Creating an Awesome Social Media Strategy For Your Business (+ Freebie!)

“Social networks represent the digital reflection of what humans do: we connect and share.”

-Jerimiah Owyang

Humans were meant to interact with each other and learn from one another. So it’s not at all surprising that we found a way to do it in such a bold and vast way. Social networking (the right way) is essential for our society to continue thriving as it allows us to share our ideas, thoughts, and services with the rest of the world. Ultimately, this network of information leads us to amazing inventions and creations that save lives and contribute to the greater good of our species.

But as you already know, a lot of online content doesn’t do this… it’s just internet pollution.

Q: How can you ensure that your content contributes to the greater good of our species and doesn’t pollute the internet?

A: It’s actually really simple! By creating with intent and purpose, you are putting forth something that will truly be of value to another human being.

Having a social media strategy allows you to do just that.

A social media strategy keeps you focused on what’s important to you and your people. It allows you to achieve your goals and guides you when you fall behind. Having a good strategy will help your business grow and become everything you dreamed of.

Here’s how you can create an effective social media strategy for your business:

Know It:

When it comes down to it, all you really need to succeed is a solid foundation (your purpose, values, and goals). Beyond that, it takes hard work and dedication to keep the momentum of that success.

The best thing you can do when creating a social media strategy is to ask yourself a lot of the foundational questions.
- What are the major goals I want to accomplish this year? It can help to break these down into smaller goals so that the overall task doesn’t seem so daunting. For example: If your goal is to attract more clients, then you might break the task down into categories like increasing your social media leads, increasing your networking leads, and optimizing your marketing funnel (we can help with that!). Be sure to attach specific numbers to those goals! Once you understand the smaller tasks and how you can achieve them, the big goal will end up right there in front of you.
- What are my values // What is my purpose? This is the kind of stuff you established in the beginnings of your business. The things you care about (your values and purpose) should be the driving force behind all those long hours you put in each week. Take this time to remind yourself of why you started your business and what really drives you. Find a way to bring those things back into your work and even implement them in your social media strategy.

Plan It:

Okay, so now you have all these goals and aspirations in your head, but what do you do with them? You write them down! Find yourself a fancy calendar and begin strategizing.

Once the bones of your social media strategy are set, it’s time to add some meat. This is where you begin working on the content portion of your strategy. You don’t have to plan all of your content for the quarter at once, but it does help to create your content in advance. Try planning post types (and even what topic you want to touch on) for the next month. Then you can work on the copy and imagery week by week. We suggest working on and scheduling content the week before it’s supposed to go out. This gives you plenty of time to revise your posts and tackle other projects in the meantime.
On your social media calendar, write in your goals (including the broken down tasks) and planned content inside the table. Use this as your guide when creating content each week.

Do It:

Before you schedule your posts, make sure you follow these general social media rules:

Imagery is high-quality and cohesive with your brand
There is a variety of content types included in your plan (video, link, image, text only)
You are optimized for the platform you’re on. If you’re not sure on this, check out this link. (Side note: this link probably doesn’t include all the platforms you are on, but it is the type of information you should know– i.e. best times to post, how many posts per day, etc.) We recommend doing some research for each platform you are on and creating some sort of a guide for your social media strategy to make sure your posts follow the best practices.
Feel free to browse our blog for more help with your social media strategy. Here are a few links to get you started:

Redo It:

This is probably the most important part of your social media strategy. Nobody succeeds and achieves maximum performance their first time around. You will need to tweak your strategy frequently to improve your performance.

This means you need to start recording your stats to get a good look at where you stand over time. Create an excel spreadsheet and track things like followers, engagement, and reach for every platform. If you’re feeling inspired, you can also add blog or newsletter metrics to your spreadsheet.
Let’s say you’ve noticed that your engagement count has decreased a lot over the last few months. Once you realize this, you can begin creating more posts that are meant to fix that. You should notice changes before long. (Google is going to be your best buddy as you learn how to improve your strategy so don’t be afraid to ask for some help every now and then.)

We know that’s a lot of stuff to remember, so we went ahead and created a social media strategy guide just for you! You can download it here.

Be sure to come back for more super awesome and helpful guides in the future!