Introduction

Creating a social media marketing’ strategy isn’t as intimidating as it might seem. There are just a few key things you need to do in order to get started, and you can use them as a foundation for your future efforts on all the major social networks.

Create a plan of action.

In the absence of a plan, it’s easy to get distracted by the shiny things. And while there are plenty of ways to promote your business online, not all social media channels are created equal. To make sure you’re spending your time and energy on what matters most, first determine exactly what your goals are and how much time you can commit to each platform every week.

Once you’ve got a handle on those details, it’s time to think about who your audience is—and how they prefer interacting online. For example: Do they like visuals? Videos? Text posts? If so, which networks are best suited for these types of content? Do they respond more favorably when interacting with influencers or celebrities (or both)? Or do they favor one-on-one conversations with people like them? Take some time here; this step is critical in developing an effective strategy that resonates with members of your target audience—and will help ensure it’s worth their time as well as yours!

Next up: Budgeting! How much money do you have available for investment in social media marketing campaigns over the next year or two? You could go all out with paid ads on Facebook and Twitter but then struggle later if revenue doesn’t meet projections because everything was tied up in ad buys instead of product development plans…

Know and track your KPIs.

• Define your business goals.
• Define your social media goals.
• Define your KPIs.
• Know and track your KPIs.

Measure your results.

Measure your results. It’s important to measure how your strategy is performing so that you can use the results to improve it. There are a few ways to track social media efforts:

• You can use a tool like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Sprout Social to see what content was most popular and which social media platforms had the highest engagement rates.
• You can also look at your website’s analytics data (Google Analytics) and compare the number of visitors before and after launching your social media strategy.
• Check whether customers are giving feedback on Twitter or Facebook that they’re interested in buying products, posting pictures of themselves wearing them, or sharing their experience with others through word-of-mouth recommendations — all indicators that the strategy is working well for you!

Identify your top social networks.

• Identify your top social networks.
• Create a list of the social networks you’d like to use, or have already started using. It’s important to focus on the ones that are most relevant to your business and audience. If you’re just starting out on social media, this list may be smaller than it is now—but it will help you get started and determine where you should place resources down the line.

Build a content calendar.

Once you’ve established your goals and identified your audience, the next step is to create a content calendar. A good place to start with this is by building out all of the social media channels that you want to use in your strategy.

For each platform, it’s important to determine what type of content works best for engagement, and how often you should post. You may find that some platforms work better for certain types of content than others; for example, if you’re an eCommerce brand with lots of product shots and lifestyle photos from customers using the items in real life, Instagram might be the perfect channel for sharing those kinds of images (and perhaps even stop-motion videos). If instead you sell software/tech products or have more technical features as part of your offering (perhaps because it’s a subscription service), Twitter might be more fitting since its audience tends toward people who are interested in technology news or follow influencers on social media who write primarily about tech topics.

Set up a publishing schedule.

It’s important to have a publishing schedule for your social media accounts. This will help drive consistency and focus across all of your channels, as well as ensure that your brand’s voice is being represented in the right way. When creating a strategy, it’s best to consider how many posts you want to publish each week/month/year, what kind of content should be posted (images vs text-based), how long each post should be, and when exactly they should go live. Here are some examples:

• Daily – Some brands post multiple times per day on their Instagram account. You can choose not to do this if it doesn’t fit into your overall strategy or marketing goals, but if you do decide that daily posts are for you then keep in mind that there needs to be enough variety so people don’t get bored from seeing too many similar images (which would lead them away from following). Some brands choose this method because it allows them to stay top-of-mind throughout the day by keeping their audience engaged through frequent updates about real-time events like sales going on at stores nearby during lunch breaks; other times it might just mean showing off cute puppies from around town who came out today instead 🙂
• Weekly – If weekly isn’t an option due to time constraints then consider posting more often than every two weeks so people don’t forget about what’s happening in between those intervals! If they’re not following closely enough though maybe check back later when things settle down again…but even better yet try something else entirely new! The possibilities really are endless here; just make sure whatever approach works best suits everyone involved before proceeding further 🙂

Generate quality content.

• Generate quality content.
• The first step to social media marketing is creating and sharing relevant and engaging content on a regular basis. Make sure that all of your posts are original, and not just repurposed from another source (even if you do give credit).
• When planning out your content schedule, use a template or tool to help you organize your ideas ahead of time. This will save you time later when it comes time for publishing and scheduling updates (and it’ll make it easier for others who need access).

Use HootSuite to schedule posts in advance.

One of the best things you can do to grow your social media presence is schedule posts in advance. This will allow you to be more consistent across all of your channels, and it will make it much easier for you to engage with your audience because they won’t expect something from you every time they see an update from you.

HootSuite allows users to schedule posts ahead of time so that they can be posted automatically at the right time and day. It also allows users to track their performance by seeing how many times each post received engagement (likes, shares, comments) as well as how many impressions were generated for each post (the number of times someone saw the post). HootSuite also allows users to engage with their audience directly through comments or replies on any given channel’s feed page within Hootsuite itself or through direct messages sent from within the app itself when someone sends a message directly into one’s inbox after finding them online somewhere else online such as Twitter where one would normally only see mentions if someone was talking about them specifically using @username syntax which isn’t always easy if there are lots of conversations going on between different people at once because then sometimes even just trying following up specifically one person’s comment might not work out properly either since there might not be enough room leftover in their stream after everyone else who wants commenting too already had said everything they wanted saying already so maybe just sending direct messages instead would work better this time around?

template social media strategy

We’re going to take you through all the steps of creating a template social media strategy in 8 simple steps.

• Understand your brand’s goals and objectives
• Identify your target market
• Define the purpose of each platform, then outline the proper tone and voice for each social channel
• Create a delivery calendar with specific dates, content ideas, and assignments (for example: “On 1/1/19 we will publish our blog post on Instagram)
• Create an editorial calendar outlining when you intend on posting on each platform (don’t forget about quality over quantity!)

social media strategy marketing

To optimize your social media strategy marketing, you need to find the right balance between engaging with followers and promoting your brand. By doing so, you can generate more sales while creating a strong community of advocates who will spread your message organically.

It’s important to remember that when creating a social media strategy for marketing purposes:

• You should be posting at least once per day on each platform—but don’t go overboard! Posting too much will overwhelm your audience and they’ll stop paying attention.
• Your content should align with your overall mission and image as an organization or business. If people don’t see it as authentic, then they’re not going to pay attention either!

Conclusion

If we’ve piqued your interest in social media marketing and automation, then you’re in luck! We have tons of resources to help you get started. Check out our free social media training courses. Explore HootSuite University, where you can take online modules that teach you everything from how to use HootSuite’s tools to best practices for maximizing your ROI on the platform. And no matter how much experience you have with social media marketing, there are always new things to learn. You can also sign up for a 30-day trial of Hootsuite Pro if you want to try out the tool without having to pay anything upfront—or if you want to access even more bells-and-whistles than our free plan offers!

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