As a business owner, you understand just how important a social media presence is in today’s world. You know social media can be an incredibly effective, affordable and simple way to market your product or service.
But here’s the catch, it must be done strategically!
The Curse of the Scattergun Approach
Many small businesses, unfortunately, take a scattergun approach to social media. This might involve being really active in short bursts, when they have the time, followed by radio silence when other things take priority. This is a double-edged sword: Not only does it mean that for days, weeks, or months on end your audience sees nothing from you and forget all about your business, but then when you come back, you suddenly saturate their newsfeeds, potentially annoying your followers and losing their brand loyalty.
Strategy is Key
For these reasons, it’s important to establish a happy medium by putting in place a set social media strategy that maintains brand presence online but doesn’t overdo it and have the opposite effect. Having a strategy in place creates a defined direction for your content, so that you can grow your business and reach the lofty marketing goals we know you have!
Plus, the almighty algorithm will love you for it!
Break it Down
We suggest first clearly identifying your ultimate goal for the week, month, and year ahead and then working backwards, planning in specific content and campaigns that will align with those goals. Don’t just fire out anything and everything that you can think of to post and see how it does! Take your time to consider the bigger picture and then split it into smaller, more manageable chunks that align with your strategic goals for each platform, and the wider business.
Keep it Consistent
Once you’re clear on your goals and the content you’d like to share, it’s time to look at your analytics and get to know your audience. See when they’re most active, the types of posts they engage with, and which platforms have the biggest demographics you would like to target.
According to research shared by Social Media Today:
- Gen Z chose Instagram as the platform to follow brands.
- Baby boomers spend most of their time on YouTube and the Facebook Feed.
- Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X selected YouTube as the platform they rely on when making purchase decisions.
Keep these findings in mind when it comes to your main platforms, the times you post and the content you create.
Save Yourself Time
Trust us when we tell you that having a strategy will save you time! Though it may look like it would be more work, it’s all up front and you can get it all done in one chunk. You’ll be able to plan your content in advance and won’t spend precious time panic-posting when you should be focusing on client work, suddenly realising you haven’t shared a single thing in 3 weeks. Plus, you’ll take the stress and guesswork out of your everyday life, because we all know fires crop up that need putting out every so often!
Remember the Big Picture
Remember that every post will be communicating a certain message about your brand, so make sure it’s a positive one. Once you have a clear strategy, you’ll be able to tell what works and what doesn’t and tweak it to perfection as you go. Keep track of how different platforms and posts perform in your analytics and do more of what works. Maintain a clear picture of what you’re ultimately trying to achieve and consider that each and every time you hit share.
Each Post is Important
What it all boils down to is that each post will either make consumers more or less likely to make a purchase: It really is that simple. So, in summary, set your goals, work backwards to plan your content, get to know your audience, rinse and repeat.
Hopefully, you don’t need any more convincing that a strategy is essential when it comes to your social media. But perhaps you do need a checklist of what to include? Don’t worry – we’ve got your back. Click here to download our FREE Social Media Strategy Checklist now!
Thank you to our guest Blogger Chantelle Davison – Choice Words By Chantelle