How to Build a Social Media Strategy for your Business in 2020

March, 2020

cowgirls don’t shoot blindly, and neither should your social media.

Everything you do on social media needs to have a purpose. The images you choose for Instagram, the post you make on Facebook, the article you write on LinkedIn - it all should reflect your brand guidelines and meet your goals. Otherwise, you’re shooting in the dark and most of the time, you won’t be hitting your target.

We’ve outlined the steps you can take to ensure your social media strategy is finding its way to your online identity and marketing.

1. Define goals that work for your business

No right or wrong answer here. Just list out your goals for wanting to be on social media. Things like: sell more products, book more appointments, become an educational resource, grow my audience, increase web traffic, gather more leads, and increase brand awareness.

Choose multiple goals or just one. Be true to your business and yourself during this part of the planning. That means don’t say you want to generate more leads because you think that’s what’s expected. If you don’t want more leads, but you do want more website traffic, go with your inner wisdom here.

2. Define your target audience

Easier said than done, but not impossible. We consider this the most vital step when it comes to social media strategy, especially in 2020. You’ve got to know who your audience is and where they like to play. Elsewise, you’ll be left playing in the dark by yourself.

Start with generation definition. What age groups do your current and potential customers fall into? If you’re dealing with Gen Xers, you’re going to want Facebook and Instagram for your social media marketing. Do your research to see how Gen X likes to consume paid ads on social media. Figure out the best types of video content for this group.

What’s your target audience’s income levels? Are you working with C-level positions? Then LinkedIn is definitely where you want to be. What about stay at home moms who gave up their career temporarily to raise children? If that’s the case, Pinterest is probably a good bet, along with a few other platforms.

Create avatars for each segment of your defined target audience. Name these people, find a photo that represents them, and define their buying and social media viewing habits.

Most people use more than one social media platform and your business is going to want to meet them where they are at.

3. Get to know your competition

Go local and go national. Read their website copy, deep dive into all their social media platforms including the comments, and take notes.

Where is your competition dominate and where are they lacking? How does their strategy differ (or how is it the same) to what you’re thinking about putting together? Do they have a lot of user generated content or do their posts look highly curated? Are people paying attention to them? Does it look like they purchased social media followers? Can you find their hashtags when you do a search on Instagram?

Not sure who your competition is? Do what we all do, search on Google. Search on various keywords and get down to it on their social media accounts. Check Yelp and Google My Business as well.

4. Define worthy metrics

Data leads the way, but it needs to be clearly defined at the start so you know you’re really looking at the vital numbers. Skip the vanity metrics and go with what matters. Here’s a smattering of metrics you might find helpful in measuring the goals you laid out in step 1:

Engagement: Who interacted with your posts and is that audience who you want. Are they commenting with love, support, anger?

Clicks: Are people clicking on your links (use Bitly to track this)? Is Facebook Pixel showing the numbers? Are your hashtags on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter being found?

Reach: How far and wide is your content moving? Too far? Too close? Wider?

5. Put it all together

Once you’ve done the work, your actual content is gestating. As you move through each step of your social media strategy, jot down content ideas and color schemes. Start to grow your brand’s voice that your target audience will hear. Look into what it means to create interactive and lasting content. And remember, keep it interesting.