How To Develop Your Social Media Brand Strategy

01 April 2020By Michelle

Your social strategy – in 60 minutes and five steps flat

Right now, at this very moment, there are business owners all over the world who are sat procrastinating over their social strategy. Are you one of them?

I don’t blame you if so.

A cursory trip to Google is enough to put even the most seasoned of entrepreneurs off – there are hours of videos, the ‘latest’ advice on how social platforms have *just* this second changed, and conflicting opinions on just about everything, from what platforms to pick to the content to create.

So, I want to let you into a secret – your social strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. An expert isn’t an essential. And it CAN be tackled in a single afternoon. Let’s get to work.

1. Get your goals nailed down

First off, what do you want to achieve? 100%+ in followers? 250% increase in engagement? 10 comments, on average, per social post? And how do these translate into sales?

Write down your achievable, specific goals alongside their deadlines (and don’t set so many that you lose focus or become overwhelmed).

2. Select your social platforms

WAY too many businesses use every social platform under the sun, and simply post the same content onto each one. With that in mind, here’s something you need to know – you shouldn’tbe on every social network going. You should only choose the ones where your target market hang out (and if you don’t know where that is, hop over to our blog: A swift introduction to social media platforms).

• What social network(s) does your audience use?
• What platform(s) match up to the types of content you create?
• What platform(s) are used in your industry?

With your networks chosen, you also need to understand that your content should be unique on each platform – don’t just copy and paste from Facebook to Twitter. The audiences on each network have different expectations from the content – like Instagram users wanting images they can relate to, while Pinterest users want to be inspired by the images they discover.

3. Put together your plan of attack for content creation

There is a journey that your target customer goes through before committing to buy. At every stage of this buying journey, is a type of content which can gently nudge them onto the next step. This includes explainer videos, blogs, newsletters, white papers, sales brochures, and customer stories.

You don’t need to follow this process to the letter, nor do you have to create each one of the stated pieces of content. The one thing you do need to do howeveris to track which forms of content work best in terms of conversion.

4. Create your content calendar

Now’s the time to decide when and how often you’ll post (or allow Lead Social to take care of it all for you).

A content calendar is going to prove essential for outlining the type of content you’ll post and when – including the theme for each week or month (here’s a brilliant – and free – social media calendar template from HubSpot).

5. Track, tweak, test (then repeat, repeat, repeat)

Social success is out of the question if you haven’t…

• Set SMART goals
• Set up a system to analyse results (using the right tools)
• Put a method in place for tracking, testing, and tweaking your approach

During the early days take small steps – pick several metrics that fit in with your goals and track your progress each day.

Social strategies needn’t be hard. Nor must they take a month to put together.

At Lead Social, strategies are our bread and butter – a real favourite with our team who revel in setting clients up for social success. If you’d prefer to skip the five steps above, we’re ready to get to work when you are.

Let’s talk about it.