Creating A Social Media Marketing Strategy: A Guide

S tudies have shown that out of the adults with internet access, 71% use social media. Social media is one of the most powerful tools for marketing a business. Social media marketing allows you to connect with your consumers, and form a relationship. It has a direct influence on sales, customer retention, and brand reputation. Developing a social media strategy is essential for the growth of your business. 

Since your customers are already interacting with brands through social media, it’s easier to reach out to them by applying the right social media marketing strategy. Here’s how you can go about creating a social media marketing strategy.

1.    Set Goals

Plan out relevant and applicable goals for social media. The goals need to be strategic for how you expect your business to grow. They should also complement your primary business goals. Make sure that these goals are ‘SMART’: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Meaning that your social media marketing goals should increase brand awareness, accomplish a higher amount of sales, improve your business’s ROI (Provable return on investment), drive people to your store’s sales, and lastly, have significant growth on your fans online.

2.    Decide The Relevant Metrics

Decide the metrics that’ll give you the proper response to meeting your goal. For instance, if your goal target is a higher level of your brand’s awareness, then you can apply a post-reach statistic. It’ll tell you if the content you’re putting out is reaching across relevant social channels. 

For goals based on sales, or driving people to a specific action, you should keep a check on the number of times they click on your post. Tracking the clicks for each campaign gives a good hint of what people would rather buy or do. Your posts should be engaging enough to have people interacting with your content and it has to have an impact.

3.    Understand Your Social Media Viewers

Take a look at the social media marketing goals that were previously set. What are the topmost social channels to assist you with your goals? To be successful at doing this, you need to understand your customers. Establish identities for your ideal consumers such as, what their looks will be like and where they frequently are spending time. With better recognition and appreciation of the psychographics as well as demographics of your targeted audience, you’ll have a higher chance of reaching them through your social media channels.

4.    Choose The Proper Networks of Social Media

You don't have to operate an account on every social media network to reach their targeted audience. All you have to do is discover the proper social networks for your business requirement. You want to look out for the relevant networks on social media where your target audience is. It may take some research, though, it won't be difficult, especially if you know your customers. You can conduct a survey, asking them for their favored social accounts. The most popular are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Tiktok, etc.

5.    Establish a Social Media Budget

While social media marketing is a practical form of marketing, you should still allocate a budget accordingly. It shouldn't be more than you spend on how much you can realistically earn back from sales, or at least in brand recognition and awareness. A return on investment (ROI) needs to be calculated as with any form of marketing, from your social media expenditure. However, don’t be afraid of spending your budget on online campaigns to attract more consumers to your page.

No longer is social media purely for fun. The world has become globalized with social media keeping us all connected more than ever. An integral part of advertising is building brand awareness, making a profit, and providing activities for your audience to enjoy. Nothing screams success more than the rising sales stats, through the audience who has decided to become loyal to your brand. By setting achievable goals and addressing each of the steps above, to be well ahead of when it comes to your social media marketing strategy.

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• business
• marketing
• Social media
• strategy