5 step guide to developing your social media presence

How to create a social strategy
A 5-step guide to developing your social media presence

What this will teach you
This guide highlights the five steps you need to create a social media strategy for your business.

Nearly one third of the global population are active social media users. Social media presents businesses with the opportunity to earn customer trust, showcase expertise, and meet potential customers. But businesses that lack a clear social media strategy struggle to get the customer engagement levels, insight, and sales they’re looking for.

To get the most out of your social media efforts, your strategy should include the following:

• Determine which sites are most beneficial to post to and when to post to them
• Decide how large you want your social media presence to be
• Identify the right metrics to use to measure your progress towards social media goals
• Consider how to engage current and potential customers online

 How to create a social media strategy in 5 steps

1. Establish SMART social media goals: All business planning should start with defining clear goals, and social media is no exception. One of the biggest reasons why social media strategies fail is because goals aren’t aligned with core business values. For long term success on social media, choose goals based on traffic, leads, and sales.
   Start by writing down at least three social media goals that relate to or support your business objectives. SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable,
   relevant, and time based.
2. Audit your social media presence: To understand your current use and get to know what works with your audience, conduct an audit of your social media presence. Who is connecting with your business on social media, which social networks and content does your audience prefer, and what is your competition doing?
   Conduct an inventory of your social media presence, search for officially sanctioned and unauthorized pages representing your business. Take note of the number of followers, quality and quantity of activity or engagement, and whether all links work within each social profile
3. Introduce a content strategy: Now that you’ve solidified your goals and have an
   understanding of your target audience, it’s time to determine what content will help you reach both. A comprehensive content strategy should include:
   Types of content you will post and promote, Frequency of sharing, Engagement plan, Target audience for each type of content, Content execution plan, Content promotion plan
   Your content strategy may also involve creating posts in advance to be posted later. Use Hootsuite to schedule posts to whichever social profiles you’d like. Remember to put your scheduled posts on your editorial calendar so you don’t forget about them.
4. Measure your progress: Before you get into a content rhythm, check your analytics often to see how your social campaign or content is performing. Most likely, your audience prefers a variety of original content combined with relevant, trending posts. Facebook Insights shares insights into your Facebook audience and content, while Google Analytics shows you who’s viewing and engaging with your web pages. Remember to match your analytics up with your goals to ensure you’re on the right track to success
5. Adjust your strategy: With a general understanding of what resonates with your audience and supports your objectives, you can start to adjust your social media strategy accordingly. Re-write your content strategy based on your analysis and update goals as you’ve met them. Tweaking your strategy should be an ongoing process. Use analytics and feedback to guide you through updates.

Reference: Hooksuite