Questions to Ask When Creating a Social-Media Marketing Plan

Ever heard the saying "Failing to plan is planning to fail?" That old but wise adage often rings true when it comes to social media marketing. Creating a detailed, goal-oriented social-media strategy is just as important as having a rock solid business plan. "If your social-media plan is to just wing it, your fans and potential customers are going to know," says Amy Porterfield, social media strategist and co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies (Wiley, 2013). Worse, it could turn them off of your brand and on to your competitors. To attract and engage social-media fans and followers -- and ideally convert them into customers -- you'll need to carefully map out a clear, effective social-media strategy. That depends on the type of business you're in. You may want marketing by social media to use social media to gain exposure for your brand, to directly interact with your customers or to promote specific products and services. "The first and most important step in creating your plan is to clearly identify your goals," says Lee Odden, chief executive of TopRank Online Marketing, a Minnesota-based, a digital marketing agency, and author of Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing (Wiley, 2012). "Next, understand your customers' goals, and then figure out how your social-media strategy will connect both." Odden suggests social media marketing that you first define how your social-media outreach marketing will provide value to your customers. Specifically, think about how you can use social media to solve your customers' problems.

Who should set up and maintain my company's social media accounts?

If you're a small company with few employees, consider delegating the task to a staff member who has a good track record of implementing effective social-media campaigns. If you have a larger company, a qualified employee in the marketing department might be a good fit for the task. Businesses with larger budgets but not enough experience with social-media marketing could benefit from hiring a social-media marketing consultant or firm, social media marketing strategy says Odden. As a starting point, Odden advises that small businesses begin with a blog and a presence on just one social network, at least for the first few months. Which network? Find out what by surveying your customers about which platforms they use the most. The more your company grows -- as well as your digital marketing budget -- the more social networks you can experiment with. Whether your company is large or small, you can't go wrong with a Twitter account, Odden says. It's a platform that is easy to learn and use, and you can't beat the 140-character limit. Odden also says Google+ is essential to be on, if only to boost your site's search engine optimization (SEO). If your company is mainly a B2B firm, you'll want to be on LinkedIn and Slideshare to reach influencers within your industry. For B2C companies, being on Facebook and Pinterest can be smart. Porterfield advises posting on all of your social networks two to five times a day. Your followers visit social media marketing plan social-media sites at different times of the day. "One post a day simply isn't enough because most of your fans won't see it simply due to timing," she says. To reach more of your followers more often, stagger your posts consistently throughout the day.

Developing a Social Media Strategy

Because social media is around us more and more, companies are starting to see the value in add it to their marketing mix. However, many are unsure where to start or how to develop a plan. By using social media correctly you can engage your audience in new ways, be more personable, develop new connections, and maintain the ones you have. Get online and listen to what is being said. What do people think about you and your brand? What are their points of views? Who are key people who influence others and which ones should you cooperate with? What are the various topics? Is the tone of the conversation heated? Do people favor social media marketing companies one point of view over the other, or is it mixed? Determine your audience and where they are online. Blogs are a great place to start looking. Technorati is a good tool to help you search for blogs and blog posts that have content related to your niche. Twitter and the Twitter network is another great place to gain insight in to conversations that are happening in real time. The advanced Twitter search is one of many tools that will let you isolate specific conversations and monitor them. Once you have identified where your audience is, then listen to what they are saying. What are their issues, opinions, and needs? How does this information fit with your value proposition? Understanding this information will help you determine how to best contribute to the conversation and how best to make a contribution. Next, find out who's driving the conversation or those that have a strong influence. These people are called "influentials" because they possess authority, respect, or experience to shape people's opinions. A good example is Lance Armstrong. Since I'm a cyclist, I follow what he has to say. If he social media marketing services endorses a product you can be sure I will check it out. Find people who influence your industry or niche and listen what they are talking about. One source to get you started on finding these influentials is to look at WeFollow, which breaks down influentials by category and lists them by number of followers.