How to Create a Social Media Strategy-Part 1

Developing a comprehensive marketing plan is a critical step in laying the foundation on which you will build your business.  Every entrepreneur starts a business with different skills sets but all entrepreneurs are passionate about their business.  It doesn't matter how excited you are about your product and service, if you do not have a plan to market your business, you are setting yourself up for failure.  In The “Women in Business-2020 Trends” by Guidant Financial, they list lack of marketing and advertising skills as one of the top 3 challenges for women owned businesses. This is a guide intended to help people who need to boost their marketing skills.

Keep in mind, social media is a slice of the marketing pie. However, it is a slice that cannot be ignored.  This guide provides  tools, tips and strategies to help you come up with a social media game plan.

Let’s start with your goals and objectives.  Start with the end in mind. What goals and outcomes do you want to achieve with your social media marketing plan?  

This should align with your overall marketing goals that you have established for your company.

Why are goals important?

1. Goals hold you accountable

2. Goals provide a roadmap and also serves as a GPS for your efforts, activities and decisions

3. Goals provide a sense of motivation and inspiration

4. Goals provide an opportunity for you to stretch yourself, get out of your comfort zone and grow

If goals can do all of this for individuals, imagine what thoughtful and meaningful goals can do for your business.

Set SMART Goals

A goal without a plan is just a wish.  Setting S.M.A.R.T. goals allow you to have a clear vision for what you want to accomplish,they provide a way for you to measure your progress and sets a target date for completion.

S.M.A.R.T stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time based

Start with this question-What are you hoping to achieve with social media?

Specific — the more specific you can be with writing down a goal, the easier it will be to clearly see what it is you are trying to achieve. 

Measurable — how will you measure your success? 

Attainable — is your goal attainable? Can you realistically accomplish the goal?

Relevant — a relevant goal is aligned closely to your business objectives. Does this goal support your business’s objectives, vision, or values?

Time Specific — give your goal a deadline. 

Here’s an example of how you would set SMARTER goals

Let’s say that you have a goal of increasing your Facebook following. How would we make this statement a S.M.A.R.T. Goal?

We can convert this to a S.M.A.R.T. goal by saying “My goal is to increase the followers on my Facebook business page  by 30% within 4 months” 

S- specific ( increase the followers on my Facebook business page-YES!)

M-Measurable (by 30%-YES!)

A-Attainable (With focused effort and the tools to accomplish this-it is very attainable-YES!)

R-Relevant (YES!-it aligns with your marketing goals)

T-Time based (within 4 months-YES!)

Now let’s work on a plan of action to reach your goals.

Here is an example of a goal with some actionable steps to reach it.

Let’s use Susie as an example. Susie just opened a yoga studio and she wants to increase brand awareness of her studio on Facebook within the next 3 months to people within a 5 mile radius.

Her action plan could include the following:

• Increase follower count by 15%.

• Increase link clicks on posts about the new studio by 15%

• Have an average Post Reach of 1000 people per post.

• Review  and analyze FB Insights weekly

• Boost new cafe posts with an ad spend no larger than $50, targeting women within a five-mile radius,with an income of 70k, has a bachelor's degree and works full time. 

Now Susie has a S.M.A.R.T. social media goal, and an action plan. Now Susie needs some metrics that she can use in order to evaluate her progress.

The next step in your social media game plan is to determine how you will measure your social media goals.