A social media content strategy functions as both a map and a manual all in one. It’s a crucial guide that outlines the steps to take to guarantee a return on investment (ROI) from social media.
It explains where what, and how frequently to post to achieve your objectives. It provides you with guidance and a route to your destination.
Using social media to expand your brand could be too random or disorganized without a plan. However, you’ll have a higher chance of reaching the right audience with the right content on the right platforms if you have a plan in place.
It is important because social media is being used by approximately 60% of the world’s population, more people than ever before. 72% of Americans utilize social media, with Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn being the most widely used networks.
This means that your target audience is probably using at least one of these, but without a sound social media content strategy, you won’t be able to engage with them, improve website traffic, or boost sales.
A social media content strategy is what, exactly?
A social media content strategy is a roadmap that details how you’ll use content to build your brand and accomplish your objectives on various social media platforms. Your approach should ideally be written down so you may refer to it as you go about producing, publishing, and monitoring your social media posts. Your strategy document will assist in keeping your team members on the same page if you have one.
Remember: If you use social media content marketing correctly – with a strategy – you can and should see direct brand growth.
On the other hand, you’ll probably get little to no results if you post whatever, whenever, with no plan, goals, or measurements.
Seven Steps for Creating Your Social Media Content Strategy
Establish Goals That Support Your Brand
Every strategy should begin by establishing one or two objectives for what you hope to accomplish with that strategy. Setting goals helps you focus more clearly and directs your actions so that you don’t waste time on unimportant things.
For example, metrics like likes and shares won’t be as important to you if one of your social media content marketing goals is to increase traffic to your website. Instead, focus on your website’s click-through rates (CTRs) and social media traffic.
Other typical social media content marketing objectives are as follows:
Increase brand awareness Followers, shares, and mentions of your posts should all be tracked.
Achieve more leads: Track email signups, lead magnet downloads, and social media click-throughs.
Boost customer interaction with your brand: Consider the number of shares, likes, and comments for each post. Keep tabs on remarks and responses to your Stories.
Discover Your Audience’s Platform Choices
If your company already uses content marketing, you are aware of how crucial it is to identify your target market before you begin developing content.
More than any other thing, audience research will determine what you share; each piece of content you produce should appeal to them on some level.
To do that, you must be aware of what will pique their interest. You can base that on the information you already have about them, such as their age, gender, income level, job title, or sector, or you can ask them directly using techniques like:
Interviews (exchange emails or direct messages, or talk to them).
Societal hearing
Surveys
You can decide which platforms your brand should use by conducting audience research. And no, you don’t need to be on every platform. Choose one or two platforms instead, and base your selection on the most popular ones that your target audience uses.
Improve your social media profiles (s)
Your efforts in social media content marketing will suffer if your social profiles are not optimized. Visitors won’t be able to comprehend who you are or what you sell if your profile is amateurish, careless, or not on brand.
Instead, focus on creating profiles that are interesting, educational, and properly branded so you can assist leads in learning more about you.
Use a branded profile image to create a cohesive appearance across all of your profiles.
Define your biography: Keep it brief yet sweet, and be sure to clearly describe what you do for clients.
Add the appropriate links: Whether it’s your home page or a landing page, always link to your website.
Choose Your Post Types And Topics
It’s time to decide which subjects will be the main emphasis of your social media material and what kinds of content you’ll publish on each channel.
Your topic areas should be determined by the point at which your brand expertise and client interests converge. What topics can you post about with confidence and expertise? What subjects are of interest to your audience? Narrow it down to make your social media profiles coherent and pertinent.
Then, decide which post types you’ll generate.
Although there are many possibilities available on each social media network, your audience might expect to see particular sorts of content on certain platforms, such as a lot of visual content on Instagram or text-based updates and links on Twitter.
For instance, Stumptown Coffee Roasters utilizes Instagram mostly for promoting graphic product features, while its Facebook page is used to share events and highlight its numerous cafés across the United States.
Establish a publishing schedule and a content calendar
One of the fundamental principles of a successful social media content strategy is regular publication. Your visibility will rise and your audience will have more opportunities to interact with your posts if you regularly provide high-quality content. You should therefore keep a social media content calendar and establish a posting timetable to make consistency simpler.
Plan everything, from the content to be posted to the day and time. Don’t forget to plan posts for the times when your audience will be browsing their feeds and online.
Make a strategy for social contact
When you are developing your social media content strategy, don’t forget to take engagement into account. I refer to your brand’s engagement, not the engagement of your audience. Social media is a two-way street where communication between you and your audience is constant. Engage them in conversation as well as your larger community to keep the dialogue rolling.
Your approach will be more effective if you include an engagement plan. A good example would be “Like and comment on two to three community posts each day.” Even better, you can make a plan that says something like, “Engage anytime you perceive a chance to connect.”
