Social Media Strategy

Do you have a Social Media Strategy or do you sit there everyday, looking at your screen, wondering about what to post today?

I’m delivering a Social Media Content and Strategy course tomorrow in North Shields for The Business Factory and so was just thinking about the content and thought, hey ho I’ll write a blog!

So here are a few steps that I think are absolutely essential when it comes to Social Media.  You know what they say – or at least what Alan Lakein says:- “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” … and oh is he right!

Social Media Strategy – Your Audience

The first thing you need to think about is your target audience.

• Who are they?
• Where are they? And most importantly of all …..
• What are they interested in?

It’s no good saying “My audience is everyone” or “Any woman of any age would buy my product” etc.

The more precise you are about your audience the easier it is going to be for you to connect with them – and engage with them. Think about your buying persona. Build a picture, a story, around that person. What does their day look like?  When are they most likely to want to see your posts?

Social Media Strategy – Platforms

Work out which Social Media platforms you are going to use based on where your target audience is rather than which ones you like using best.

And then, when you have decided which platforms, start to think about what is your purpose is for using that particular platform.

Social Media Strategy – Content

So, what are you going to talk about online? The last thing you want to do is post the same content on each platform.

For example it may be that you decide:-

Facebook will be your platform for engagement with your target audience

Twitter you are going to use to raise your profile, raise your social score and drive traffic to your website.

Instagram may be where you show people what’s happening behind the scenes in your business, maybe it’s a place for you to give people an insight in to you, the person behind the business.

LinkedIn is where you will show people how experienced you are in your field, by sharing relevant news and industry updates.

Create a Plan

If you clearly define which platforms you are going to use and what content you are going to share on each, then bring in to the  computation how often you are going to post on each of them, you are ready to create your plan. Your Social Media Strategy.

Here at North East Social Media that is EXACTLY what we doing, working from a Google Spreadsheet. We mark off each client as we post their content for them. This way we know who has posted for who and where.

• No duplication of work
• Double posting is no longer a thing!
• Sitting for hours thinking about what to write – simply doesn’t happen.

Measure what you do

It is so important to keep a track of what you are doing. Use your insights to create reports. Measure your results so you know that your improvements are working! That having a Social Media Strategy is making a difference.

I promise you, if you put this thought in to it in the first instance, your social media marketing will flow.  You will save hours of times to be able to work on your business, rather than your marketing.

Please do let me know how you get on! If you are stuck I do offer 121 training either in person or via Zoom and would be happy to help.

I also have a Facebook Group you may find useful. I often posts tips on what to talk about on certain days.  Have a look. See if it’s the type of help you need. A gentle prompt.

If you’re looking for more than a gentle prompt, and ongoing training, check out our membership group. The Social Media Angels.

Live Video

Are you using Live Video or any form of video in your social media marketing yet?

For the past 2 years I’ve been trying to encourage people to use video in a social media marketing. To bring video in to their marketing strategies.

When you’re posting on social media you’ve got a whole 1.3 seconds to capture somebody’s attention. Then they move on to the next post. 

Therefore it stands to reason the if you are using something that is going to catch somebody’s eye you have more chance of engagement and interaction and reach on that post.

Live Video Outperforms

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=2131551680227762
Video by far outperforms all other types of post on social media particularly on Facebook LinkedIn and now Twitter.

The most effective post On Facebook is live stream video. Facebook will go out of their way to tell people that you are currently live on Facebook and encourage them to come and watch you, and then when you finished your live stream you publish it to your business page.

Basically you’re getting double whammy with a  Facebook live as first of all the Live is a priority post and then the second best post being uploaded MP4 video . So from your one Live you’re getting the maximum exposure possible as after you have streamed live you can add that video to your page.

Video and Stories

The other thing you need to look at is this the use of stories. Stories are growing in popularity on both Facebook and Instagram. Stories only stay within your story for 24 hours so is there is a need for you to update it could be your story, on a regular basis think of ways that you can bring that into your marketing strategy.

When you’re posting on your story and when you’re using video you need to think mobile. In fact everything you do online now you have to think mobile first. (The video I have embedded above is portrait as I used my desktop computer, but if you are using a mobile keep it vertical).

How is somebody going to view what you are doing on their mobile device? People prefer to keep their mobile in a vertical position and therefore you need to think about vertical video. It has recently been mentioned the Instagram is going to support landscape video but people are getting more and more in to the habit of looking at their streams vertically.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fnortheastsocialmedia%2Fvideos%2F10150221628543104%2F&show_text=1&width=560I am often asked how long should the video be? To this there is no perfect answer. What we do know is that if you’re creating a video for advertising purposes you need to keep that video to under 15 seconds.

As for other video’s  it depends what you doing. If you’re giving people a demonstration on one of your products for example, or if you’re an artist and you’re creating something in front of people, your audience will watch for as along as the video keeps their attention and interests them. But do remember we live in a World where people like to do things and complete things very quickly!

What you must consider is adding subtitles to your video. It’s been found that when people are watching video on their news feed they are watching it with sound off (incidentally when I listening to it in a story they have sound on). Make sure you familiarise yourself with the publishing tools available to you within your Facebook page, so after you publish your video you can go in and add subtitles.

Have you tried the auto subtitles yet?  They may need a little editing but on the whole it pretty much gets the jest of what you are saying – and is so much better now than it was a few years ago.

Have a think about how you are going to continue to bring, or start to use, video in your marketing.

If you’re not using it you are missing out. You don’t have to create beautifully crafted professional looking videos . At the end of the day the reason people like to watch live video is that it’s raw. Live Video shows a true representation of the person behind the business.

So go on have a go. Don’t be shy! I promise you the more you try it = the more you get used to it = the more confident you will be.

Let me know how you get on! Please feel free to join my Group on Facebook