Why do you Need a Social Media Marketing Strategy?

In yesterday’s article, we looked at the nature of the term ‘social media marketing’. We discovered that marketing on social media is not just about putting a couple of posts on the first platform that you can get your hands on. To be successful with respect to social media marketing, you need to adopt a strategic approach that’s underpinned by the core principles of your business.

We also chatted a bit about the necessity of having  a social media marketing strategy. This is because it informs all the activities that you take on social media and allows you to achieve the goals that you set out to. If you don’t have a plan in place in order to achieve your goals, chances are very good that you won’t be successful in your endeavours.

How do you put together a social media marketing strategy?

Putting together a plan or strategy for your social media marketing efforts is no different than putting together a strategy for any other process in your business. There are a couple of tried-and-trusted principles that you can rely on when you carry out this process.

Figure out your goals

Your social media strategy needs to be underpinned by your company’s goals. This is because the strategy needs to assist you in meeting the goals that you’ve set out. For example:

• If your company is a business-to-consumer (B2C) concern, your social media strategy needs to target social media platforms, such as Facebook, which are known for bringing in success for other B2C companies.
• If your organisation is new, you’ll need to draw in a lot of leads which you can ultimately convert into paying customers. Thus, on your social media platforms you’ll need to put in place a strategy that assists with generating these leads for your business.

Always evaluate your goals against the S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time sensitive). A goal that is ‘S.M.A.R.Ter’ than others is more likely to be achieved. If it falls short in any of these areas, rework them.