HOW TO CREATE A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAN

Coming up with an effective social media strategy is not an easy task.

If you’re starting from zero, it might feel equal parts thrilling and overwhelming. You know what you want to do and why. You can see that others have climbed the social media mountain; you’ve got few ideas how to get there yourself.

It’d help to have a plan. A set of instructions will be very helpful.

Starting at the ground floor and building up, here’s a set of how-to instructions of how to create a social media marketing plan from scratch. I like to think of this plan like an instructions manual: Be familiar with all the pieces inside the box, and start building your new machine or piece of furniture.

I have here five simple steps for an effective social media marketing plan. I call this, the 5Ps:

STEP 1 – PURPOSE

What is it you want to accomplish with this social media plan? More traffic to your blog? To grow social followers? To increase sales? Get more people subscribed to your email list?

We don’t all want the exact same results from social media, and knowing this beforehand really matters. Write down what you want in general (i.e. more traffic). Then, write down what you want in specific (i.e. 100 new followers on Facebook each month).

STEP 2 – PRODUCT

Everybody knows his or her product, but it’s really important to have it in writing. For example: I sell healthy muffins, high in fiber, and low in sugar for people who want to change their eating habits or are willing to maintain a healthy lifestyle while enjoying some carbs.

STEP 3 – PEOPLE

Discover your audience. Be clear regarding who your customer is. Narrowing our audience instantly makes us more strategic. Audiences have needs and preferences that are unique to them.

a)    Construction workers

b)   High School Students (ages 12-18)

c)    Working moms

d)   Hardcore video gamers

e)    College students

f)     Children (ages 5-10)

g)    Small businesses (1-10 employees)

STEP 4 – PLATFORM

You don’t have to be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube, and 3 blogs. You only need to be where your audience is. You need to be where your potential clients are. You should be on the same network as your audience, of course. And there’s the intimidating statement: Know your audience. You are not selling your products to everybody. You do have a specific audience for that specific product. Therefore, you have a specific platform for that specific audience. For example if your product is geared to teenagers and young adults your best social media platforms are Snapchat and Instagram. You should choose the social network that best fit your strategy and the goals you want to achieve in social media.

STEP 5 – PROCESS

a)    Assemble a team. Everybody is good at something find 1-3 people who will write the content, take photos, upload/schedule content, etc.

b)   Create an editorial calendar and schedule your content at least one month in advance. Plan accordingly so that all your platforms are covered throughout the month.

c)    Decide what the content will be: Photos, blog entry, videos, news, and/or promotions.

d)   Build relationships with your audience

e)    Maintain a consistent message. The voice you choose for Facebook may not work for Instagram or Snapchat.

f)     How often should you be posting? You’ll answer this question when you discover your audience and platform. For example once a day on Facebook is more than enough. However 5-10 times on Twitter would be ideal. Also 1-3 times per day on Instagram sounds logic. Again, it all depends on your specific audience.