Why you need a social media strategy
Do you use social media “as and when” and not really have any strategy behind what you’re posting?
It’s so easy to do as social media can be such a time hoover and we can get sidetracked by something we’ve seen, or what another competitor's account may have posted, that it’s hard to stay focussed.
Many of us work on a month by month basis, so it can be difficult to implement a long-term strategy and we do also need to be aware, as we’ve seen in recent months, not to be working too far in advance as you may have to undo all the hard work you’ve put in if your posts are no longer relevant in the external climate.
Having recently been asked to create a client’s 90 day social media plan, it seems like a good topic to share this week. So where do you start? Consider the goals you want to achieve with your marketing. They could be to:
Raise awareness of your products and/or services
Raise awareness of your brand
Collaborate with others in a similar sector
Grow your email list
Sell products and/or services
So once you’ve decided your goals and objectives, think about your audience and the type of interests they have and where your offering fits in.
Consider holidays and awareness days
When you’re looking to plan out your 90 days of social media, I always start with what’s happening in a local/national/world calendar that’s relevant to your brand and your customers, that you can comment on. For instance, if you’re in retail you may be governed by celebrations and holidays, whereas if you’re in service delivery you may find awareness days a good place to start.
Put your personal stamp on a holiday theme or share your opinions or views to the audience so they can get to know you.
When it comes to your products and services, share the benefits they may bring to your consumer. All businesses must understand their benefits to market their business, so consider how many ways you can talk about these which will resonate with your audience and encourage them to realise how important having your product or service will be to them.
When we talk about raising awareness of your brand, we are really focusing on your values. People will buy from you if they share the same values as you and you can connect with them; you can help them understand your values by sharing what you believe in. These brand awareness posts give your audience the opportunity to know, like and trust you.
Collaboration has never been more important. It’s something that seems to have been lost along the way and those who embrace collaborating with complementary businesses or charities are reaping the benefits.
Imagine you have a nail salon and there is a nearby hair salon; isn’t it possible that those who love having their hair dressed may also love having a manicure? If these two businesses promote their services to each other’s audiences they could double their customer base without being concerned that they are giving their customers away. In reality they’re enhancing their customers’ experience by offering a personal recommendation or possibly even combined offers or packages… Let your imagination take the lead.
This is why we are so much stronger working together and never forget your local (or online) business community, they have so much to offer you and you them.
The importance of connection
If you’re hoping to grow your email list, think about the kind of offers you can make to encourage someone to part with their email address. Remember, it’s so important to have the ability to contact your customers directly as you never know when social media platforms may make you pay (advertise) or even have an outage as we’ve seen recently. Perhaps try 10% off a product or service or a PDF download of something helpful offered in exchange for an email. Check out some of my offers here for ideas.
Once you have an email list of potential customers, of course you’ll need to keep in touch with them via email to foster that “know, like and trust” factor.
And if you’re on social media for business purposes, your ultimate goal is to make sales whether that’s consultations or products, so that’s when you make offers to sell. Typically you’re looking at a ratio of 80% informative or entertaining posts to 20% of sales posts.
Have a go at creating your 90 day social media plan and remember to refer back to it when you’re creating your posts and you'll find how much better it flows and how much easier it will be to create those posts….. and of course the better those posts will convert your audience into customers.
If you need support creating your specific 90 day plan, why not book a strategy session with me today and we’ll get you set up in no time. Never underestimate the power of brainstorming!
If you’ve got any thoughts or comments on creating a 90 day plan I’d love to hear them; simply use the comment section below and let’s get the conversation started.
