“We’d like to get more involved in social media.” That’s what we at So Buzzy often get to hear. In these times, companies and organizations rightly want to pay more attention to digital marketing. But of course, being on social media for the sake of being on social media is never the best idea.
What’s, however, a good idea is to first think thoroughly about exactly what you would like to achieve. In other words, what’re your business goals? Only when you can give a detailed answer to that, can you create an impactful social media strategy. And with that last one, we’re happy to help you get started.
What does a social media strategy look like?
Step 1: Determine your overall marketing goals
What do I want to achieve?
You know the feeling of suddenly being at the refrigerator but not knowing why? Recognizable. But of course, we really want to avoid that feeling when we want to make our brand stronger through social media. You don’t just do something in the hope that it’ll help you achieve your goals.
Therefore, it’s very important that you start working very consciously with your overall business and marketing goals because these always form the basis for your social media strategy. So in this step, think carefully about what exactly you want to achieve. Do you want to generate more brand awareness? Or do you want to work on your community? After all, this will be different for every company.
Step 2: Analyze your digital marketing performance
Where am I now?
If all goes well, you now know exactly where you want to work toward. With your objectives in mind, in this step, you look at where you currently stand. Time for an audit.
In a social media audit, you look at how your company or organization has performed on the various social media channels over the past weeks, months or years. What’s already running well? And what can be improved? You’ll work in great detail: elements such as copy, visuals, publication frequency and account settings will certainly be covered.
Where are you going to take a closer look? Exactly. At your competitors. What are they doing? And what can you learn from them? Proceed in the same way you would with your own channels.
In theory, the audit follows the step where you snap on your objectives. But in reality, it’s often the case that step 2 and 3 are sometimes swapped, or there’s a lot of moving back and forth. In any case: see what works best for you but make sure you don’t lose sight of anything.
Step 3: Link concrete goals and KPI’s to your objectives
How can I measure whether I have achieved my objectives?
Once you know what objectives you want to focus on, it’s important to make those objectives as concrete as possible. And you do that by creating SMART objectives and KPIs (or Key Performance Indicators). After all, you want to be able to measure whether you’re achieving what you want to achieve.
KPIs
Data speaks volumes. So first, let’s take a look at the variables that allow you to measure your performance: the KPIs. The metrics you choose to track should align with your objectives. For example, if you want to work on your organization’s brand awareness, choose KPIs that actually say something about that. For instance, you might decide to monitor the average organic reach or your social media posts. Analyzing the number of sales, in this case, will not be the best choice, you see? Measuring is knowing, but only if you choose the right match between objective and KPI.
Goals
Aren’t ‘objectives’ synonymous with ‘goals’? Yes … and no. Your objective is often more abstract. By subdividing your objective into concrete goals, you make them a lot more tangible. So an objective can consist of several goals. Not quite clear yet? Let’s look at this example.
Suppose you want to work on the brand awareness (= objective) of your company. Then you could perfectly set up the following two goals:
- On 31 December 2024, the average organic reach on Instagram will be 500.
- On 31 December 2024, we’ll have 15,000 followers on Instagram.
Notice how we’re fans of SMART goals? It may sound a bit scholarly, but this way you can be sure you don’t lose track of anything. As above, a SMART goal always includes the following elements:
| S | specific | Is your goal specific? Do you know exactly what you want to achieve? |
| M | measurable | Have you integrated a relevant KPI? |
| A | acceptabel | Is your goal achievable? For this, it’s best to take a look at your audit. That way, you can make a realistic estimation. |
| R | relevant | Is your chosen goal relevant to achieve your overall objective? |
| T | time-bound | What’s your deadline? |
Step 4: Determine your target audience
Who do I want to reach?
Once you know exactly what you want to achieve, you can define your target audience. And here too, we’re going to be very precise. The more detailed you describe your target audience, the easier it’ll be later to determine your tone of voice and work out content, for example.
Writing such a precise description is not always easy. That’s why it’s useful to work with personas. A persona is the description of your ideal customer and includes demographics as well as interests, behavior, and needs. So for example, you think about what he/she/they likes, what problems this person experiences and which social media channels are actively used. It can be smart to imagine someone you actually know in everyday life. That way, you’ll see that things suddenly go a lot smoother.
Step 5: Choose which channels to engage on
Where can I reach my target audience?
Yes, you now know where you want to go and who exactly you want to reach in order to do so. Now, it’s time to figure out where you can efficiently reach your target audience.
Often, brands think they ‘just’ have to be present on all popular social media channels. That can indeed be useful, but only if your target audience is actually present there. So before you create a bunch of social media pages at random, research which channels your target audience is actively using. For example, you can start looking at the Digital 2023 report that contains Belgian usage figures. Your personas you created in the previous step will also come in handy here. And do you have a physical store? Then dare to ask your customers which social media apps they often use. Research is key here!
Step 6: Tactical outlines
How do I develop my strategy?
In this final step, you think about what content you want to bring to the chosen social media channels. And we’re repeating ourselves, but again, your objectives and your target audience are the starting point.
Focus per channel
First and foremost, in this step, you think about what type of content you want to bring to which channels. In other words, you define the focus per social media channel.
| edutainment | inspiration | information |
Content categories
Next, brainstorm what content categories you can link to that specific focus by channel. Contentwhat? Content categories can be thought of as umbrella formats that are published serially. In this way, you ensure recognizability with your audience. At our neighbors to the north, Pieter Pot does this very well with content categories such as ‘Sustainable Dilemma’ and ‘Old me vs New me’.
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Frequency and consistency
Furthermore, in this step, you also consider what’s an achievable posting frequency for your team. Often companies start posting on social media very enthusiastically and try to publish something every day. If you can keep that up, fine. But know that quality and consistency are always most important.
Step 7: Analyze and optimize
Spoiler alert: a social media strategy is never really finished. So, because the social media landscape changes so quickly, you’ll also need to revisit your social media strategy regularly. What worked well last month may not perform as well this month.
Your company or organization will also go through changes that may require you to adjust your objectives and goals. It’s best to take stock of the results at regular intervals, see what works and what doesn’t, and optimize where necessary. That’s totally okay because a social media strategy is a living document. Keep calm, and embrace social.
Got the hang of it? Take your social media strategy to the next level with our social media workshops.