How to Create a Social Media Strategy in 8 Easy Steps

1. Determine who you want to reach

Start by defining the essential demographics of the audience you're aiming to attract – age, gender, occupation, income, hobbies and interests, and so on — if you haven't already done so.

Consider their difficulties and the obstacles they face on a daily basis. Concentrate on no more than four different categories of people who make up the majority of your buyers. You'll never get started if you get caught up in the exceptions or outliers.

2. Start a blog

Try creating, high-quality content on a regular schedule if you are wanting to maximize your social media reach and exposure. Create a list of commonly asked questions from prospects and commit to answer at least one review or comment on your post a week, at the very minimum.

3. Develop teaching materials

Create digital content that meets your customer's pain points, such as ebooks, lists, films, and infographics. People will most likely share your social media content if it is actually helpful, extending your exposure.

4. Decide on your success metrics

How are you going to know if this is genuinely having an impact for your company? What critical metrics will you use to assess the success of your social media strategy? How will you (hopefully) go beyond likes and engagement?

Selecting KPIs (key performance indicators) establishes corporate expectations for measuring the ROI of your social media initiatives.

A social media strategy is more like a workout regimen than a fast fix. Only through patience and effort will success be realized. In order to keep leadership buy-in for the long run, thoughtful KPIs and realistic verifiable quarterly targets are required.

Your expertise is reflected in the success measures of your company. Advanced businesses, for example, follow customers all the way through the funnel, from social media participation to sale. Beginner businesses are more concerned with their reach, impressions, and other engagements.

5. What are you going to tell us about yourself?

You might be considering the types of content to share when you see this question. Do you wish to share films or photographs, for example?

But wait! Just a moment!

Let's take a step back and consider your social media marketing plan from a higher perspective. "Theme" could be a better word than "kind of content to present."

Here are a few brands and the themes they represent:

MeUndies, an underwear manufacturer, uses Instagram to showcase images from their consumers as well as photos of their items.

On their Facebook page, Huckberry, an outdoor and adventure business, posts editorial material and high-quality images of the outdoors.

Burrow, a high-end couch company, mostly uses Instagram to distribute memes.

You may have noticed that the brands mentioned above have more than one core theme if you go through their social media sites. Having a few topics is acceptable since it allows you to present a variety of content and keep your audience engaged without appearing unfocused.

This is when having a thorough understanding of your target market will come in handy. Consider the following questions when you examine your marketing personas:

6. What are their objectives and challenges?

What can you do to assist in their resolution?

One of the goals of a fitness apparel and accessories brand's target audience (such as Gymshark) is to keep up with the latest fitness gadgets. In that instance, it can update its social media profiles with the latest offerings.

7. Evaluate your available resources

Be honest with yourself about how much you can handle. Money, employee time, volunteer time, and technical ability might all be in short supply when it comes to achieving your social media goals and objectives. Consider how much effort it will take to keep your social media accounts up to date on a regular basis.

Ask yourself: Are your plans feasible? Can you sustain this level of activity indefinitely? Limiting your social media engagement to one or two channels and truly engaging on those platforms is preferable to launching on multiple platforms and struggling to sustain your presence. Focused, continuous involvement on a single platform is preferable than dispersed, rare participation on a half-dozen platforms.

8. International Audiences

When targeting a local or regional audience, you can assume that your target audience is familiar with essential facts, recognizes key names, and understands the context of your material. If you want to reach an international audience, you should think about what additional context or clarification you need to add to your content—both on social media and any content on your website that it links to—to ensure that international audiences have all the information they need to fully understand your issue. This could entail, for example, adding "problem backgrounders" to stories on your website.