There won’t be effective business growth without a developed Social Media Business Plan/strategy. Research has shown that over 50% of startups and medium-scale businesses need social media to build their online presence.
WHAT IS A SOCIAL MEDIA BUSINESS PLAN?
A social media business plan is a strategic setup to create marketing goals. Know who your target audience is and also build awareness for your business to grow on social media platforms.
It’s been observed that businesses that are on social media tend to have 10x customers and prospective clients than those who aren’t on social media channels. This is because the internet upon which any social media platform operates is a global market. Hence you have unlimited scope and reach to different clients and prospects.
Social media, if used effectively can help small and medium scale businesses grow and reach their desired goal within a short period of time.
Here are a few plans outlined to guide you to develop a business strategy.
#1: SET YOUR GOALS
You need to set a goal on what you want to achieve and work towards it. You can use the S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goal to accomplish this. Different businesses have different goals. You will have to consider the option that works best for you and work towards it to make it a success.
Here are some key points to use when setting up a social media goal;
- Create brand awareness: as a new business on social media, you should work towards making people know more about your brand and create awareness of its existence.
- Increase traffic: by sharing your social media handle to different blogs and other platforms helps to increase traffic and attract more customers.
- Good customer support: by strengthening your customer care to attend to the needs of your clients and prospects who might have different questions and issues pertaining to the service rendered to them.
- Increase Sales: you can do this by running ads and also using sponsored ads to reach more audiences.
#2: RESEARCH YOUR COMPETITORS
Take out time to research and analyze what your competitors are doing. Odds are, they are posting the same thing you want to post. So you have to learn from their approach, how often they post, the time of posting, the number of likes and followers they have. Alternatively, you can conduct a competitive analysis that allows you to understand your competition and its mode of operation. Hence it can pinpoint an opportunity for you to explore and be dominant in that area.
#3: DISCOVER YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
With the aid of social media management and demographic tool, you can be able to make an audience analysis. Know the appropriate social channel to use.
The types of content to publish. Understanding your audience would help you know what, where, and when to share/publish content.
#4: CREATE AND CURATE ENGAGING CONTENTS
By knowing your target audience, it should be easier to create and curate engaging content. These contents include images, videos, infographics, company news, interviews, blog post. Ensure the contents you’re posting are aligned to what your business was created for. Rich and engaging contents are what keeps your audience glued to your page. Also, ensure you post regularly.
#5: KEEP TRACK OF PROGRESS
At the end of it all, always remember to set up some key indicators to help you monitor your social media result, based on the set goal or objective you have.
You can keep track of your result by adding calls to action that will encourage your audience to engage with your business. Keep your eyes on your Key Performance indicators; audience comments, likes, share, reach, etc. You can go as far as using a landing page or a promotional coupon code to track your result.