Get your social media on track in 2020

An opportunity to go social

This year did not have the most promising start and short to medium-term prospects may seem somewhat blurry right now. However, one thing is certain – social media is now an even more critical tool when it comes to promoting businesses. Indeed, the digitization of businesses has become crucial at a time when the demand for contact-less delivery retail and e-commerce is surging.

So what is an effective social media strategy and how can it create a tangible impact on your business?

A process you can tailor to fit

From choosing the right channels to figuring out your content strategy, and deciding on an advertising budget, the planning phase may seem like the most challenging part of the process.

We’re sharing a step by step guide to facilitating the task.

1. Set Meaningful Social Marketing Goals

It’s important to stick to the SMART approach when thinking about social marketing goals. This means planning activities that are realistic, achievable, and measurable. Take into consideration your resources, your time availability, the budget you are willing to invest, and what impact you wish to generate for your business. Don’t forget that a SMART goal is:

S — specific M — measurable A — achievable R — realistic T — time-based, timely, trackable

2. Research Your Target Audience

When it comes to identifying your target audience, it’s important to focus on the added value that you will offer and choose a niche accordingly. It is also important to identify the key common characteristics that this audience might have. For instance, location, age range, interests, and behavior are all vital. By doing so, you are setting the groundwork for the type of content that this niche is going to be interested in.

3. Establish Your Most Important Metrics

Metrics are as important as your goals; they allow you to measure the effectiveness of your strategy and adjust it as you go along. Some metrics that you should be tracking include reach, engagement, acquisition, conversion, and click-through-rate. Kick-start things by selecting the metrics that fit with goal measurements and keep a close eye on their progress.

4. Analyze Your Competition

Conduct an audit of your competition’s online activities and take notes about their positioning, their content style, their ads, and unique selling points. Then, look for gaps in the market and see how your offering can fill in.

5. Create and Curate Engaging Content

Make sure that your content is relevant to your audience. Provide engaging information and use the best format (be it videos, animations, infographics or Gifs) to present it.

6. Make Timeliness a Top Priority

Plan your content ahead of time to avoid any gaps. You can create two weeks’ worth of content in advance and pre-schedule it using third-party tools such as Hootsuite.

7. Have a Responsive Attitude

Being responsive means making sure that you have a first-response template or automation for all incoming comments, messages, and inquiries. Make sure that your response rate is always high and regular. It’s also important to tackle head-on any negative feedback and turn it into an advantage. So, be open and positive at all times while being flexible enough to adjust your strategy where necessary.

8. Assess Your Results and Optimize

Monitor analytics to determine your ROI and measure key metrics such as engagement, reach, and click-through-rates. This will help you identify the most popular content themes and optimize your next calendar accordingly.

A bright future ahead

There are many approaches that could suit your business needs. However, the most important things to keep in mind are consistency, timeliness, and relevancy. You can start small and then add new channels or alternative formats once you have mastered the main tools. Remember, new platforms are always popping up but having a presence is better than spreading yourself thin. So, choose the platforms where your business is most likely to thrive. A bright future lays ahead for your business if you take these simple steps.