Plan, Plan, Plan: Social Media Success
Brands must follow their brand guidelines and create creative content that grabs the audience’s attention on all social media platforms. When defining the social media strategy/plan one should be aware of the intended purpose for each social media platform, for example, many companies are sticking to Twitter for customer service, whereas Instagram is used to showcase products for example. Social media plays a big role in our lives now that we have access to so much just at a click of a button, it’s all at our fingertips.
Nowadays people tend to engage with social media accounts that catch their attention and line up to their beliefs for ex. cruelty-free products. As stated in Why an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy is Important(Brandi, 2019) many people have social media but they are not using it properly for their business, “97% of small businesses use social media to attract new customers, but 85% of these business owners don’t know what social media to use” and that’s a big percentage of them.
The AIDA model created in 1898 by Elias St Elmo Lewis helps demonstrate the connection and purpose of the social media strategy which lists, awareness, interests, desire, auction, and bond. Like I mentioned earlier we tend to engage with businesses and companies with whom we can relate and enjoy their products/services. In the long run, the success will be the meaningful interactions, not the passive ones. Where there is a positive impact there is success. Knowing your audience, their interests,
Putting in money to create paid and promoted posts will increase boosts and exposure throughout the social media outlets. When done correctly it can bring more traffic, drive engagement, increase conversions and tend to have a higher success rate. If there is no strategy or plan you could ultimately end up placing your money in the wrong place causing a loss of investment. No one wants to waste their time putting in effort but using it the wrong way. No strategy leads to low engagement, unsuccessful results and audience does not appreciate content.
The tricky part about social media is that it is always changing. There isn’t a one size fits all formula, social media marketers should always remain flexible. New platforms can arise, there can be quicker ways to do things and so on. The key takeaway when it comes to social media strategy is to keep up with the target audience and see what works and what doesn’t, it will save you time therefore you will be able to maximize your strategy efforts, marketers must adjust (Irmas, 2020).
The best way to start putting down your findings to begin your social media strategy is asking yourself the questions, who, what, when, where, and why to narrow down your strategy for execution to create awareness. Keeping in mind themes that follow your brand will increase engagement and keep the audience focused on what you have to share (Lua, 2021).
There are certain things that should stay at the top of mind when creating a social media strategy. Like I mentioned earlier it would be upsetting to work on a strategy but have the wrong concept in mind. On the bright side there is always room for improvement and once you are able to plan a strategy focusing on your audience, theme, style, focusing on what the customer may want to see, engaging with the community and staying consistent you will see a difference (Lozano, 2021.) The beauty of social media is that it is what you make it, a brand just has to stay on top of their audience in order to increase engagement from their side.
[1] Why is Social Media Marketing Strategy Important and How to Create One. Digital Marketing Blog. (2021, March 9). https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/effective-social-media-marketing-strategy/#:~:text=It's%20an%20essential%20way%20for,more%20traffic%2C%20and%20more%20engagement.
[2] How Social Media Marketing is Changing. business.com. (n.d.). https://www.business.com/articles/how-new-age-social-media-marketing-is-changing-and-what-you-need-to-know/.
[3] Lua, A. (2021, January 6). Social Media Marketing Strategy: The Complete Guide for Marketers. Buffer Library. https://buffer.com/library/social-media-marketing-strategy/.
[4] Lozano, Dhariana. 6 Reasons Your Social Media Strategy Isn’t Working (& How To Fix It). Business 2 Community. https://www.business2community.com/social-media/6-reasons-social-media-strategy-isnt-working-fix-02021628.
