10 Things to Consider When Creating a Social Media Marketing Strategy

A woman holding a phone with social media icons popping off the screen

The era of social media marketing on your own or through a social media marketing company is one of the fastest-growing and most influential in recent history. With a strategy in place, you’ll see results like increased customer conversion rates, greater brand awareness and engagement, and lower costs. But with so many platforms out there – from Twitter to Pinterest – it can be hard to know where to start. This blog post will provide a checklist of 10 things you need to consider when creating a social media marketing strategy.

 

1. Strategy and Audience Targeting

The most important reason for setting up a social media marketing strategy is to create value for your target audience. This means giving them what they want and providing the information they need to make the right decision online. So before you start building your strategy, you need a clear guide on which platforms best suit your company and industry.

It would help if you also considered your overall goal – whether it’s to drive up brand awareness, increase customer conversion rates, or something else – and how you can achieve it through social media marketing.

 

2. Content Creation and Management

Over the last few years, there has been a transformation in the way companies market their products and services. It’s no longer enough just to publish press releases and expect them to go viral on their own. The key to success is producing the right content on the right platform. In addition, what your competitors and customers say about you online will play a crucial role in your success. So, you must be able to respond quickly when they start talking about you or your products. And it would be best if you had the tools and infrastructure in place to manage them properly.

 

3. Targeting Your Channels

Each social media platform has a specific target audience, so it’s important to tailor your strategy to those rules. For instance, LinkedIn is the place for professionals. You can’t just post a generic promo video and expect it to go viral. Instead, it would be best if you focused on sharing highly targeted content relevant to the company and industries in which you operate. Similarly, Facebook is a place to reach an audience with specific interests. You should tailor the content you share accordingly and use Facebook Insights to help you figure out what types of posts have worked best in the past.

 

4. The Cost of Social Media Efforts

This is something that everyone wants to avoid thinking about. Still, you need to take into account the fact that social media efforts will cost you money. There are plenty of costs, from an initial investment in a tool like Hootsuite to your time spent publishing content and managing and responding to conversations on social media.

This might seem obvious – but it’s important not to overlook it when creating a budget for your social media marketing strategy. It’s often a good idea to find a social media marketing company to help you identify and manage the costs that might come along with this.

 

5. The ROI of Social Media Efforts

It’s important to ensure your social media efforts’ return on investment is worth it. To do this, you need to track the goals and metrics associated with your strategy and compare them with the results you achieve regularly. For example, you can use a tool like Google Analytics or Hootsuite Analytics to monitor page views, conversion rates or other metrics related to your social media efforts. A good social media marketing company can help you make sense of the analytics data and put it to work for your business.

 

6. The Good and the Bad of Social Media Marketing

It’s important to accept that everything has its pros and cons, so it’s crucial that you consider the good and bad things about social media marketing before getting started. For example, you can use social media to generate leads. Still, you won’t know if those leads are qualified until they engage with your company. Similarly, it is possible to use social media channels to gain customers. But, they might disengage if they feel your company isn’t responding quickly enough.

A business woman working on her marketing strategy with the help of a social media marketing company

 

7. Social Media Marketing Tools

Social media marketing tools are among the best ways to simplify the management of your social media campaigns. They allow you to create, manage and monitor all kinds of content on multiple channels simultaneously. This means you can set up a strategy for Facebook and Twitter in one place, for example, and focus solely on your LinkedIn marketing efforts. There are plenty of tools available, but you must choose the ones that are best suited to your company and industry.

 

8. The Channels You Should Focus on First

Not every company has access to the resources or experience to create a strategy that works for every audience. So before you start putting all your eggs in one basket, it can be useful to identify the most important channels in your market. For example, suppose you’re in the fashion industry. In that case, you need to approach social media with an awareness of how important vernacular is and where each platform sits on the language spectrum within it.

 

9. Privacy and Security

The last thing you should be worried about while creating a social media marketing strategy is the risk of people stealing or misusing information. This could range from your client’s personal information to your company IP. Unfortunately, you can find yourself at the wrong end of a lawsuit if you’re not careful. So you must have a plan in place to ensure that no matter what, personal data is protected at all times.

 

10. Expected Results

>The last thing you should do is develop a social media marketing strategy you have no expectations for. It’s extremely important to set goals and benchmarks for your efforts ahead of time, so you know what you’re working towards and can measure the results of your actions. Make sure to set yourself goals that are specific and measurable, as this will make it easier for you to understand how effective your social media campaign was.

 

Contact Salt Rank Today!

Once you have completed the checklist above, you will better understand what type of social media marketing is best for your brand and audience. And before you start generating content or building a strategy, you must confirm that your blog is ready to go live. If not, it’s time to talk to a social media marketing company about how they can help.

Salt Rank is one such company that can help you increase customer satisfaction on social media. Like salt can enhance flavor in a dish, we can enhance your results on social media. To get a quote for your business, contact us today!

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About the Author: Autumn Huerter