Are you struggling to fit social media into your current marketing plan?
Do you have a boss who’s always asking for something more formal when it comes to social media?
Do you have someone continually coming into the office and asking why your business isn’t on ______ (insert latest social media trend), or otherwise trying to tell you how to do your job?
YOU NEED A PLAN!
Having a written social media plan will address all of the above and more.
So, how do you go about making one? Research!
How To Research Your Social Media Marketing Plan
RESEARCH: WHAT
Start with the big picture! What social media platforms are you interested in using? Do your research and know why some will make the cut, and others won’t.
Things to consider:
- Who is on the platform? Are they your target audience?
- What is the typical posting frequency? Is this something you have time for?
- What content types are popular / expected? Are these types of content something you have the skill set for?
Next, do some industry research for best practices within your industry. Some of our favorite websites to look include:
Other places to research social media platforms and how they can work within your industry are professional associations (they often have online resources), a Google search, and by searching terms and popular subjects in the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter search bars.
RESEARCH: HOW
Once you know which social media platforms to use, research how to use them effectively.
Pull information on:
- Best times to post on each platform.
- Which types of content are best for each platform – videos, photos, web links, plain text?
- How often should you post on each platform?
- What are your competitors doing on social media?
- Do you need to be advertising on social media?
BUT REMEMBER – While best practices and trends in your industry are a good place to start, you should always test to see what works for YOUR business. Make sure your marketing plan has room to grow and update it regularly.
RESEARCH: WHO
Now that you know which social media platforms to have a presence on and how to plan content, it’s time to figure out how your brand will behave online. In other words, figure out who you will be.
You may already have a strong brand, but translating that to “SOCIAL” media can be tricky! Trust us.
Take your look, for example. How can you make sure all of the graphics and images on social media reflect the other creative items produced by your company? Or at least are complementary to any other collateral?
How about your tone? How do you want your business to sound on social media? Is there a personality that your brand can cultivate?
For example, you wouldn’t want to be funny or carefree in your TV commercials but super serious on Facebook.
Doing your research will give you the confidence to develop a social media marketing plan that will satisfy any boss PLUS shut down the meddling co-worker who keeps trying to get the company on Snapchat.
The research will arm you with a solid foundation to handle it all!