Social media has an estimated 2.65 Billion users around the world. Social media is a highly adaptable tool that must adapt to the constantly changing world. There are many ways that social media can make companies more visible, appealing, and accessible, whether it’s through valuable content, customer service, or paid promotions.

Develop a social media strategy

What party would you throw without a plan?

You could, but it may not be as enjoyable as if you hired a DJ, caterer and bouncy house. The same applies to your social media strategy. The better your outcome, the more you think about what posts you make.

A well-thought-out plan is a key to creating a consistent and effective social media presence across all platforms.

PR Smith’s SOSTAC(r) framework is a great way to organize your plan.

It is broken down into six steps and provides a guideline to help ensure your social media channels have a clear direction. This guide is based on where you are now and where you want it to go.

These are:

Situation Analysis: Where are we?

Objectives Where do we want to go? (e.g. Gain followers, improve engagement and customer service.

Strategy – How can we get there (Reflect on the content and audiences you currently have)

Tactics: which strategies do we need? (e.g. Which social networks to use? Post frequency? Content themes?

Actions: How will tactics be implemented, and who will take part? Consider things such as staff capabilities/time, outsourcing, internal processes and systems, etc.

Reports. control how we will know that we are there? (KPIs and analytics, customer feedback/surveys. Who monitors the results?

Know your audience

If you don’t know your audience, you can’t create relevant content. Make sure you learn about your audiences – whether it be through market research, social insights, creating personas, or social media listening/monitoring.

Social media monitoring is stalking, waiting for the whispers and gossip that might be about your company. You can learn valuable insight into your customers by listening to what is being said about you, your industry and competitors on social media and the internet.

These honest, objective insights can help you fine-tune your targeting strategy.

Make sure your brand image remains consistent.

Every social media platform should consistently reflect your brand. It includes visual aspects as well as tone, messaging, and values. It’s also important to link these themes with your overall branding strategy, including your website.

You can quickly and easily brand social media posts using various online tools, including Canva or Adobe Spark.

Share useful and valuable content that aligns with your business goals.

Nothing is worse than content just for the sake of content.

You might need to rethink how you use social media when creating posts and campaigns.

These are just a few examples of the objectives that social media can help you achieve:

• Increase in engagement – shares/likes/clicks/replies
• Customer satisfaction/service increased
• Increased sales of your product/service
• Increased visits to your site
• Increased number of followers
• How far can brand awareness take your message?

Keep an eye on your results.

When monitoring your campaigns, you must focus on more than just ‘vanity metrics .’ when monitoring your campaigns.

You can also gain valuable information from social networking, including customer service, community engagement and sharing tips and information about your product or service.

Once you have identified the metrics you need to measure to achieve your goals, you can start looking for a tool to help you track them. There are many scheduling tools available and social media channels that offer to track. You can also explore third-party avenues or build your APIs.

It is important to stay on top of the latest trends, features, and algorithms social networks throw at you. This will make social media marketing more efficient and hopefully more rewarding.