Social media isn\u2019t just an addictive diversion; it is also a powerful marketing tool.<\/p>\n
But, signing up for an Instagram or Twitter account isn\u2019t enough. If you want to use social media to grow your company\u2019s reach and revenue, you will need a social media marketing plan.<\/p>\n
What does this mean? According to HootSuite<\/a>, \u201cA social media marketing plan is the summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve for your business using social networks. This plan should comprise an audit of where your accounts are today, goals for where you want them to be in the near future, and all the tools you want to use to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not sure where to start with a social media marketing plan, you\u2019re in good hands! Here is how to get started, in just 5 simple steps.<\/p>\n Do you currently have a plan? Too often, people are signed up for more social media accounts than they know what to do with.<\/p>\n Still, it\u2019s important to have a plan and clear goals for each social media channel you\u2019re on. Don\u2019t invest your time in pinning cupcakes and furry animals if this isn\u2019t a part of your overall plan to grow your business.<\/p>\n Have a purpose, or a mission statement, for each of your platforms. That means deleting accounts without purpose \u2014 they won\u2019t impact growth, but they will waste your time.<\/p>\n Steer clear of spammy practices like following thousands of Twitter accounts that are irrelevant to your brand without engaging with them. If you are following twenty thousand people and 135 people follow you on Twitter, your account will look spammy and a desperate.<\/p>\n Your KPIs, or key performance indicators<\/a> let you know if you\u2019re hitting your goals. And, they may change over time.<\/p>\n It\u2019s ok if you\u2019re not where you want to be in terms of online presence, but you need to have a concrete vision of how to get there. If your goal is to gain more followers, write down how many you have now, and how many you wish to have in the next three months. Do the same with engagement, social media impact, and so on, then spend time delving into how you\u2019re going to make that happen.<\/p>\n You might need to up your SEO game, or learn how to use the right hashtags. Maybe your content is perfect, but you\u2019re not posting at the right times or with enough consistency. It will take time to figure out your perfect formula, but first you should have your goals written out clearly, as well as how you will achieve them.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re struggling with coming up with goals, seek inspiration. Find out who the big players are in your field and follow them. What kind of content do they post? Who is following them? What have they done to grow in a short period of time? Analyze their marketing strategy and use this to emulate their success within your plan.<\/p>\n This should go without saying, but all of your accounts should be the best versions of themselves at all times. Your brand should be clear, concise, and consistent throughout all of your platforms. Your bios should be filled out properly, spell-checked, and with working links. If someone finds you on Instagram, but you have a blatant grammar error in your bio, and the link to your website doesn\u2019t work, it\u2019s safe to say that the person will not also follow you on Twitter, let alone purchase your product.<\/p>\n Make your brand as professional as possible, but also memorable. Use vivid imagery with photos you have taken, and make sure they all match up across your platforms. If you\u2019re having difficulty finding your branding voice, or what makes your company unique, hire a professional designer or branding specialist to help you out.<\/p>\n Now that your accounts are streamlined and you have concrete goals in place, it\u2019s time to put your plan into action. By using a social media marketing planning template<\/a>, Calendar, and a tool like Buffer<\/a>, Hootsuite<\/a>, or Edgar<\/a>, write out and schedule your plan a month at a time.<\/p>\n Being able to visually see your plan laid out will not only help to organize your social media blueprint, it will make it much less overwhelming and keep you on track.<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s daily, weekly, or monthly, it\u2019s important to review which channels, ads, posts, Tweets, etc. are performing the best, what your optimal posting times are, who your demographic is, and so on.<\/p>\n When reviewing, you can increase the frequency of the activities that are working, and eliminate the activities that are not working.<\/p>\n It might seem like a great deal of work to put a social media marketing plan into place, but staying organized<\/p>\n As long as you keep your accounts up to date, you will simply have to maintain a calendar, analyze statistics, and keep expanding your goals. This is the best way to use social media to achieve professional growth, and not simply to waste time. And on social media, there is much time to be wasted.<\/p>\n What do you think of this guide to creating a social media marketing plan? Have you created one, and how did it help you? Please share your advice with us below!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social media isn\u2019t just an addictive diversion; it is also a powerful…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":6332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redbooth.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redbooth.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redbooth.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redbooth.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redbooth.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redbooth.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redbooth.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redbooth.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redbooth.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redbooth.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Audit your current social media marketing plan<\/h2>\n
2.\u00a0Track key performance indicators<\/h2>\n
3.\u00a0Create consistent branding across all of your accounts<\/h2>\n
4. Develop a social media editorial calendar<\/h2>\n
5. Build, measure, and learn<\/h2>\n