What is a social media marketing plan?

A social media marketing plan is the summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve for your business using social networks. This plan should comprise an audit of where your accounts are today, goals for where you want them to be in the near future, and all the tools you want to use to get there. In general, the more specific you can get with your plan, the more effective you’ll be in its implementation. Try and keep it concise and don’t make your social media marketing strategy so lofty and broad that it’s unattainable. This plan will guide your actions, b2b social media marketing but it will also be a measure by which you determine whether you’re succeeding or failing at social media. You don’t want to set yourself up for failure from the outset. So now you need to create a social media marketing plan. No easy task, right? Many of us struggle to iron out exactly what that is, let alone how to build one from scratch. Put simply, every action you take on social networks should be a part of a larger social media marketing strategy. That means every Tweet, reply, like and comment should all be guided by a plan and driving towards pre-determined goals. It might sound complicated, but if you take the time to create a comprehensive social media plan, the rest of your social efforts should follow naturally. Everyone can do this if they approach it correctly. Having these objectives also allows you to quickly react when social media campaigns are not meeting your expectations. Without these goals, you have no means of gauging your success and no means of proving your return on investment. These goals should be social media marketing plans aligned with your broader marketing strategy, so that your social media efforts all drive towards business objectives. If your social media marketing strategy is shown to drive business goals forward, you’re more likely to get executive buy-in and investment. They should also go beyond vanity metrics like retweets or Likes, in favour of more advanced metrics like leads generated, sentiment or website traffic referred. Strive to approach these goals using the SMART approach, meaning they should all be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

Create or improve your social accounts

Once you’ve audited your accounts, it’s time to hone your online presence. Choose what networks best meet your social media goals. If you don’t already have social media profiles on each network you focus on, build them from the ground up with your broader goals and audience in mind. If you do have existing accounts, it’s time to refine them and update them for your best possible results. We’ve created a guide on How to Set-up Facebook, social media marketing podcast Twitter and Every Other Major Social Network to walk you through that process. Every social network has a different audience and should be treated definitely. See how you can optimize your profiles themselves to meet any of your business goals. Optimizing profiles for SEO can help generate more web traffic to your online properties. Cross-promoting social accounts could help you grow the reach of content. In general, social media profiles should be filled out completely, images and text optimized for the social network in question. One of the most important reasons for being active on social media is that your consumers already are. That usually means, so are your competitors. That might not be comforting, but it actually means that there’s a wealth of knowledge already available to you which you can integrate into your social media marketing plan. Turn to your competitors for inspiration when it comes to what content types and information get the most social media engagement. Also, use social media listening to see how you could distinguish yourself from competitors and appeal to consumers they might be missing. Consumers can also offer social media inspiration, real estate social media marketing not only through the content that they share but in the way that they phrase their messages. See how your target audience writes Tweets, and strive to mimic that style. Also learn their habits, when they share and why, and use that as a basis for your social media marketing plan.

Social Media Marketing Plan to Creating a Strategy

Most small-business owners realize that social media is a critical component of a comprehensive marketing strategy, but they don’t know where to begin. With dozens of social networks gaining widespread adoption, it’s tough to imagine a manageable strategy that covers all the bases. That’s why it’s important to develop a strategic social media marketing plan to stay on-task and on-track. A strategic social media marketing plan requires more than just throwing out a few tweets or status updates. “Social media is like a party; barging into a group already talking and saying ‘buy my stuff’ is rude,” advises Michael Procopio, social media marketing blogs co-author of 42 Rules for B2B Social Media Marketing and a 15-year veteran of the marketing industry. Procopio says the route to success in social media is finding a way to offer value without over-selling. This can be done by offering discounts, but also by providing information around your products or services. Megan McManus, digital and social content coordinator at Blueview Agency, suggests figuring out solutions to frequently asked questions and offering those ideas through original photo or video content. “In social media strategy, the business should also conduct some trial and error to see what kind of posts their audiences like. Some audiences will respond well to product information while others may prefer to hear about a business's community involvement,” she explains. Social media is built around engagement, and it requires continuous input from you or your social marketing manager. Social media is more than just a social media marketing chicago publishing platform. If you ask questions, you should stick around to participate in the discussion. There are dozens of social media monitoring tools that provide instant alerts when your posts have been shared, commented on or “Liked.” These tools often mean the difference between dedicating your entire day to monitoring your social networks and actually running your business while remaining on the grid.