socialmarketingCreating a social marketing strategy is no easy feat. Many of us struggle to understand what it is, much less build a plan from scratch.To get you going, we must first understand what social marketing is. In a nutshell, it is the total of what you plan to achieve for your business by using social media platforms. This strategy should include the goal you want to achieve and the tools you will use to get there.

As a general rule, try not to make your social media marketing so broad that it’s almost unattainable. Be practical and be specific in what you want to achieve, and how to go about it.

Here are the steps to creating a successful social marketing strategy:

1. Understand your goals
Where do you want to go? What is the purpose of your social media marketing efforts? Do you want to increase sales or attract traffic to your website? Are you just starting out and want to build awareness for your brand? Make sure to lay down your goals and prioritize the most important ones.

2. Audit your social media presence
Before finally implementing your social marketing strategy, you must assess the social media accounts you have today and see if these are working for you. Try to focus on a couple of platforms, instead of using the whole lot of them. You should also identify which social media platform your target audience most oftenly use.

3. Study your competition
Ignoring competitions never really worked out for anyone. Your competitors are targeting the same market as you are, so you can study what works for them and what doesn’t. That way, you know where to start and what not to consider. To start with this, pick out three or four of the top contenders and then study what social media platforms they are keeping and how successful are they with these.

4. Update your social media accounts
If you have an existing social media accounts, it’s time to update these and maybe even give a little teaser of what’s about to come. If you don’t have social media presence yet, start one and familiarize yourself how everything works. That way, you don’t have to learn how to navigate them at the same time you’re trying to make your social marketing strategy work.

5. Create a content plan and stick to it
Content is essential for a successful social media marketing strategy. Your content plan should include the type of content you intend to post, the schedule of these posts, the target audience of each type of content, the person tasked to create the content, and your plans to promote the content.

There is a Social Media Rule of Thirds, and it’s best to follow them: ⅓ of your content should promote your business, ⅓ should share ideas and stories from industry leaders, and ⅓ should be based on personal interactions to your brand.

6. Check out companies that provide social marketing services
There are companies that provide services for all your social media marketing needs. If you don’t think you have the time, energy and skills to manage your Internet presence, then maybe you can check out the services being offered by BrightSky Web Design, which is known for producing top-quality web designs.