September 20, 2022
We’ve all heard the phrase, “if you fail to plan, then you are planning to fail,” but what does this mean when it comes to social media? Well, simply put, you need to think ahead! Without a strategy, you may end up posting just for the sake of it, adding to all the noise out there with no rhyme or reason. Or, worse off, you may not have a social presence at all. Without a game plan, it will be very challenging to get results. This is why developing a social media strategy is essential. Read on to learn the eight key components we address in our custom social media strategies to make the most of your social efforts!
Step one is sitting down to figure out what you want from this process. A few common and realistic social media goals are increasing brand awareness, generating leads and sales, growing the brand's audience, boosting community engagement, and driving traffic to your site. Make a list of what you would like to accomplish in order of most to least importance, and let's get cracking!
If a customer of yours were to see your post out of context, would they recognize it as part of your brand? You want to ensure you take the time to define who your brand is. Consider your brand as a person. What do they sound like? What do they say, or what would they never say? We use Carl Jung’s Brand Archetypes to help define this for our clients. Having brand guidelines for your entire team to follow is imperative, especially in the beginning stages while you may be building brand awareness. Define your fonts, colours, and themes, and stick to them!
This step is crucial but often overlooked. If you want to make an impact, you can't just speak to anyone who will listen. Think about your target demographic. How old are they? Where do they go on vacation? What do they do for work and fun? Know your audience! This way, you can craft content that will genuinely resonate with them.
Depending on your target audience, you'll want to strategically select which platforms to focus on. You should also consider what type of content you are able to create (i.e. do you have the tools and set up to create video content?) to ensure you can fill these platforms with content. LinkedIn and Instagram are both excellent platforms for business professionals and millennials. TikTok is solely video-based content and is great for attracting the Gen Z crowd. YouTube and Facebook are great platforms to run ads on. If you’re trying to reach an older demographic, say 35-60, Facebook is your ideal platform (Not that 35 is old!). Whereas you’re more likely to find 20-40-year-olds on Instagram. There are a lot of considerations when selecting platforms, but if you are just starting out, try and focus your attention first on the platform where you have the most viewers.
Consistency is critical for social media growth. Ensure you have enough content to keep ahead of schedule by about two weeks, while also maintaining a consistent posting cadence. At Marr Media Group, our team frequently sits down to brainstorm content ideas to plan ahead. We think of topics, themes, and ideas for our content calendars that align with our client's vision for what they want to portray. Once the content is approved and organized, setting up a posting schedule will help your engagement soar. Find out when your audience is active and online and post at these times to capture their attention, remembering that this timing will probably vary slightly on each platform. And be sure to strategically manage the cadence of different types of posts to generate maximum exposure within the algorithm.
It's good to think of hashtags like digital keywords that will help users find you. Don't overlook this step, but also don't go throwing a ton of irrelevant hashtags on a post hoping it will be beneficial! A generic overused hashtag with millions of hits won't be helpful because the minute you post, your content will get buried underneath the multitude of content that is also using the same tags. A successful hashtag strategy will also depend on the number of tags used per post, and they do vary from platform to platform, so try and be strategic with the ones you choose. Look for niche hashtags and experiment to see which ones stick or try using a hashtag tool like Flick.
If you have started to take the above steps, hopefully, your ship has begun to sail. But wait! We haven't taught you how to steer yet. Think of your metrics or analytics as the ship's wheel, which, when appropriately used, will take you where you want to go. Since goal-setting was our first step, we already know what we want, and understanding how to extract and analyze our metrics will be the roadmap that gets us there.
Each platform is slightly different, but in general, you should be measuring how much your audience is growing, your average engagement rate, how much website traffic you’re driving, and what content is resonating with your audience and what isn't. Based on this, you can pivot your content strategy to further cement your success.
Contrary to popular belief, good engagement is far more important than the number of followers you have, so nurture it by being as responsive to your audience as possible. A good rule of thumb is to be active on your platforms for 30-45 minutes after each post. You can also use this time to reply to comments or direct messages and engage with other like-minded people on the platform. The more your name or brand comes up, and the more familiar people get with seeing you in their network, the easier it will be to ask for a sale down the road.
We know this may seem overwhelming, but we are here to help! Book a call with us if you are interested in learning more about how a social strategy can benefit you. We will help you not only get your footing in the digital marketing space but also assist you in achieving all of your social media goals. But don’t just take our word for it…
“Tessa and what she has created at Marr Media Group is truly exceptional. I worked hard to establish my branding and then for months was executing my own social media strategy. I was gaining momentum but it was A LOT of work. I knew I needed support. After beginning my journey with Marr Media I have been, put simply, blown away. They have taken my strategy to even greater heights with their knowledge and understanding of my target audience and how best to engage them. We’ve had record-breaking growth month after month because of these efforts. The growth I’ve experienced in my business would not have been possible without them!” – Cassandra Worthy, Founder & CEO of Change Enthusiasm
"Marr Media Group got us the important information and the most important habits to focus our social media growth. We have hit our year end goals, and then some; and would not have been able to do so without the guidance of the gurus at Marr Media Group." - Tony Ronalds, Band Leader
"I was overwhelmed and intimidated by how to use social media to grow my business. I wanted to get my brand and name out there, but didn't know where to start. Marr Media Group & Tessa stepped in to help me focus on what my brand is, create a social media strategy and create new goals for myself! They made it all so simple with a social media checklist and benchmarks to reach to advance my business. I feel like I was able to advance past my competitors because of the tools and advice Marr Media Group gave me." - Tallis Rollins, Yoga Teacher
Book your call with us to get started today!
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