Social Media - Have a Plan

Today, there’s no question that your target audience is using social media in one form or another. So, how do you use social media to effectively communicate with this audience, encourage action and track results? The first step before you become active on social media is to create a plan. We see this time and time again where companies, businesses and clubs have established a presence on a social network but their account either isn’t active or is lacking a strategy. Below, I have outlined five easy steps to walk you through one social process.

1. Moderate and Listen
Before getting your feet wet, it is important to see if there are any conversations about your brand, team or business. You can read more about this in my past blog: Real Keywords. Real Conversations. Real-Time.

2. Social Strategy
After you know who is talking and what they are saying, it is important to decide what type of social strategy to go with. Does it involve creating accounts on Twitter or a page on Facebook? Is it best to have a presence on both initially or start with one and evolve into the other?

3. Tactics within the Social Plan
Within the Social Plan, it is important to determine your tone of conversation, how often you will be posting content, and what type of content you will be posting. Creating a moderator strategy is also an important step to regulate conversation and continue to be active within the community.

4. Create Awareness
This is the point where you can tap into your other marketing mediums to help promote the social presence. It could be placing the URL below your email signature, having a widget on your website or printing the URLs on print pieces.

5. Measure, Refine and Report
This is the last step in having a social strategy and plan. How is your account or page performing? Is it achieving it’s goals and objectives? Metrics such as visits to site from referring URLs, trending of community members, and influence of conversation can all be measured. After the data is measured, it’s key to reflect on the results and pull in the refined social strategy into the marketing plan.

It’s not only important to have a plan for each social account and profile your moderating, but also to have an overall social strategy which I will discuss in a future post. With a plan, you are ready to drive full speed ahead with social media.