How to Plan and Implement Your Social Media Strategy

Like it or not, social media is everywhere, with 3.6 billion users worldwide. If you’re looking to grow your business and reach new audiences, social media marketing should be a key part of your business strategy.

When done right, social media marketing can be a powerful business tool; it can help you to promote your brand, connect with your audience and show off your product or services.

But with thousands of brands competing for attention online, along with complex algorithm changes, creating a social media strategy can feel pretty overwhelming.

Whether you already have a social media marketing strategy, or you’re just getting started, there is always room for improvement, especially in the fast-moving world of social media.

If you’re wondering how to market your business on social media, we can help. Keep reading for our top tips for social media marketing success.

The way that both new and well established brands market to their audiences has changed dramatically in the past ten years. But social media marketing isn’t as simple as setting up a social media account for your business and expecting to get noticed.

Social media marketing, just like any other type of marketing, requires thought and pre-planning in order to reap the benefits. Having a social media marketing strategy means understanding how your audience uses social media, and setting goals for what you want to achieve from your social media presence.

1. Set clear goals 

The first part of creating your social media strategy should be deciding what it is that you want to achieve from being on social media. For example, this could be to increase brand awareness through the size of your following on social media, or to drive sales and traffic to your website.

Once you have your goals, the next step is to break it down into measurable objectives. If your goal is to increase engagement on your social media  (i.e likes, follows and shares), you could organise a giveaway or competition on your social media platform, or invest in social advertising.

2. Learn what channels your audience use

For your social media marketing strategy to be successful, you need to be using the social media channels that your audience are on, or you’ll risk your hard work going to waste.

Different social media platforms attract different audiences, and it is likely that your audiences use more than one. For example, did you know that women aged between 18-24 make up the largest demographic on Instagram?.

To learn more about this, take a look at our recent blog: ‘Which Social Media Platform Best Reaches your Target Market?’

3. Be consistent 

Make sure that posts are planned in advance and experiment with posting at different times of the day to see which times get the most engagement. If you’re unsure, start with times that people regularly check their phones, such as when they’re commuting to or from work or in the morning or evening.

4. Get help from the experts on social media management 

As a business owner, you are the expert in what you do, so why not invest in the expertise of a digital marketing agency to help take your business to the next level online?

Over the last seven years, Social Chameleon has helped hundreds of businesses to grow their social media presence and achieve their business goals.

Not only is Instagram the home of influencers and selfies, it is also a great place to promote your business through social media marketing. As well as following friends and keeping up with interests, 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business.

1. Consider influencer marketing 

Instagram has gained notoriety as the home of the influencer.

When done right, influencer marketing can help businesses to reach new audiences in a way that feels more authentic than traditional advertising; 71% of marketers say the quality of customers and traffic from influencer marketing is better than other sources.

Although influencer marketing can be very effective, it is important that you consider which influencers your intended audience will connect with, and who align with the values of your brand.

2. Use Instagram Stories and reels

Instagram Stories are a great marketing tool; they allow you to express your brand’s voice in short, snappy messaging and are a great way of keeping your followers engaged. Stories can be a great way to get your followers to engage with you by using tools such as the ‘swipe up’ and voting options. If followers tag you in their stories, make sure to repost.

As well as Stories, Instagram reels (Instagram’s answer to TikTok) are a great way to create short, entertaining videos that often get more engagement than normal posts.

Although Facebook might not be as shiny and new as other social media platforms, it shouldn’t be missed out of your social media marketing plan. Facebook has 1.56 billion daily users, and globally the average user spends almost an hour per day on the site.

1. Make the most of targeted ads

Facebook ads are used by 70% of marketers, and in 2020, there were 9 million active advertisers on Facebook.  The reason why advertising on Facebook is so popular is that you can target your paid posts to a very specific audience, with the option to target based on age, gender, location and likes and dislikes.

LinkedIn differs from other social media platforms as it is a professional social network, but it is also an incredibly effective marketing tool.

1. Focus on adding value 

On LinkedIn, your social media marketing strategy should be less about promoting your products or services and more about creating content that adds value to an audience.

Focus on creating content that educates, inspires or guides your audience; this could be a free webinar, video content or blog on a relevant subject.

2. Get your employees involved

LinkedIn is also a great place to talk about what makes your business a great place to work and provide a ‘behind the scenes’ insight, so why not get your team members involved in creating content.

3. Build your personal brand

LinkedIn is a fantastic place to build your personal brand, and by building your personal brand you are likely to have a positive impact on your business overall.

Create short, snappy videos or posts sharing your insights into the industry, or sharing your personal experiences and how you got to where you are now. Although LinkedIn is a professional platform, sharing personal anecdotes can be a great way to get engagement and help people to connect with you.

At Social Chameleon, we have been working with brands to improve their social media marketing for over seven years, providing bespoke social media management services to suit our client’s needs. Our team of experts have helped businesses in a range of industries to increase their brand awareness, drive more website traffic and sales and ultimately build a community of followers.

Social media marketing presents a world of opportunity for brands big and small, so get in touch with us today.