If you are reading this, then your social media strategy probably sucks and isn’t providing you with the results you expected.
Don’t fear, this isn’t the end of the world! It is a common problem which business face, luckily, it has a simple and realistic solution.
Take Henry Ford’s word for it: “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”
Here are four of the big ‘NO’s’ that are holding you back. If you avoid them, your social media strategy will be taken to the next level.
The four NO’s we will be covering are:
- NO strategic objectives
- NO target audience
- NO calender
- NO content
- NO strategic objectives
When building your marketing strategy, it is extremely important to set clear strategic objectives, so that you and your team know exactly what you are trying to achieve. Once everyone is on the same page, it will be easier to take action and do things that are in the best interest of the company.
Now you know the importance of strategic objectives, it’s time to set your own!
First, you need to ask yourself “What am I trying to achieve?”
This is the driving force behind your strategy, it should be broad, with room to specialize as it begins to grow. A good way to achieve your main objective is to set smaller goals to complete in the meantime.
Think of these goals as a set of stairs leading to the next floor (your strategic objective).
These goals should follow the SMART acronym.
What does SMART stand for?
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Timebound
Here are some examples of SMART goals which could help achieve an increase in social media engagement:
- Increase the number of Instagram comments by 20% in six weeks
- Receive 10% more Facebook direct messages in 3 months
- Increase average likes per post by 30% in 6 months
- NO target audience
In order for your social media marketing strategy to be successful, you need to identify your target audience.
In simple terms, who is your strategy aimed at?
Defining your target audience will allow your business to establish dominance in its industry, understand its customers and create the right content.
3 ways to define your target audience:
-
- Create your dream customer
- Market research
- Analyze
Dream Customer
First, you should create an ideal customer profile, which will include the people that are most likely to purchase your product or service. Before you start this process, you should look at your current consumers and gather as much useful information as possible.
Once this is done, separate your customers under different headings.
Here are some examples of headings that you could use:
- Age – What age bracket does your product/service appeal to? Different characteristics of your product will interest different age groups.
- Geography – The planet is huge, pinpoint exactly where your target audience is and advertise your product in that location.
- Gender – The needs of men and women differ, so you may want to consider different ways to target them.
It is important to be specific on geography and gender, but unless your product is extremely specific, like a children’s toy, keep your age range broad.
I recommend using more headings when separating your target audience so you can understand exactly who your product is aimed at.
Market Research
Now you have identified your audience, you can target them using research techniques to understand their needs and wants.
Common techniques consist of:
- Surveys – They could be conducted over the phone or online. Keep them short and sweet, no longer than 5 minutes.
- Focus groups – Group feedback is vital to understand what your audience likes and dislikes about your product/service, and can help improve it.
These techniques are relatively cheap to implement and the return on investment (ROI) is invaluable.
Like your customer profile, you can assess your audience in as much detail as you want, but the better you understand your audience, the easier it will be to sell your product/service.
Analyze
Although you may have identified your target audience, people’s interests fluctuate and it’s your job to stay up to date with this change.
Market research is a process that must be revisited regularly. An indication that your audience interests have changed could be seen in the number of sales or engagement dropping on your social media.
Here are some tools that may indicate a shift in audience interest:
- No calendar
What is a content calendar you may ask?
An extremely useful tool that will save you time and let you focus on more important aspects of your strategy.
A content calendar should include what you intend to post on different social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. You should also consider scheduling content for your website that you can link via your social media, such as blog posts and case studies your audience may be interested in.
Consistency is key if you want to engage with your audience and build trust. If you upload content inconsistently, you are at risk of being forgotten, irrelevant and your audience becoming uninterested.
The social media train moves fast, don’t get off and risk not getting back on.
Here are some content scheduling tools which you could use:
To summarize, a content calendar helps:
-
- Mark important dates across your social media
- Stay consistent and relevant
- Save time to focus on more important aspects of your strategy.
- NO content
Now you need to create the right content to fill up your calendar!
It’s important to create the right social media content to boost your visibility and gain a competitive advantage in your industry.
When creating content there are 3 factors to keep in mind:
- Quality – High-quality content needs to stand out in a social media feed, making someone stop scrolling and take a look. It needs to be clear, vibrant and straight to the point. The attention span of someone on social media is only 8 seconds and rapidly decreasing, so make sure it’s short.
- Audience – Keeping your audience in mind will allow them to engage with your content, making it visible to more people. It will let you know what information to include in a post.
- Emotion – Content goes viral due to emotional triggers. Social media content that triggers such emotion makes it more likely to be shared with more users.
If you understand the power of content, you will have more control over your audience.
Airbnb is an exceptional example of a company that has mastered social media.
Offering accommodation around the globe, Airbnb is in a fantastic position to provide content which is visually pleasing and engaging. This allowed Airbnb to stand out in a crowded market and contribute to its $1 billion revenue in 2018.
As expected, Airbnb was awarded the ‘Best Overall Instagram Presence’ in 2016.
Without relevant, high-quality social media content, your strategy will fail without exception.
Summary
As a Marketing Agency in London, we would highly recommend putting together a detailed and concise breakdown of your strategy.
Before your strategy is launched, make sure to look back at the 4 NO’s to see if you have missed anything.
Strategic Objectives should be broad and clear, with smaller SMART goals helping you complete the ultimate objective.
Your Target Audience should be identified using a minimum of three techniques, such as sketching your dream customer, market research and analyzing the process as a whole. This will allow you to understand your audience better and target the correct people.
Scheduling your content using a calendar will mark key dates and events on your timeline, eliminating stressful situations and saving you time so you can focus on more important aspects of your strategy.
Finally, content. Creating high quality, engaging content, which triggers emotive responses, is the overarching element that connects all 4 NO’s together.
Implementing the actions mentioned in this article will help take your social media strategy to the next level, so it doesn’t suck.
What are you waiting for?
