6 steps to develop a social media marketing plan

Have you been looking on ways to increase the social media presence of your business? You will need a plan. Creating a social media marketing plan is not an easy task. In fact, some people have no idea what such a plan should look like. For a simple understanding of what such a plan is or should be, just remember this: whatever you do on social media platforms for your company should increase brand awareness and see the growth of traffic and sales.

A business must have a plan regarding how it intends to use social media platforms for marketing. Creating such a plan should follow this process:

Establishing objectives and goals

You must have specific and measurable goals when setting up a marketing plan. Make sure that the goals are also attainable and relevant to any social media marketing plan that you develop. Put a deadline to the goals and objectives. For example, you could decide to post three posts a week about the culture of your company and services. Endeavor to attract at least 10 likes or comments. Most importantly, read and find out tips to gain social media followers.

Conducting an audit

Before embarking on a new plan, take an audit of the ways in which you have used social media thus far and the results. Evaluate the people to or with whom you have connected on social media and the impact that they have on your business. Evaluate the social media sites that your target audience frequently uses. Compare your social media presence with that of your competition and identify areas that need a change.

Creating and improving social accounts

Improving the social media accounts should always follow all audits. Choose the best social media networks that present you with the greatest opportunity of meeting your goals. Open social media accounts on different platforms after determining that most of your target audience is on the sites. Have a different strategy for each social media network. Optimize your profiles to generate more traffic. Just like SEO in optimizing your website, which will eventually lead to increased sales.

Obtaining inspiration

Clients, competitors and industry leaders can provide you with the biggest sources of inspiration for the social media marketing approach that you wish to take. Your consumers and competitors are already active on social media, thus the more reason for joining and being just as active. Look for inspiration from the strategies that competitors and consumers have already embraced and integrate them to the social media marketing plan you want to develop for your business. A simple example is by using hashtag for Twitter accounts.

Creating a plan for content and editorial calendar

Success with any social media marketing strategy you develop depends on having a good content. With a good content, you can convince customers to keep checking your social media accounts for new offers and fresh information or products. Develop the appropriate content marketing plan, which should include strategies for content curation as well as content creation. While at it, do not forget about the editorial calendar.

Test, Evaluate and Adjust

Finally, after coming up with the best social media marketing strategy for your business keep testing, evaluating and adjusting it as the needs arise. The industry in which you operate will keep changing. Ensure that the marketing plan you develop for the social media also changes accordingly. If you have never developed social media marketing strategy, start working on one today.