We don’t need to tell you how important a solid social media strategy is for growing your business - you already know that, and that’s why you’re here. What you might be looking for though, are some tips on where to start with your planning and how best to spend your time on actually executing it.

So here are five rules to live by when creating your strategy.

Tip: The first thing we ask our clients before putting together a strategy is something you should ask yourself too: “what is the main thing you want to achieve with your social media strategy?” - is it increased sales, a higher engagement, brand recognition, or something else? Once you have that answer, you can base the plan around those goals.

Own your space

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology at our fingertips, just about everyone is now a content producer; which means that brands need to carve out their own niche to stand out from the crowd. The best way to do that, is to talk about all things that are relevant to your industry, and become a genuine authority in your space.

Whether that means sharing other sources that are relevant to the work you’re doing, creating content on emerging trends in your industry, or engaging with other players or prominent figures that make sense to your aims - sharing any content to your audience that is interesting or helpful to them is always a recipe for success. It’s key to be smarter than just hammering your product or service in the hope someone will click through and convert; to build and maintain a following you need to engage, pique interest and offer your audience insights they’re not getting anywhere else.

Tip: Don’t be afraid to reference third parties alongside your own content; that doesn’t mean that you need to cite competitors, but sharing a relevant news piece or fun bit of content helps to build trust and authority.

Eliminate the guesswork

From Google Analytics and on-platform insights, to any scheduling software you might be using; these days you can’t move for data around your posts, growth and engagement - so make the most of it!

The biggest sin you can make with social media for your business is scheduling content blind. We have so much data available to us on all elements of engagement - whether that’s views, clicks, shares or conversion - all of which you can analyse to make the right decisions in your strategy.

What works? What gets people talking? What time of day and on which platform is best to post? How do you benchmark against your competitors? All of this information is available, and once you learn to harness it, you’ll never have to chance it again.

Tip: To get started, there are number of free online tools you can use for insights and management including Google Analytics, Hootsuite, Social Pilot, Zoho Social and plenty more.

Don’t be a robot

In the same way you don’t want to be barraged with a long line of ‘BUY OUR STUFF’ posts, your audience will also ignore irrelevant or over-the-top sentiments; so when you’re posting, inject your brand personality into the content and make sure you keep it consistent, light and fun (where appropriate).

A good example of what NOT to do, can be found over at the Condescending Corporate Brand Facebook page.

What do you put on your chips? Like for ketchup, share for mustard!

Eugh.

Tip: A great way to define how you want to come across on social media is to start with a comms or style guide - outlining your story, dos and don’ts, keywords and the type of audience you’re trying to attract - you can then use this as a bible to make sure everyone in your business is using the same tone.

Encourage conversation

While you should be thinking about the value in the content you post, it’s still worth trying to encourage extra engagement - and there are plenty of ways to do so.

An enthusiastic, engaged audience is the holy grail for brands using social media - but don’t be afraid to tackle negative comments either. Answer questions, ask for ideas or experiences, create competitions - even respond to angry complaints by following up publicly and taking it into a private message to sort promptly. All these things show you’re not just mindlessly posting an ad for your latest product; your social media platforms are places for discussion, ideas and all-things-your-brand.

Tip: Ask questions or present ideas around things happening in your space, run polls, ask for feedback on products or services, and if you’re incentivising engagement via a competition, make it as easy as possible to enter, and make sure to publicly announce winners.

Know when to outsource

Depending on your capacity, available skill-level, and the importance of social media as a revenue stream to your business - you might want to consider outsourcing the work and management.

If your resource is better spent elsewhere, then this is a cost-effective way to go. From paid promotions and strategy planning, to maintenance and managing potentially-sensitive situations (read: potential PR crises); outsourcing is an excellent way to make sure you’re getting results-driven, data-efficient support to help you reach your full potential on social media.

Tip: Any agency or third party worth their weight in (Insta)grams (sorry) will first start by assessing your values, your goals, and your identity as a brand - from there, they can help to build and maintain your audiences. The relationship element is important, so if you are going down this route, make sure your brief is as full as possible, and they know exactly what you want and expect from the support from the off.

And there you have it - our top five tips for social media success. Let us know in the comments if you’ve found them useful, or if you have any questions we can help with.

Psst, if you need support with management, strategy, comms/editorial guidelines or anything social media related - get in touch, and let’s discuss how we can help.