Social Media Strategy: Don’t Leave Home Without One

Ah, social media. It is such a great marketing tool, but as marketing professionals, we have seen it wielded incorrectly or inefficiently more times than we can count. The danger is in thinking, “Hey, I know how to use Facebook. What could be so hard about doing a little marketing on social media for my business?” And we get it, we really do–most small business owners have a strong DIY mentality and desire to keep costs in check–but while it doesn’t take long to create an update and post it, if you don’t have an underlying social media strategy in place, you can end up doing more harm than good. Or at least very little good.

What Is a Social Media Strategy, and Why Do I Need One?

A social media strategy is a plan for how you will use social media in order to meet specific goals. This second part is important because it forces you to think through who you think you will be able to reach through social media and what you want them to do once they see your post (i.e., click through to your blog or website, sign up for a free trial, send their email address, buy your product, etc.).

• Focus only on social media sites that are the right fit. Each business’s social media strategy will vary depending on the type of business and bandwidth available. Part of the strategy should be thinking through which outlets are best suited to your business. If you do mostly B2B work, you might decide to focus your efforts primarily on LinkedIn and Twitter. If you sell a product or design service, you want to go with something like Instagram that will allow you to highlight photos.
• Be consistent. One of the biggest pitfalls of not having a social media strategy is inconsistency. If you’re used to using social media for personal use, it’s not really something you have to think about. You can post four pictures of your dog on Tuesday and then log off for the next two weeks. But if you are using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. for your business, the first part of your social media strategy must be CONSISTENCY.
• Vary your schedule depending on the outlet. This might vary slightly depending on your company, but for most social media outlets, we recommend posting at least once a week. For Twitter, since the feed moves so quickly, posting once a day is a good idea. Not every potential customer is going to see every post, so you need to be getting out of in front of people frequently.
• Use photos and images. Photos can make a big difference in how customers interact with your posts, so think about photo taking or gathering as an integral part of your strategy. Not every business is going to be able to post a wealth of photos (for instance, if you’re a financial planner, you may not get many action shots), but most businesses that either sell a product or perform a service with a before-and-after element (designers, contractors, etc.) should be utilizing photos.
• Get organized! We recommend using HootSuite to keep everything organized and allow you to work ahead with posts. That way you don’t have to be writing posts constantly throughout the month–you can pick a day to write everything and then schedule posting for the coming weeks or months.
• Link smart. Beware of including too many links back to a specific landing page on your website: Google can flag you if you link back to your blog (for example) over and over again. On the flip side, linking to other sites can help your social media standing, so think about sharing articles and linking to other blogs as part of your strategy.

Have any questions or need help crafting a tailored social media strategy for your business? Contact Niki at [email protected] for a free consultation.