Social media is a valuable and essential tool that can escalate your company’s brand awareness and enhance customer relationships. However, the nature of social media makes it a very volatile platform for communication. If your company’s usage of social media is disorganized and inconsistent, it can end up doing more harm than good. By drafting a specific social media marketing plan highlighting key aspects of your social media campaign, you can ensure that you are meeting goals and heading in the right direction. Here are a few things to keep in mind when drafting your plan.

Goals and Objectives

At the core of any marketing campaign is the goal one is trying to achieve. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, gaining more followers on Facebook, or streamlining marketing costs, these goals should be at the center of your plan. Oftentimes however, inappropriate goals are set, rendering the marketing plan ineffective. These goals may be too vague, or unrealistic and therefore unable to be reached through a series of steps. When setting goals for your company, you want to ensure that they are realistic, measurable, clear, and timely. This way, you can draft a strategy and focus on the aspects needed to achieve them.

SWOT

One of the most accessible measures your company can do is a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis pinpoints factors contributing to internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats. Reflect on how your company stands in terms of user engagement and reach. Additionally, comparing your competitor’s social media to yours can give you a good idea on how your company compares. Try to identify what kinds of posts are furthering user engagement. Finally, take a big-picture look at where social media is taking your industry. Try to gauge which platforms are growing and which are most effective for user engagement.

By identifying your company’s SWOT, you’ll have an increased understanding of where your company stands in terms of its social media communication. Additionally, you’ll be aware of market opportunities you can orient your goals towards.

Now that you’ve got a good grasp of the environment, it’s time to choose the social media platforms that work best for your organization. Keep your audience in mind when selecting a platform to focus on. You want to maximize the amount of relevant people viewing your content.  For example, if your audience is young, smartphone users, Instagram may be a wise choice for the bulk of your social media efforts.

Content Strategy

Your organization’s social media presence thrives on the quality of its content. With great content, users will be drawn in and your reach will expand. Therefore, it is important to clearly define the content your organization will use. Essentially you will be defining the voice of your company. The type, frequency and time of your company’s content are important to consider. All of this is highly dependent on your target audience.

Review

Your goals should have a definable period for which they should be achieved. At the end of this period, review the degree to which these goals were achieved. Additionally, keep in mind your company’s social media level at the beginning of the period and compare it with the end. If your company achieved its goals, identify the factors that contributed to its success. If your company failed to reach its goals, identify the underperforming factors and focus on remedying them. Periodic review and correction is important for consistent organizational growth.

All successful marketing plans revolve around a defined, quantifiable goal. A firm understanding of a company’s environment is important as well. Keep these elements in mind and you’ll be reaching your social media goals and growing your brand.