Social media strategy with FIVE questions
To create a social media strategy you need to answer these 5 questions: WHY, WHO, WHERE, WHAT, and WHEN. The answers have to come from the people who work in your company and the ones who will implement these findings. Agency can only guide you through this process and help answer technical questions.
After you answer these questions, you will know the goal of your social media channels and how you should achieve it. However, coming back to the idea that no document can execute its ideas you must answer these questions yourself. The most valuable part of this strategy is the process of creating it. That's why we offer workshops, where you can discover your audience and its specificity. It is a customised interactive 1 hours sessions, where the marketing team gets a chance to think outside the box and improve or create a new Social Media strategy.
You think that social media will help you sell more products/services instantly. In that case, I would suggest skipping this communication channel. Just because everyone does it doesn't mean that you also have to do it. To be successful in the social media world, you have to have a more meaningful goal than earning money or advertising yourself or your brand. Answer the question - WHY do you need to contact these people. Is there a message you want to send? There is no need to start from scratch, you already have a strategy for your brand. That is a perfect base for the answer to this question.
Why?
Who?
Find your audience. Unless you want to create a private group for your existing clients, you should consider all the stakeholders in your niche. You can almost forget about the product you are selling, and you should rather concentrate on the idea you are standing for. Who is trying to change the world the way that you are doing? Who stands for your vision or compliments it? Most importantly, who do you think would add or take value from the conversation you are having on your social media platforms?
Where?
We have so many social media platforms to choose from. Those platforms have multiple tools to create even more hubs to host smaller groups. Some platforms tend to centralize communication around visuals, while others textual content. These into even smaller niches like visual - streaming, vlogging, image sharing, and text - blogging, writing short messages, chatting, and so on. Don't forget that you are building this for your WHO.
You know the people you are trying to target. Is it a specific region, age group, or platform that you chose? Learn more about their behavior and try to adjust your scheduling to fit their daily lives. Additionally, try to understand the platform of your choice, do people see the content instantly, or maybe frequency has nothing to do with the performance of your posts. Do you need to be quick to react because your goal is to inform people about the latest news or hop on the trend to attract younger people? Maybe you need time to check the facts and one of your values is consistency.
When?
What?
Figure out kinds of content that would be appealing to your followers. Is it educational or connecting? Maybe you want to show off your organization and inform about new technologies that you are making. Is it entertaining videos, informative blogs, or pretty images? Have you decided to choose more than one social media platform? Then how the content should differ in each of them. What are the tactics for content repurposing? You don't need to work harder when you can work smarter.
Social media strategy is not a document that an agency creates and the marketing team loses in the jungle of other files. It's not even a plan targeted to your customer personas and potential buyers. Social Media is a tool to connect people and host communities. To achieve great things with this communication medium you need to have a purpose (WHY). You have to understand the people that you want to invite to your community (WHO). Find out the best platforms to find them and fit your brand's goals (WHERE). List some types of content and examples of posts, so that you deliver value for all stakeholders (WHAT). Lastly, make sure to find a consistent schedule that is based not on google suggestions but your audience routine and platform specificity (WHEN). There are only FIVE questions you need to answer to have a strategy you do it right it will become a habit.