We often get so excited about starting into social media marketing that we bypass one of the most important steps in the process, developing your social media marketing strategy.
Before moving too quickly ahead, pause and give some thought to the process of developing clear goals and objectives, which will form the backbone of your strategy.
Set SMART Goals Tied to Your Business Plan
Setting goals before starting any major endeavor is, well, smart. Something as complex as marketing your company’s product or service without a set of goals needs a framework on which to build a successful plan.
So What Are SMART Goals?
SMART goals are ones that are:
- Specific: They should focus one a single accomplishment
- Measurable: There should be a way to use data to determine success
- Attainable: Be realistic. Will you be able to achieve this goal?
- Relevant: Goals must be tied to your company’s mission.
- Time-bound: The achievement of the goal should happen within a specific time
Here are some examples of SMART goal statements:
- By June 30, 20xx, new sales leads on window installations will increase 20 percent.
- By the end of 3rd quarter, new subscriptions to our newsletter will increase from 25 per day to 30 per day.
As you can see, the statements are specific in that they mention the exact objective to focus on (window installations and newsletter subscriptions).
They are measurable in that they mention exactly by what percentage or number the increase is desired.
They are attainable because the increase in sales and subscriptions are a reasonable increase. To expect to “increase sales by 50%” or to “double the number of subscriptions, for example, would not be a good idea, as this would be hard to achieve.
They are relevant, we can assume, to the mission of the company, as certainly an increase in sales or subscriptions would be a desirable goal for any for-profit organization.
Finally, they are time-bound as the statement gives the particular time by which the goal should be achieved. Not including the “due-by date” renders the goal statement ineffective. It’s critical to know by when the goal must be achieved.
Your goals should be written out, not just thought in your head. Writing out your goals will make them more real to you and also to others. Review your goals regularly, both to see if they need updating, but also so that they remain fresh in your mind as you progress on your social media marketing path.
Having a well developed social media marketing strategy is crucial for success in your marketing efforts.
Perform Social Media Listening
If you are an established brand, most likely, people are already talking about you on social media. It’s important for you to learn what they are saying and take note of their impression of you.
If you are a brand new business, you still want to engage in social media listening, but by paying attention to what your potential customers are saying about your competitors.
It’s easy to get started with social media listening. But it takes time and patience to do it right. You should at the very least begin by keeping up on Facebook and Twitter. However, if you have a heavy presence on other platforms, be sure to check those also.
Do regular searches for your company name, any hashtags associated with your brand or industry. Don’t forget to also check to see what users are saying about your competition.
Keep track of what you find in a spreadsheet and after you have gathered about 10 lines of data, take a close look especially at the “Tone” column. Are there more positives than negatives? Then chances are your company image is doing well.
More negatives than positives? It’s time to get down to work in improving your image.
Determine Your Customer’s Demographics
It’s very helpful to know the specifics of your customers, such as gender, age, career (or career goals), income, hobbies, family details, and location. Knowing these will provide excellent guidance in tailoring your social media message. It will also lead you to the best platform for sending your message.
According to the Pew Research Center, Facebook, for example, is by far the most popular platform in the world of social media with almost 80 percent of adults worldwide using it. Two-thirds (66 percent) of Facebook users get their news from the platform.
Create a Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a fictitious person who represents your typical or ideal customer. You create your own buyer persona based on what you know about your current customers. If you are a new business, you base it on you think your ideal customer will be. You you even give your buyer persona a name.
When creating your buyer persona think specifically in terms of age, gender, occupation, education level, interests, and location. Who exactly is your ideal customer? What specific problem are you solving for them?
Consider the following:
- Persona’s name:
- Address (City and State):
- Age:
- Gender:
- Occupation:
- Education Level:
- Interests:
- Married (Y/N):
- Children (Y/N): Ages:
What is this persona trying to achieve?
Examine Your Important Social Media Metrics
We’re all human. As such, we like to feel liked and appreciated, and we enjoy getting compliments.
However, whereas getting a large number of likes and shares can be a good sign of how our customers or clients feel about us, remember, consider the most fundamental purpose of your business.
Is your business’ primary goal to gain more followers or to increase your share or retweet count?
Most likely not.
For almost all businesses, the most fundamental reason or existing to be earn profits and to do that you have to earn revenue. So, this should always be foremost in your thoughts when you are formulating your social media marketing strategy.
How much revenue is your company or organization making making through its social media marketing efforts? Your strategy should focus on the answer to this question.
You can determine this, though, by looking at conversion rates in the analytics of each platform.
Your social media marketing strategy is never completed. It will always be a work in progress. As you grow as a business or as your situations change, you will need to constantly evaluate your strategy, asking yourself whether it’s still relevant, making changes and updates where required, and improving it over time.