteeze to start building a niche audience. Although you most likely won’t go viral overnight, having an engagement plan to consistently build your fanbase is not only smart social media marketing but practically a necessity to thrive.

Know How To Capture Your Audience

Finally, with an engagement plan in place, now’s the opportunity to get down in the nitty-gritty and start flexing those social media muscles. This essentially means going through with the proper data and deciding what tools are going to work best per each platform. For example, 71 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds are currently on Instagram, so look at the best Instagram tools to capture that demographic. When you dive deeper, there’s much more beneath the surface than just general demographics.

When targeting your audience, the biggest thing you need to be mindful of is being a member of their community. What this essentially means is don’t try to force yourself to sell or bring home more followers, but rather engaging in a genuine and thoughtful way. As we noted above about the authenticity of your brand, that still needs to ring true in every post you make, comment you leave, and even DM you send. Granted, it’s okay if you don’t get this perfectly the first few times, however, the more you practice, the more your brand will feel at its most authentic self for the long haul.

What are some strategies you’ve used in building out your social media strategy? Comment with your insights below!