What is a Social Media Strategy?

Yep, we start with the outcomes. It’s hard to measure how well your social strategy is doing if you don’t have measurable goals or objectives. To make sure we’re achieving solid ROI, we set S.M.A.R.T goals – goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Examples include gaining 1,000 new Instagram followers in a month, or driving 10% more website traffic from Twitter month-over-month.

For example, one persona for a beauty brand might be Tami, a 28-year-old HR manager who lives alone, drives a Prius and enjoys dining out and yoga. Another might be Gina, a 36-year-old mother of two who works part-time as a realtor, drives an Acura and enjoys trips to the hair salon for “me time”.

Every great social media strategist knows the rules of the game – and its accompanying algorithms. There are definite dos and don’ts for social media, and staying on top of them is vital if we’re to stay ahead of the social curve. A winning social strategy is built on storytelling, understands when and how often to post, and knows what will drive clicks, shares and sign-ups.

This can mean tagging influencers, using high-profile and relevant hashtags, celebrating relevant “national days”, leveraging Instagram’s geotagging feature, mastering the art of the call-to-action (CTA) – and more. While there are general social media best practices, what works best for your brand depends on your audience.

Brands are like people. Each has its own identifying characteristics and way of communicating. B2B brands tend to be buttoned-up and professional. Startups are vibrant, Millennial and lean into memes. Your brand should have its own look and voice – one that aligns with your brand identity, as well as with what your audience expects from you. Staying on brand means staying true to who you are and who you want to serve.

The same applies for your visual identity. What kind of visuals will accompany your posts, and how do they tie into your brand? Artsy brands might opt for exclusively black and white visuals, while eco-friendly brands tend to prefer more muted colors and shots of nature.

In social, consistency is key. To stay top of mind (and Google) you need to be regularly putting out content. This can feel daunting at first, but the way to stay on top of it is to plan out your content – and get creative with repurposing it.

We like to work with content “themes” that tie into current events, pop culture trends, or even holidays, as long as they’re relevant. Tying content to Shark Week, Halloween, or the anniversary of the Moon Landing can give you plenty of fresh ideas to work with. We also like to mix up our content so that there’s something for everyone. Infographics, videos, podcasts, gifts, how tos, Q&As and guest posts are all great ways to liven up your content mix beyond the standard blog post. We also like to revisit content we love and put a fresh spin on it to make sure it continues to garner attention for years to come.

Community management is a major part of any social media strategy. Social shouldn’t be about being a megaphone broadcasting to the world. It’s about engaging with fans. To do this, you need to make an effort to respond to questions, chime in on comments, share user-generated content, and even create content inspired by audience experiences.

Sound daunting? There are tools to help simplify and automate this.

Social is always on the move. There are dozens of different platforms – and plenty of different apps, aggregators and plug-ins that connect with them. We recommend consolidating your efforts by using some simple tools. To monitor and schedule posts across multiple accounts, try a tool like Sprout Social or Facebook’s Creator Studio. To create professional-looking graphics with a few clicks, use Canva. You can easily adjust your graphics to suit different platforms. Want to resize your video content in a snap, check out InShot app for 1-click dimension edits. There are even AI-supported tools that do a lot of the work for you.

Organic social traffic is great stuff. Generally, it forms the basis of most brands’ social media content strategy. But to boost discoverability, extend the reach of a sale or campaign, or to dramatically increase conversions, paid ad campaigns should be considered. Sponsored content and pay per click campaigns are all options for today’s brands. Properly targeted to a qualified audience, they can help boost sales or sign-ups – especially for eCommerce brands or brands that are pivoting or just getting started.

Launching your first paid ad campaign isn’t hard, either. The major social platforms all have functionality for it – and will walk you through what you need to do. Basically, you define your budget and goals, pick your platform, define your audience, decide when the ad will run, upload your ads…and go!

Learn about a Oh Snap! ad success story here.

Building a robust social media strategy takes some time up front, but once you’ve got your plan and your calendar ready you’ll find that things move quickly. Just make sure you regularly revisit your strategy and calendar to make sure that you’re on track – and that you’re always adding to your social pipeline.

Or, if your eyes blurred over at “what is a social media strategy?” you can always book a call and have us handle your entire social strategy for you!