Why you need a social media marketing strategy

Why you need a social media marketing strategy
How to Measure Social Media Marketing Success
September 2, 2021

OK, I’ll admit it. I don’t always post to social media with a social media strategy in mind.

I find it tough to stick to my strategy, especially when I see a witty third-party article or meme. And I’m here to tell you that’s OK. You don’t always need to post based on your strategy, but what you do need to do is always post with your audience in mind. Even when I share a meme to my social media platforms, I do so knowing my audience will like it.

The goal of social media

The goal of social media is to help build your authority and show people you are an expert in your field. Social media will help you reach new people and help solidify who you are as a business or non-profit organization. It sounds serious, but there’s no reason why you can’t also have a little fun with it. So, go ahead and share those memes, as long as they make sense.

Having a strong social media presence (memes and all) shows you care about your audience. As more clients, customers and donators are all looking online for your industry, if you are not there when they’re looking for you, someone else will be, and they are going to get the money and business you want.

The purpose of a social media marketing strategy

A social media marketing strategy helps businesses and non-profit organizations prepare and plan for reliable and cost-effective marketing with a purpose. It can help them determine where their website traffic is coming from and help them gain new leads. It would be great if you could record a podcast, hit publish, and it goes viral sending thousands of qualified leads to your website. But that doesn’t happen in the real world. You need to know where your traffic is coming from, what kind of content is attracting qualified leads, and you need to plan to create more of that kind of content.

The anatomy of a social media marketing strategy

A social media marketing strategy takes into account several things.

Target audience

Who is the intended audience? Who will be consuming your content (notice I didn’t just say reading your content). How old are they? What are their interests? Do they have a family? What are their spending habits? Where are they hanging out online? These are just some of the questions a social media marketing strategy will answe

Identify your goal

What do you want to accomplish with social media? Do you want to increase sales or leads? Will you use social media as a customer service platform? Do you want to boost customer awareness? These questions will help determine your what your social media content will communicate to your audience.

Content format

Your format will depend on where your audience is online and what content they like to consume. For example, video content might be Instagram Reels, TikToks, and might include the launch of a YouTube channel. If your audience is more conversational then brief, witty content for Twitter might be the focus. While it might be tempting to be everywhere online, you only need to be where your audience is.

What problems do you solve?

A marketing strategy would also take a deep dive into what problems your business or non-profit solves for your audience. For example, if you’re a high-tech company creating software, what’s the problem that software solves for its customers? Does it make their billing or human resource processes much easier? If so, then this is the pain point that you want to bring forward in your marketing.

If you’re a non-profit organization that brings breakfast to schools and helps solve the problem of hunger in elementary school students, then your marketing should show people that this is the problem you help solve.

Key Messages

A strategy will clearly identify the information you want your audience to hear, understand and remember. Your key messages will drive the kind of content you will create for your social media platforms.

But what about publishing and managing your content? This is where a content marketing manager or social media marketing manager can help.

The role of the social media marketing manager

 A social media manager focuses on the day-to-day tactical part of your social media presence. They help ensure your presence on social media is consistent, clear, engaging. They can also help by responding to incoming comments, direct messages, and mentions. A social media manager completes tasks related to content creation, scheduling, publishing, community management, and analytics.

By being involved in your social media day-to-day, a social media manager can see what content resonates with your audience and what content is not working well.

A well-thought-out plan without proper execution is pointless. If you want to have your social media strategy properly implemented, you should consider partnering with a social media manager. If you have a social media strategy or looking to have one developed, reach out today. Showing up consistently online, where your clients are, and with the correct format and messaging, will build relationships, generate qualified leads, and grow your business or organization!

Remember, allow your social media manager to bring their touch of creativity to the plate. The right social media manager will develop dynamic content that is relevant and engaging. Want to learn more? Let’s chat.