How to define a social media strategy

Whether you're starting a social media marketing plan for the first time, or redefining an existing social media strategy, here are 10 questions to ensure you are on the right track.

1. Why has your brand joined social media?
   Plan out a mission for why your brand is on social media, make sure to think about what the benefits are as well as the risks.
2. What do you strive to achieve?
   Set specific goals to support the mission that you have created. Ensure that your goals are “SMART” specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound, and keep these goals somewhere visible to remind yourself of what you strive to achieve.
3. Who is your target audience?
   Review your customer data or market research to gain a deeper understanding of who your customers are and what motivates them.
4. What can you offer them?
   After determining the motivating factors of your customers, the next step is to consider how your product or service can fit with these factors and how to can convey this using social media.
5. What is your online brand voice?
   Brand perception is heavily influenced by the words and emotions utilized in your media presence, therefore it is imperative that your brand voice is clearly defined. The channels used to convey this voice are just as important as the message itself, ensure that you are choosing the right channel for both your audience and for the message content.
6. What type of content should you post, and to which social platform?
   Consider what medium your content is best presented as, and thus which social platform would be most suitable, i.e. image-based content suits Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest; business-focused content is compatible with LinkedIn; and niche content complements sites such as Reddit and Imgur.
7. Should your social media presence be a channel to provide customer service?
   When creating your social media pages discuss whether you want to engage customers by providing customer service or if you would like to direct them elsewhere, i.e. email or phone contacts.
8. Who will manage our social media and what resources should be allocated to it?
   Maintaining a successful social media presence requires a significant amount of time, energy and manpower, thus before forging ahead, review your current resources to ensure that your allocation to the maintenance of your social media is sustainable.
9. How does social media coordinate with our other campaigns?
   Coordinating campaigns with your social media helps to reinforce messages and establishes a platform for receiving feedback, thus the timeliness and message content should be run parallel to planned campaigns.
10. How will we measure the success of our social media strategy?
    Having an answer to this question before initiating a social media presence is paramount, as it will assist you to follow through with your strategy and evaluate what works.

If you want to learn more about developing a social media strategy for your brand, contact us.

*Adapted from Buffer Blog.