Your 8 Step-Guide to Strategize Social Media Marketing

Since time immemorial, it is said that man is a social animal. Today, the difference from the past is that the means, opportunities, and objectives of socializing are attaining new meaning. New vistas of social activities, coupled with professional objectives, are emerging today. In such scenarios, a social media marketing services agency has a unique role in the growth of any business. From improving brand awareness to encouraging leads for the business, and affordable social media marketing agency helps entrepreneurs achieve their goals.

Need for Online Social Media Marketing Services 

There is a greater need to be visible to the outside world through the social network to enhance the personal and business profiles, multifold. There are numerous social media tools, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype, etc. that enable a professional entity to increase its business volume cost-effectively. This way, online social media marketing services are assisting brands in competing with their counterparts. The need for adopting social media networks is far greater than it was, say at least 20 years ago. The key to business development today is to be visible and diversify.

What is Social Media Strategy?

Business Development activities that are carried out through online social media marketing services by setting realistic goals and means to achieve them in a time-bound manner can be referred to as a ‘Social Media Strategy.’ There are two components of a Business Development Activity: a workable Strategy and a plan to execute such a strategy.

How to create a Social Media Strategy?

Step 1. Set Marketing Goals for Your Business Plan

The single and foremost ingredient of digital marketing strategy, be it through Social Media or other means, is setting realistic goals for your Business Plan. If the plan is fool-proof to a more significant extent, it can be implemented and propagated through online Social Media Marketing Services.

The goals must be set, keeping the following in mind:

• Simplistic
• Original
• Realistic
• Achievable
• Cost-Effective

Assess Business Volume

The assessment of Business Volume can be made by continually reviewing the impact of marketing strategy on social media. When taken individually and assessed collectively, the following aspects can pave the way for the future course of action to be adopted in brand promotion. A social media marketing services agency offers the following benefits to any business:

• Brand Awareness
• Satisfaction of customers
• Retention of customers
• Outreach to Potential customers – Expansion
• Conversions
• Feedback

Also, Read – 5 Actionable Strategies for Social Media Branding

The social media marketing strategy differs for each network, as also in its use for each network.

The various metrics adopted for driving traffic to a specific website in each network can be click-throughs for LinkedIn, Cost-per-Click (CPC) for Facebook. For Instagram, the number of Instagram Story views can be tracked.

Social media marketing goals must align with marketing objectives.

Step 2 –Identify Target Audience

For the successful execution of a social media marketing strategy, it is essential to know your target audience. The age-bracket, preferences, location, income group, job profile, hobbies, etc., can be ascertained to strategize and execute a business plan. The entire data must be in figures and not in imagination to reach a realistic conclusion to strategize.

Step 3 –Be Aware of your Competitors

Making one’s learnings is not a thing, and learning from other’s experiences, both good and bad, is another thing in strategizing a good business plan.

Identify, be aware, cautious, and follow the various methodologies adopted by your business competitors. For this, a Competitive Analysis needs to be conducted to be aware and adopt a way forward. It helps in strategizing judiciously for business development.

• Identify the Competitors
• Track their Online Activities
• Adopt Improved Strategies Learnt

Step-4 – Conduct Media Audit

After preparing a list of online social media marketing services as a social media marketing strategy, the next step is to assess its viability. For this, conducting an audit of social media need to be carried out. Identify the following:

• Achievements and Drawbacks
• Target Audience Engagements
• Target Audiences’ other preferences
• Status of Social Media presence with competitors
• Start working on grey areas for enhanced activity in your website

Step-5 – Identify Networks and Execute

The selection of networks must be made for online social media marketing services, as the strategy for each differs from the other. It will make it easier for the adoption of a particular strategy for achieving business growth. A one-line identification can be earmarked for each network to be given a specific business marketing responsibility.

Once the networks have been identified for specific roles, the next step is to create the company’s profiles. For this the following can be done;

• Creation of Facebook business page
• Creation of an Instagram business account
• Creation of a Twitter business account
• Creation of a Snapchat account
• Creation of LinkedIn Company page
• Creation of a Pinterest business account
• Creation of a YouTube channel

Step 6 – Getting Inspired

We don’t need to get inspired by our own mistakes, but we can also get inspired by others’ good works for achieving growth in our endeavors, both personal and professional. An affordable social media marketing agency assists in achieving social media marketing goals. For this, it is essential to get inspired by the achievements of even competitors. The business section of the social network’s website can be accessed to go through their success stories to emulate.

The contents and customer preferences of other channels on social media can be analyzed for bringing out the best in one’s business accomplishment.

Step 7 – Create Social Media Content Calendar

Interacting with your stakeholders and social media audience is very important to achieve online marketing goals. For this, the social media marketing services agency shares your views and, more importantly, to get the views from the other side, i.e., the customers.

It is essential to set periodic timelines to interact with the social media audience through content sharing. There is a need to prepare and post the social media content calendar for each network with network-specific content requirements. All your social media activities, such as day-to-day posting and content/ link sharing, images, blogs, videos, etc. can be streamlined through publishing schedule calendar.

Network-Specific Calendar

Before preparing the calendar, it must be ensured by affordable social media marketing services that it is network-specific, which also clearly reflects the mission statement for each network. The proportionate component of content can be ascertained for a specific network and specific activities within each network. That is to say that each component or percentage of content need to be fixed in each case.

Secondly, in case the content is not specific, 80-20 rule can be adopted, such as:

• 80% of posts may inform, educate or entertain; &
• 20% of posts may engage in brand promotion.

Then, there is another social media rule of thirds can be adopted:

• One-third of the content may promote business, convert readers
• One-third of the content may inspire with legendary inspirations
• One-third of the content may be interactions with the audience

Step 8 – Evaluate Strategy

No strategy or plan is a guarantee to succeed. The need for online social media marketing services is to continue analyzing and re-analyzing the significant points and shortcomings in the strategies adopted. Some strategies do not achieve the expected results. The reasons for such shortfall can be identified, and bottlenecks removed. The need is to conduct a scientific study for analysis. The data and circumstances must be real-time and not assumed. Secondly, there is a need to keep abreast of the new and advanced techniques, technologies, and workforce to keep pace with the ever-changing scenario.

Wrapping Up

As social media marketing is continuously sprouting, there are many individual services that affordable social media marketing agencies do and offer. These SMO agencies need to timely come up with effective plans and strategies for the growth and development of businesses.