Strange how time passes, correct? We’re already entering July of 2021, and knowing how 2020 changed our lives, it’s challenging to predict what will happen next. The pandemic changed our lives, and in a way, things might never be the same again.

 

The same can be said about business. For better or worse, businesses have changed, evolved beyond comprehension, and competition between companies has skyrocketed. There’s one aspect that played a crucial role in our lives; social media.

 

With that in mind, if we looked back in 2020, there’s a chance your social media plans for 2020 were completely thrown off because the year didn’t go as planned for a variety of reasons.

 

But that is okay. Not everything works out according to plan, and even though there are setbacks, there’s an opportunity to do better than before.

 

It’s time to plan for a strategy that delivers results and delivers a clear brand message with a vision that showcases your company’s objectives. It also means that your marketing budget (again) is up for evaluation, and you have three critical tasks lined up, which are;

 

1. Evaluate your social media marketing strategy’s success within the previous six months.
2. Based on last year’s results, create a social media marketing strategy for the remaining six months of this year and 2022.
3. Evaluate what resources your business needs to succeed.

 

As soon as you begin exporting data and preparing summaries, you might start thinking if you have achieved what you set out to accomplish in your previous year. In addition, you might be wondering if there ever was a distinct and motivating goal.

 

Social Media Strategies for Profit & Nonprofit Business Organization

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Before we get started, it is essential to know that it doesn’t matter what type of business organization you are; Profit or Nonprofit. But if you are a profit organization, it is pretty straightforward for you to have your fair share of traffic from social media platforms, unlike nonprofit organizations.

 

For them, keeping track of their social media accounts is like a never-ending hamster wheel in a cage. If you’re a nonprofit organization, you are not the only one who feels this way because social media management for nonprofits is not easy.

 

However, some businesses have been helping nonprofits save time (and money) for over a decade by setting up free and low-cost social media management tools to help them manage and monitor all of their accounts quickly.

 

Without further ado, let’s hop on to the ten most effective and handy tips for creating a result-oriented and exceptional social media strategy for your business:

 

1. What and Why’s of Social Media Strategy Context:

 

Why is the very first question that has to be addressed before we move any further.

Why – has to do with your social media objectives. Are you using social media to market your goods? Do you want to increase the traffic to your website?

 

There are nine social media goals one might have in general:

 

• To boost brand recognition
• To increase traffic
• To obtain new leads.
• To increase revenue.
• To promote brand loyalty and engagement.
• To promote customer services
• To encourage more customer feedback

 

If you have multiple social media accounts, it’ll be easier to understand your users. However, unless you have a dedicated team for social media, it is a good idea to focus on a limited number of tasks over all of them at once.

 

2. Setting SMART Goals:

 

Once your why is sorted, the next step is to set SMART business goals. There are only two factors you must consider when selecting your goals; they should be realistic, and should always be SMART, which means they should be:

 

Specific:

The process, audience, and desired outcomes should be well described as a goal.

 

Measurable:

The objective must have a measuring system for tracking and comparing progress.

 

Attainable:

The goal/objective is within your company’s capability.

 

Relevant:

The goal should advance a part of your company’s broader strategy.

 

Time-bound:

The goal must have a beginning and an end.

 

Instead of saying, We like to use social media to have more followers who will shop more of our goods. Your brand should say, “We’re planning to develop X blog posts on these topics to target these customers (specific-Teenage audience) over two months (specific – 2 months) to increase sales for product X by 30 percent (measurable, attainable) over in the last quarter” (Relevant and Time-bound).

 

3. Know your target audience well:

 

It’s essential to understand your target audience and what they want to see on your social media channels. As a result, you’ll be able to develop content that they’ll enjoy, comment on, and share.

 

Knowing them well is also essential if you want to convert your social media followers into paying clients. Though most of your social media followers will contribute to your general audience, don’t assume they’re the for all the social platforms you’ve selected in your strategy.

 

4. Conduct Competitive Analysis:

 

Always remember that on social media, you and your competitors are vying for the same target audience. Inevitably, your competitors are already using social media, which means you can learn from their mistakes.

 

A competitive study can help you figure out who your competitors are and what they do well and not so well. You’ll gain a clear understanding of what’s required in your field, which can help you define your own social media goals.

