Social media isn’t an exact science. But it is an important part of your marketing strategy. And it’s a time-consuming one - that’s why we’re here to give you support.
Social media can be exciting, fun and rewarding, or one big headache. What follows is a summary of our initial process in helping you develop a social media strategy for your business. Take a look!
Step 1. Let’s Discuss Your Goals. What are some specific goals you hope to achieve for your business? Identifying them will help us to build a social media strategy that supports them. Remember that social media alone will not be responsible for realizing your goals, but it can be instrumental. So what do you want? Some examples might be:
- To engage with/get 1 new person per day to be aware of the brand
- To get 1,000 followers/friends/fans by June
- To increase web traffic by 500 hits per week
- To reach 2,000 registered users in 6 months
- To convert 10% of registered users to active users
Step 2. Let’s Build a Plan. We’ll want to look at the many social media channels out there and develop a strategy for each one. Some things to think about:
A. Your channels can do many things. What do you anticipate using social media to do? Possibilities:
- Build credibility/reputation
- Build/increase brand awareness
- Customer service/brand management
- Offer valuable information to current or potential customers
- Engage with individuals or groups in your industry (to share resources/learn)
- Engage with individuals or groups in other industries/target markets (to attract new business)
- Improve search engine rankings/increase traffic
- Entertain
B. What channels would it make sense to use, and how?
- Facebook, MySpace
- YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr
- Digg, delicious, reddit, etc.
- SlideShare, presentation services
- Other
C. How often will you use these channels, and what will you post?
- Who posts what, and how frequently?
- What types of topics? (Funny, informative, personal, etc.)
- What will the approximate ratio be? (2:1 funny:informative?)
- How frequently will you engage with others?
- Whom will you engage with? (Industry leaders? Target market?)
Step 3. Execute and measure your strategy. Once we have determined your social media goals and strategy, it’s time to put it into action. Depending on your comfort level and budget, we can take an active role in the management (and measurement) of your social media strategy or a more passive one. Contact us for a price list of the different packages we offer.
Tags: communication, Facebook, marketing, social media, social web, twitter, youtube
