The importance of social media can be understood from the fact that 90% of young adults between the age of 18-19 and 35% of elderly over the age of 65 use social media platforms.
So, if you want to promote your business, what could be a better place to find your intended audiences?
While many businesses have in-house departments dedicated to social listening and SM marketing, many other organizations choose to hire a digital marketing agency and leave everything to their experts.
No matter which route you take for your business, make sure that your strategy has the following elements to ensure its success.
Set Goals And Objectives
What good is a strategy that isn’t built on pre-defined goals and objectives?
So, for starters, know what you want out of your social media presence. Determining the outcome of these strategies will help you get a direction.
These goals and objectives don’t necessarily need to be highly specific – only having a rough sketch would do the job. Consequently, it will provide you the basic framework to plan out the initial actions you need to take.
Define Target Audience
Before you know what would compel the consumer to buy your product or service, you need to know your target audience. It will require a bit of research but will help significantly in narrowing your focus.
You can start by looking at who your competitors are targeting. Then, study your customers, who are buying your product more.
Here is a list of a few characteristics that you want to know about your target audience:
- Location
- Age
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Religion
- Hobbies
- Education
- Income
Know Your Budget
You don’t want all the efforts of planning and implementing the social media strategy to go to waste just because you ran out of budget. So, before you go any farther, you should know your budget in the long run. That will help you understand how much you can afford to spend, as many factors of social media marketing depend on your budget.
For instance, you might need to invest in the following aspects of social media marketing:
- Content of social media campaigns
- Social media management tools
- Paid social promotions
- Analytical tools
- Community engagement efforts
Choosing Social Media Platforms
Every social media platform has its own features and characteristics that can help you in marketing your business. And an average user has at least five accounts on different social media platforms, but they serve different purposes. So, before developing a strategy, you need to know which one is suitable for your business.
If you decide to utilize all the platforms, that calls for a bigger budget as you will need to have a separate strategy for some of them, if not all.
Conclusion
Having a social media strategy will help your brand achieve its goals more efficiently. Also, it’ll establish your brand’s image quicker than you think, as the social media tools have made reaching your audience more accessible than ever. So, all you need to do is have a concise and engaging social media marketing strategy and its timely implementation.