 

To conduct this analysis, select 5–10 business competitors, then look them up on all of the major social media platforms common for you and your competitors. Look for postings aimed at grabbing the attention of your competitor’s followers, such as the ones below. It simply implies:

 

The various types of media:

Does it look like their posts are performing well for them?

 

The tone of the content:

What kind of messages appears to be the most effective?

 

Messages of various types:

Are the questions practical? Are there surveys and customer feedback?

 

5. Choose your primary social media platform well:

 

There are plenty of popular social media platforms that your company might use. Because getting the most out of any platform can require a lot of time and money, you should focus your business’ resources on the platforms that will provide you the most return on investment.

 

You must audit your social media channels to know what each of your social media accounts is for. Consider if an account is worth maintaining if the purpose is unclear. You need to find out which platform or channel works best for you and keep that channel on the top of your list for the best content creation.

 

6. Keep Content in the Pipeline:

 

While it’s great to be aware of your objectives, target audience, platforms, and rivals, it’s crucial to keep content plans ready for publishing.  Your social media initiatives will either stand tall or fall based on the content you offer daily. The best part is that your approach and strategy can compensate for a long-term plan for content creation and delivery.

 

Keyword research can help you learn more about what users are interested in. It entails using a tool like Google Trends to see what terms people search for while investigating a topic. You can use this in conjunction with the platform’s analysis capabilities to highlight unique social media hot topics.

 

It will reveal what questions users have and allow you to develop solutions.

 

7. Use a Social Media Content Calendar:

 

To keep your content in the pipeline is to have content ready way before the time comes. Using a calendar for tracking is crucial nowadays. It is a good idea to plan and have posts lined up for specific days and events that are coming up. Planning leaves room for contingencies – something most social media strategies lack.

 

Pro-Tip:

 

After you’ve set up your content calendar, utilize a scheduling application to prepare messages ahead of time rather than constantly updating your calendar throughout your day.

 

8. Adjusting Social Media Strategies as You Move Forward:

 

Social media platforms have always been very uncertain because of the velocity with which your social media posts produce results – you can quickly determine what works and what doesn’t; you can alter your strategies and plans accordingly.

 

9. Keep Track of KPIs And Other Metrics:

 

The social media strategy of your business should ALWAYS be data-driven regardless of what you’re offering. This involves concentrating on the most critical social media indicators and metrics. However, rather than focusing on conventional metrics, brands are expected to look into data directly related to their objectives.

 

But, what metrics or KPIs are we talking about? Take a look at the following breakdown:

 

• Engagement:

 

Engagement tells a lot about you & your brand. The total number of social interactions divided by the total number of impressions is your engagement. It reveals how your audience sees you and how willing they are to communicate with you.

 

• Reach:

 

The actual number of users who saw your content is known as post reach. So how far does your material make it into users’ feeds?

 

• Clicks:

 

It is the total number of times your content or account has been clicked. It’s critical to track clicks per campaign to determine what piques people’s interest or encourages them to buy.

 

• Hashtags:

 

Hashtags are one of the most major KPIs. What hashtags did you use the most? What hashtags were the most closely associated with your company? These answers can help you define the direction of your content in the future.

 

10. Budget Planning

 

Last but not least is the budget you decide to allocate for your social media strategy. Budget planning is necessary to promote your posts on social media and be included in every successful social media plan.

 

Spending without understanding where the budget line is drawn, on the other hand, is a terrible idea. You can understand how particular posts perform by using a small amount in the initial stages and move the budget up as you see progress.

 

Conclusion

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Creating a social media marketing strategy is one of the most challenging tasks since it requires taking a step back and considering the larger picture. It would help if you shift your focus from day-to-day duties such as scheduling and responding to comments to higher-order thinking.

 

On the other hand, having a social media marketing strategy can be highly profitable and beneficial, as it ensures that you aren’t simply producing content for the sake of providing material. It will assist you in achieving long-term social media and business objectives.

 

Author

Eliza Jeffrey is an editor in a leading Internet strategy, marketing, and development firm. She is responsible for designing an online strategy, marketing, and development campaigns for maximum impact. I’m responsible for ensuring that every blog post I write is EPIC.