“It is key for entrepreneurs to have a social media plan with specific goals to ensure that this effort is fruitful.” 

With out a social media plan, you can spend your whole day on social media with little to show for it. So you need to create a social media marketing plan. Many of us struggle to iron out exactly what that is, let alone how to build one from scratch. Every action you take on social networks should be a part of a larger social media marketing strategy. That means every post, reply, like, and comment should all be guided by a plan that’s driving toward business goals. It might sound complicated, but if you take the time to create a comprehensive social media strategy, the rest of your social efforts should follow naturally.

What is a social media plan?

A social media marketing plan is the summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve for your business using social networks. This plan should comprise an audit of where your accounts are today, goals for where you want them to be in the near future, and all the tools you want to use to get there.

In general, the more specific you can get with your plan, the more effective you’ll be in its implementation. Try to keep it concise. Don’t make your social media marketing strategy so lofty and broad that it’s unattainable. The plan will guide your actions, but it will also be a measure by which you determine whether you’re succeeding or failing. You don’t want to set yourself up for failure from the outset.

Developing a plan is key to making sure that you are aligning your scarce resources to the goals you are trying to achieve. Here are the elements of a social media plan.

Step 1: Assess Your Current Social Media Assets

Before you strategize about where you are headed, take a quick look at where you are. A few areas to consider when auditing your business’s social media presence are:

• Which networks are you currently active on
• Are your networks optimized (photo and cover images, bio, URL, etc.)
• Which networks are currently bringing you the most value
• How do your profiles compare to your competitors’ profiles

Step 2: Know Your Ideal Customer

Be as specific as possible with this part. For example, if you identified your market as teenagers that’s a start. However, it is better to hone it down to a teenager that enjoys music, and is about to go to college and prefers Facebook over other social networks and enjoys camping. Even the best marketers will fail if they are marketing to the wrong audience. You want a highly specific buyer persona that includes each of the following:

• Gender
• Age
• Location
• Marital Status
• Job Title
• Income
• Pain Points
• Most Used Social Network

Step 3: Determine Which Social Networks Apply

Once you have a good sense of your ideal customer, you should determine which of the social networks will be most fruitful for your efforts. Keep in mind that you may want to have your presence across multiple social media sites even if they don’t nail your customer demographic (i.e., you may want to have Instagram even though your market is baby boomers) to enhance your overall presence, but you should be clear about which social media networks hold the most promise.

Step 4: Set Your Goals and Metrics

How will you determine if your social media marketing efforts are successful? I am not just talking about gaining more followers, I am talking about making money. After all, it is hard to rationalize spending time and money on something that isn’t improving the bottom line. A few metrics to consider measuring are:

• List Growth
• Impressions
• Conversion Rate (to list or purchase)
• Time Spent on Website
• Reach
• Brand Mentions
• Sentiment
• Shares
• Likes

Step 5: Create Great Content

Sadly, many businesses jump straight to this step. Hopefully this post has made it clear that there are several vital steps that you must take before you start creating and curating engaging content to share on your social media channels.

Let’s now discuss the fun part, posting to social media. You know who your ideal customer is and you used that information to create your social media mission statement. Armed with this information it should be easy for you to begin creating and curating content. So, what exactly is considered content? Here are a few examples of content you could create:

• Images
• Videos
• Blog Posts
• Company News
• Infographics
• eBooks
• Interviews

The list of content ideas goes on and on, but make sure you focus only on forms of content that align with your mission statement, as well as your skill set. Content is what fuels social media, so it is crucial that you consider creating high quality, engaging content as a top priority.

Step 6: Create a Content Calendar

Create a content calendar that outlines how often you will post to each network, which topics you will share and when you will share them.

Step 7: Choose a Social Media Management Tool

When it comes to social media, having a social media management tool allows you to scale your efforts with ease. One of the main benefits of a social media management tool is the ability to schedule posts ahead of time. Remember that content calendar you created? Make sure your scheduled posts in your social media management tool align with your content calendar.

Step 8: Report and Adjust

This may be the most important step when it comes to succeeding on social media. Even the best social media marketers rely on trial and error. It might seem basic, but tracking your results, analyzing the data and then making tweaks to optimize them is crucial.

Each previous step should be re-evaluated after you have had time to analyze the results of your marketing efforts. Let the data drive you. If it is telling you Facebook or Twitter is your most effective channel, consider doubling down.

A great social media strategy is never set in stone. It is a constant work in progress that changes when necessary. So get out there, create a strategy and start optimizing it as you continue to grow and learn more about your business and your audience.