How to Build a Successful Social Media Marketing Plan in 2019

No matter the size of your business, the industry you’re in or the products and services you sell, social media marketing is never a waste of time. Just as your blog allows you to share information about your industry and control your messaging, social media gives your brand an active presence. It shows that you’re alive, staying updated on industry trends and available to answer questions and concerns.

While it can be difficult to get noticed on social media, this does not mean that it’s unimportant. Let’s say that a customer is looking for a plumbing company. She narrows down her choices to Company A and Company B. Customer A has an inactive page with few posts and followers. Customer B has a lively profile with customer reviews, images, posts, etc.

Which one will she choose? Probably Customer B.

Easy Steps to Create a Successful Social Media Marketing Plan

It’s never too late to get your social media channels up to speed. I’m going to teach you how to build a successful social media marketing plan in 2019.

Audit Your Current Social Presence

Take a quick look at what your social media channels look like right now. Here are a few questions to answer.

• Which networks are you currently active on?
• Are your profiles updated and optimized?
• Which channels bring you the most value?
• How do your profiles compare to your competitors’ profiles?

By answering these questions, you can determine what channels show the most engagement. If you have some channels that show little to no engagement, ask yourself why. Do you think that you could benefit from a more interesting social media marketing strategy, or do you think that your audience is not on this channel? If it’s the latter, you may want to discontinue using this channel. It’s better to give more resources to your higher performing channels.

Define Your Ideal Customer

Customer profiles change from time to time, so it’s never a bad idea to sit down and redefine what your target customer looks like. To be successful, be as detailed as possible. Imagine your target customer as a real person that has an age, a gender, a residence, an income, interests, pain points, etc.

As you define these characteristics, also ask yourself where this person would find information. Do they turn to Facebook to read product reviews? Do they look at Instagram for visual images of your products and services? Each social channel has a unique audience, so keep this in mind when determining where your audience spends the most time.

Be Precise about Where You Post Content

While it’s easiest to create one post and blast it to all of your social media channels, this is not a good strategy. People will get bored seeing the same lazy posts, and you’re not doing yourself any favors by sending the same message to unique audiences. Instead, consider the message you want to send and how you want it to impact customers.

Imagine that you own a residential painting company. Your goal is to increase customers. On LinkedIn, you could post a long-form article that covers the many ways to choose paint colors. On Instagram, you could feature your work in a series of colorful posts. On Twitter, you could keep customers informed on business hours, promotions, trends, etc.

As you can see, posting unique content to each channel is far more beneficial than using blanket posts. You’re more likely to engage with your unique audiences while meeting your marketing goals.

Reach a Wide Audience with Different Content Forms

It’s easy to write a blog post and share it to social media. But, consider the many ways that your audience likes to consume content. Not everyone enjoys reading blog posts, and we all have our days when we prefer to be fed silly memes and funny videos.

Again, pay attention to the channels you’re using, as some are more conducive to specific content formats. For example, long-form posts are best for LinkedIn because of the older, professional demographics. But, Instagram and Snapchat have younger audiences that like to consume their content in silly short videos, memes and visual posts.

Some of the content forms to explore are:

• Images
• Videos
• Blog posts
• Infographics
• Ebooks
• Podcasts
• Interviews
• Quizzes

Invest in a Social Media Management Tool

It’s OK to use tools to boost your productivity – everyone does! Having a social media management tool allows you to be more productive without using up your energy. Many social media tools offer free trials so that you can test them out and find what works for your brand.

Here are some of the things that a social media tool can do for you:

• Schedule posts across multiple social networks
• Manage your social media inbox
• Launch social campaigns
• Get visual reports
• Track revenue
• Monitor brand mentions

Track, Analyze and Improve Your Plan

With the analytic tools that are built into social media marketing, you can easily learn about what’s working and not working on social media. Track your results, analyze the data and make adjustments to optimize your content. There’s no reason to keep making the same mistakes when the data is in front of you.

The best social media strategies are never fixed. They must be continually updated to reflect the latest trends and changes in your audience. To build a successful, strategic social media marketing plan in 2019, contact WSI Net Advantage at 510-687-9737 or fill out our contact form. We look forward to chatting with you!