Over 74% of people use social media when making a purchasing decision. If you don’t have a social media plan in place for your business, you’re missing a prime opportunity to influence people’s purchasing decisions and get them to buy your products.

But where do you start with creating a social media strategy?

We’ll provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to create a social media plan for your business on this page.

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1. Set your social media goals

When you create your social media marketing plan, the first thing you want to do is set goals. You can’t launch a successful campaign without knowing what you’re aiming to achieve.

Your goals should be SMART goals. SMART stands for:

1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Achievable
4. Realistic
5. Timely

An example of an excellent smart goal is “Increase sales by 10% by the end of the third quarter.” This goal is specific, has a deadline, and can be measured at the end of the quarter.

You can set goals for your overall social media strategy, as well as your campaigns. Having these goals in place will ensure that you keep your campaign on track and drive the results you desire.

2. Determine your target audience

Once you know your goals, you’ll want to focus on who you’re targeting on social media. You won’t achieve your goals if you’re not reaching the right people.

To determine your target audience, look at a typical customer that purchases from your business. Determine information about them like their:

1. Age
2. Gender
3. Location
4. Occupation
5. Income
6. Interests
7. Hobbies

When you compile this information, you can form buyer personas. Buyer personas are fictional representations of real-life customers that can help you target future customers. You can create multiple personas to help your business target the different people in your audience.

Creating these personas helps you get to know your audience better to deliver social media campaigns that align with their needs and interests.

3. Choose the social networks you want to use

The next step in creating your social media marketing strategy is choosing your social media networks. You want to select networks where your audience is likely to spend their time.

You can choose from multiple social media networks, including:

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Instagram
4. Pinterest
5. LinkedIn

Focus on platforms that your audience spends their time on the most. You can look at the platform demographics to figure out where your audience is likely to engage.

You can start with one social media platform or try a few if your audience is on them frequently. After you select your platform(s), set up your profile(s). Add your profile photo, a cover photo (if applicable), and fill out information like your biography.

If you use multiple social platforms, make sure your profile photos and cover photos are consistent across platforms. This consistency will help you build brand recognition with your audience, no matter where they find you.

 

 

 

Brand recognition is a key component of social media because it helps people choose your business when they’re ready to convert. People like to choose companies they know when they purchase, so building that familiarity across social media can help your company earn more sales.

Once you have your profiles set up, you can start posting!

4. Post content frequently

If you want to drive success with your social media marketing plan, you need to post content frequently. Your audience sees updates from their friends, family, and other businesses. With so many people in their feed, it’s easy for your posts to get lost in the mix.

To ensure your audience sees your posts, you need to create and post content frequently. If you post more often, your audience is more likely to see it.

So, how often should you post content?

Well, it depends on your platform and your audience. You’ll need to do some experimenting to see what posting frequency works best for your audience and how receptive they are to your posting frequency on different platforms.

You can start by posting a couple of times a day and go from there to see what works for your audience.

5. Share a mix of content formats

Each social media platform offers different formats for creating content. If you want to maximize your presence on social media, try using various formats to get your audience engaged.

Now, on platforms like Instagram, you can only post photos and videos because it is hyper-focused on visuals. In this case, you’ll want to try using both content formats to keep your posts exciting for your audience.

On other platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, you have more options. You can post content like:

1. Photos
2. Videos
3. Links to content
4. Polls
5. GIFs

If you use a platform like these two, you’ll want to use different content formats to reach your audience.

Using these different formats enables you to appeal to different people in your audience. You’re going to have some people that like watching videos better, while others prefer to read a blog post. You can cater to different members of your audience by utilizing these various content formats.

If you need help finding the right content, WebFX can help you create and post content that engages and delights your audience.

6. Use a social media content calendar

When you’re posting often on social media, it can be hard to keep track of all your posts. You can quickly lose track of when you’re posting and how often you’re posting. So, to help you stay organized, use a social media calendar.

Social media calendars, like a content calendar, help you keep track of what content you’re posting and when you’re posting it.

It helps you see if there are days when you don’t have any posts or days when you might have too many social posts. You can fill in the gaps and balance your schedule to provide an optimal and consistent social media experience.

7. Monitor your social media plan’s performance

Once you start consistently posting on social media, you’ll want to keep track of how your social media posts perform. If you don’t monitor your social media performance, you won’t know if you’re driving your desired results.

You can monitor your social media marketing strategy by tracking metrics like:

1. Shares
2. Clicks
3. Engagement
4. Clickthrough rate (CTR)
5. Conversions

By tracking these metrics, you’ll better understand how your campaigns are performing and where you can improve. It’ll help you create a more effective social media strategy that enables you to reach more leads and grow your business online.

If you aren’t sure how to monitor your metrics, you can partner with the social media experts at WebFX to help you monitor your social media campaigns.

Create your social media plan today

Creating a social media plan will help start your business on the right foot to social media success. It’s no small feat to create a social media strategy, and WebFX is here to help you create yours.

We have a team of over 250 marketing experts that will help you create your social media plan. Our team of experts knows how to make social media strategies that drive results. In the past five years alone, we’ve driven over $2.4 billion in sales and over 6.3 million leads for our clients.

Ready to dive into the world of social media? Contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist about our social media marketing services!