Are you active on various social media platforms, but find that you are not achieving the success you want? ❌ Would you like to gain more followers on social media, better reach your target audience and create catchy social media content? ✅ Then a social media strategy is indispensable. It provides you with a clear roadmap to achieve your goals. In this article we share how to set up a successful social media strategy and provide valuable insights and practical tips to take your social media to the next level. This way, you reach your target group better, increase your company’s online visibility and get the most out of your social media channels.
What should be in a
social media strategy?
A good social media strategy includes several aspects, we explain them below:
- Objectives
- Target group analysis
- Platform Choice
- Content Strategy
- Interaction and engagement
- Analysis and optimization
Objectives
Formulate clear and measurable goals for your social media marketing 🏆. Consider increasing the number of followers, generating conversions, improving engagement with your target audience, building brand awareness, projecting a positive brand image and so on. In fact, the social media strategy you employ differs for each goal. A different approach is needed to generate conversions than to build brand awareness. Do you have multiple goals you want to achieve with social media? You can. Then create a separate strategy for each goal and see how you can best link the strategies together through a content strategy.
Target group analysis
Get to know your target audience well 🧐. Identify their needs, interests, pain points and communication preferences. Only when you know this can you set up the right social media strategy. After all, you want them to stop scrolling, interact with your post or ad, and do what the goal is. However, they will only do this if the content perfectly matches their needs. So, think about who your target audience is and how you capture their attention in a positive way.
Platform Choice
Determine which social media platforms best suit your target audience and your content. Focus on the platforms where your target audience is active. There are multiple social media platforms where your target audience may be, consider:
Content Strategy
Develop a strategy for creating and sharing relevant and valuable content 🖼️. Consider the format, tone of voice, branding, frequency, schedule and content of your posts. A good content strategy includes the following elements:
Form and content
Determine what type of content 📸 is most effective for your target audience. What do they respond well to and what grabs their attention? For example, consider sharing videos, infographics, case studies, blog articles, customer photos, reviews, a behind-the-scenes look, etc. What content you use depends on the goal you want to achieve. For example, if your goal is to demonstrate expertise, infographics and case studies are a logical choice. Do some research into whether your target audience actually wants them. Then analyze the data and test new forms of content.
Tone of voice and corporate identity
Tell a cohesive story that fits your brand and sets you apart from the competition. Your social media channels are like business cards in that respect 🪪. Make it clear who you are, what you do and why you do something. In addition, keep your branding consistent in all your content. That way you remain recognizable to your target audience and build brand awareness. Your target audience should be able to instantly recognize a post of yours by its style, colors and formatting. Otherwise, you’ll disappear among all the other messages they scroll past. What is your tone of voice and corporate identity?
Schedule and frequency
Create a content calendar 🗓️ and plan your posts ahead. This provides a clear overview and a concrete path toward your goal. You can immediately see what kind of content you currently have and what is still missing. Creating a content schedule also contributes to the consistency and variety of your content. Your followers will know what kind of posts to expect from you and won’t be surprised by surprises they might not be expecting. After all, they follow you because they like your brand and/or find your posts interesting. When doing this, also think about the days and times when your target audience is active. Do research on the ideal frequency and schedule.
Interaction and engagement
Interact with your followers 💬. Answer questions, respond to comments and create engagement by responding to relevant content from others. This is how you build an online presence and are more visible to your target audience. In addition, higher engagement with your posts ensures that your posts will be shown to more followers. This is because it depends on the algorithm of the social media platform. Posts with little interaction are often shown to fewer people than posts with a lot of interaction. Determine in your social media strategy exactly how you are going to do this. Before you know it, you’re several months down the road and you still haven’t made time to interact with your followers. Think carefully about your tone of voice. How exactly do you want to address your target audience?
Analysis and optimization
Monitor and regularly analyze the results 📊 of your social media marketing. Adjust your social media strategy based on the insights gained to get better results. You can always optimize the strategy. Keep constantly testing new forms of content, monitor the needs of the target audience, respond to trends, analyze competitors and look at statistics to see what works well and what doesn’t. Don’t be afraid to scrap and adjust things as long as you do it based on the wants and needs of your target audience and as a result of thorough research and data analysis.
Conclusion
An effective social media strategy and content strategy are essential to achieving success on social media. By understanding your target audience, creating valuable content, interacting, and constantly analyzing and optimizing, you can get the most out of your social media activities. Create a detailed social media plan and follow the steps to implement your strategy. To set up an effective social media strategy, follow these steps:
- Define your goals, what exactly do you want to achieve?
- Get to know the wants and needs of your target audience
- Select the social media platforms that best match your target audience and content
- Develop a content strategy, including the type of content, frequency and tone of voice.
- Analyze your competitors’ social media accounts and posts
- Think about the added value you offer with your own content
- Plan your content through a content calendar
- Interact with your followers and build an online presence
- Reach more people within your target audience through ads
- Engage in collaborations with partners, customers and influencers
- Monitor and analyze the performance of your social media posts
- Optimize your strategy based on the results
- Keep experimenting with new forms of content
Need help professionalizing your marketing?
Sander has 25 years of experience devising and executing branding & marketing campaigns. Don’t have the time or the right knowledge in-house to create a successful social media strategy? Then get in touch.
