How to Build a Successful Social Media Marketing Plan in 7 Steps

I received feedback and questions from readers on the nitty-gritty details behind the 3 essential social media advice. Thanks to them, it got me thinking about creating a social media marketing plan. Now, such a plan would be customized differently for each individual and company. It could be dynamically updated from time to time, and so this blog post only sets out to raise the guideline questions that will help you formulate your own social media marketing plan.

1. Define types of conversion goals

A famous goal-setting axiom by Stephen Covey goes to say that we must “begin with an end in mind”. In social media context, your fans and followers can have one or more reactions to each of your postings:

a. ‘like’ a post
b. share/retweet a post
c. leave a comment
d. directly message you
e. click through your destination URL in the post

Sometimes the way you craft your post may get your readers to take action on their own, but to encourage engagement, you can regularly prod them with instructions like “Please share this post to your friends. I’m sure they will find it interesting,” or “Please like this. Thanks!” or “To learn more details, please click the link to the next page.”

Knowing what your conversion goals will turn out to be for most of your social media posts will help you determine how you are going to craft them, what content formats would be suitable (see below) and how you are going to mix up the various content on a weekly basis.

2. Define S.M.A.R.T. metric goals

By definition, S.M.A.R.T. stands for:

a. Specific: Visits, leads or customers
b. Measurable: Provide a number
c. Attainable: Understand benchmarks
d. Relevant: Relates back to overall end goal
e. Timely: Include timeframe

A S.M.A.R.T. goal statement: “Increase _____ by _____ ( starting at this amount _____ and go to this amount _____ per ____ ) by this date _____.”

Example:

a. “Increase number of new Facebook fans from 156 in January to 250 in February.”
b. “Increase 15% engagement rate with Instagram followers by end of February. Write to 5 more new followers every week.”

3. Identify target audience

As someone in business, you should already know your main prospect demographic—the people most likely to purchase from you, so you begin with identifying the followers whom you are going to increase engagement with and provide more personal attention to.

Criteria for identification include geographical location, occupation, which social networks they frequent on, gender, marital status etc. Of course, if you have a detailed buyer persona profile to work with, referencing it will make the work easier.

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4. Identify content types and formats

Some suggestions:

Format: short text (one- or two-liners), a 600 x 400 graphic, an infographic, video link, website link
Type: questions or quiz, invite followers to share experiences, product/problem feature, news, trends, quotes
Tone: serious, funny, informative, reflective, inspirational, educational

Lastly, the content to be published must align intrinsically with an overarching or defining business theme so that your social business page can project a certain gravity, cohesiveness or consistency that gets readers understand your positioning, knowledge and expertise.

Theme: lead generation, social media, landing page design etc.
Topics: main topic, weekly sub-topics

5. Identify actions and strategies

a. What content to publish throughout the week?
b. Who is responsible for various social media roles e.g. publishing, engagement, graphic design, content research, paid advertising etc.?
c. Datelines?
d. How much budget to set aside for paid social media promotion?

6. Editorial calendar

You do not have to design an editorial calendar from scratch. Google “social media editorial calendar” and you should find some in various designs. Customize them to fit your needs. At the very least, a calendar should have the following features:

a. Social media channel (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Instagram)
b. Post
c. Format
d. Date
e. Staff responsible

Most likely the calendar is designed in an Excel spreadsheet. Create new tabs for each month. Plan out the content to be published for one full month in advance.

7. Analyze results

The major social networks have their built-in analytics with which you can analyze the click-through or engagement performance of your posts. Discern which topics work best for you and perhaps you may consider focusing on these topics more often. Did certain types or formats of content get more shares or ‘likes’ than others? Which days of the week get the most readers? Which social networks do you find the most comments or engagement on your posts? These are questions you can ask to help you improve your social media marketing efforts.

As another saying goes, “Fail to plan and you plan to fail.” Having a social media marketing plan is better than none as it helps you to think ahead creatively what content to publish regularly so that you can extend your online reach to attract more fans and followers to your cause.

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