There are many digital marketing methods for businesses out there. And social media marketing is one of the most efficient marketing strategies. Why? There are countless social media sites that have millions of user bases, which means more opportunities. A well-planned social media marketing strategy can indeed do wonders for your business in ways you can’t expect if done rights.
It is all about creating interactive content for social media platforms with the motive of promoting products or services.
As per recent stats, the number of social media users is over 3.5 billion right now. Moreover, an average user spends more than 2 hours on social media every day.
These stats are enough to prove that the benefits of social media are evident for a business.
There’s a sea of people behind the screens, but pushing your content through is challenging. However, proper use of social media marketing can get you there. Let’s get to know exactly how.
The Key Factors of a Social Media Marketing Plan
If you are formulating a social media marketing plan, you should know the ins and outs of it to make it work right for you. The possibilities are nearly endless, but if you are not aware of the fundamentals, you won’t be able to steer it the right way.
Let’s walk you through the major factors you need to keep in mind while developing a social media marketing plan.
Goals and Objectives
The first and foremost thing of implementing any marketing strategy is deciding where it is directed. The goals you decide on will give you a benchmark to track your progress. However, it is also necessary to keep your goals realistic.
The primary goals of a social media marketing strategy can be to increase brand awareness, build stronger customer relations, generate greater leads, gain more traffic on the website, etc. Whatever your goal is, your strategy needs to be definitive.
For instance, if you aim to increase brand awareness, you need to post content regularly and in line with what the customer likes. A great example of this is Cadbury Dairy Milk Southeast Asia which used Facebook and Instagram videos for increasing brand awareness. There was an increase of 4.7 points in brand affinity.
For PR enhancement, resolving challenges at the earliest and answering promptly is essential.
Target Audience
Another integral key factor of a social media marketing plan is the target audience. Ultimately you are doing it to attract people, right? Therefore, it’s necessary that your content is suitable for them. Now, your content may not be liked by everyone. If you target the wrong segments of people that have nothing to do with your products, it’s not a good strategy. Moreover, the content directed towards the potential customers can yield better results.
It requires proper research to find and focus on what you can do effectively. People who are interested in purchasing products like yours or who the competitors are after can help you find your target audience.
For instance, if you are a game development company, your target audience would be 18 or above. As per Statista, 38% of gamers come from the 18 to 34 age group.
Budgeting
Once you have your goal and target audience locked, the next step is to prepare a budget and allocate funds for each aspect. This includes figuring out the sources to raise funds and planning how they will be spent. The aspects that need some investment in a social media marketing plan are mainly content creation, ad campaigns, influencer marketing etc.
The catch here is that it could get expensive if you are not clear how much you should spend on what platform. Plus, it also depends on your goal. Having a budget will help you get the most out of social media marketing.
Content Strategy
Around 70% of the world’s population is on social media. This means social media marketing can be the most incredible tool in your arsenal. But recognising your target audience, reaching out, and attracting them is all part of content strategy.
There are different kinds of content like Infographics, videos, photos, etc. You need to be aware of what kind of content works for your audience and focus on delivering it with suitable timing.
Content strategy includes planning what kind of content you will be producing and on what platforms the content will be published. The schedule, actions of competitors, requirements & interests of the target audience, everything is considered while preparing the content strategy.
It ensures that your content is delivered to the right people at the right time and right place. As per wyzowl, 87% of people stated video marketing resulted in increased traffic, so you need to find what form of content works for you. Based on that, you can develop an informed strategy.
Social Media Dynamics
This is a rather tricky part but also the most important to fully grasp the essence of social media marketing. Social media is a dynamic place and is subject to change over time. These changes drive the trends, and it’s important to study them.
A good social media marketing plan is devised by monitoring these changes. In short, it helps you ascertain how you can tune your content with social media trends.
This also includes examining the competitors plus understanding what’s working for the audience, and then making necessary adjustments in your content. The social media spend recorded an increase of 13.1 in 2021. It is expected to go up this year, so how well you push your content with these trends matters greatly.
Consistency
You can consider this segment as an extension of your content strategy since it includes preparing and posting content as per a schedule. Making favourable content is not just the basis of your plan rather, it’s a necessity. But consistency plays an important role for it to yield tangible returns.
Posting or sharing your content on a timely basis, whether it is weekly or daily, plays a pillar role in amplifying your voice. As per Forbes, brands that post content consistently are worth 20% more as compared to those that are inconsistent. Therefore, you need to make content posting on social media a habit.
Conclusion
In any marketing strategy, you cannot say one aspect performs better than the other. It’s always a collective measure that makes something work. Similarly, all the key factors of the social media marketing plan discussed above are co-dependent and deliver the best with the right execution. It’s not an enigma to understand how businesses use social media for marketing, a carefully crafted and implemented plan is bound to yield fruitful results.
Thinking to promote your business via social media? Koret Media can help you formulate a working social media marketing plan.
