TheMarketingblog

4 key steps to creating an effective social media strategy

Coming up with a social media marketing strategy can be complicated, especially if you don’t have any background in marketing or advertising.

Luckily, social media is something we all use in our lives. The key is simply knowing where to begin with building an effective social media marketing strategy.

Self-assessment

Before building any kind of social media marketing strategy, it’s important to gain a better understanding as to why there has to be a social media campaign in the first place. In order to understand why a campaign has to be made, ask yourself a few questions like:

  • Why do we need to have a social media presence?

  • Who do we want to reach out to?

  • What social media platform are we going to focus on?

  • How can we stand out from the competition?

  • For how long will the campaign run?

  • How much are we willing to spend on this campaign?

Questions like these help bottleneck the brainstorming process and help provide more structure to a campaign in its infancy.

Determining a target audience

One important aspect of social media marketing is identifying who you want to reach out to. While it is true that a lot of people use social media, Inc.com stresses the importance of drafting a campaign for a specific audience.

Having a more social media strategy that markets to people who are more likely to buy from the business is much more efficient and effective than reaching out to a more general audience, many of which will only be “window shopping”.

When identifying a target audience, consider factors like:

  • Age

  • Gender

  • Location

  • Socioeconomic status

  • Occupation

  • Ethnicity

  • Lifestyle

  • Values

  • Interests

  • Browsing behavior

These factors can help provide a clearer picture as to who this campaign will be targeting.

Extra information from the editor : Very few brands have universal appeal. In fact, trying to appeal to everyone can be a mistake.

It can dilute your marketing messages, increase your marketing budget, and mean that your efforts lack focus. The customers aren’t getting the info that’s relevant to them, and you’re missing out on potential sales. That’s why you need to identify your target audience.

Partner up with a social media agency

Coming up with and running a social media campaign on your own can be possible, but without the right background and tools, the campaign will incur more losses to your business than gains. Partnering up with a social media agency ensures that the campaign is in good hands.

The best social media agency will be collaborative rather than directive; they go with your vision and will offer suggestions to improve the campaign rather than give you full or no control at all.

When choosing an agency, consider the following:

  • Does their style or aesthetic match with your brand?

  • How much experience do they have with handling cases like yours?

  • How is their communication style?

  • Does their body of work speak for itself?

  • What do former clients have to say about them?

Choosing a social media agency for your campaign with these considerations will help you pick the right partner.

Decide on a platform

Running a marketing campaign on every social media platform will increase the chances of landing buying customers, but it is not the most cost-effective path to take.

A good social media platform should be the platform your target audience uses often. Pinterest is a social media platform that is slowly gaining popularity, but not many brands know how powerful it can be. Consider getting ahead of the game by learning how to leverage Pinterest in your social media strategy.

Creating a social media marketing strategy can be challenging, but only if you have no clear guide on what to do.

But by conducting self-assessment, determining your target audience, collaborating with a social media agency, and choosing the right platform, your social media campaigns will have a lot more structure and direction, making your life easier.

Also allowing you to focus more on achieving the end goal of the campaign.

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