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Do you have a Social media content strategy? Are you wandering around aimlessly when it comes to posting on social media?
Do you randomly post content, just when you feel like it?
If so, it’s time to switch up your social media game. Consistency and strategy is key when it comes to showcasing your content on various social media platforms.
This is why you need a content strategy and you need to be able to execute it!
From planning your content, to getting it up and running on your social media pages, with the proper timing, developing a personalized content strategy can help boost your engagement and overall visibility.
So, what goes into a social media content strategy? Sure, developing content is the obvious one, but there’s a few things that need to get honed out before you get there.
Let’s go down the list.
Setting Goals for Your Social Media Content Strategy
Ask yourself why you want to post on social media.
If you could only derive one benefit from posting on social media, what would it be? This is how you’ll create your media strategy.
- Improving traffic to your website?
- Keeping your consumers engaged with your brand?
- Increases your brand’s awareness?
- Reaching customers beyond your current ability?
It could be one of these, or it could be all of them. Make sure your overall company goals are in line with your social media goals. For example, consider you own a business that tends to convert in the medium to long term (e.g auto dealer).
Consider what your business wants to achieve. It’s guaranteed that social media can help you attain it.
Take time to brainstorm different types of social media marketing ideas, so that you can develop a social media content strategy unique to your business.
Choosing The Right Social Media Platform
Some companies throw their content out on random platforms hoping that by releasing content everywhere, you maximize the amount of people seeing your stuff.
While this style of posting has good intentions, using this method is often a waste of time, here’s why.
Not every social media platform is created equal. Each platform has its own features that cater to specific target demographics and behaviors.
For example, social media platforms like Snapchat and YouTube have vastly different age demographics than platforms like Facebook and Linkedin.
Because of this, it’s crucial to understand why you’re posting and where you’re posting.
Let’s go over your target market, and which social media platforms are ideal for your business.
Snapchat
If your business targets the 13-24 year old range, consider using Snapchat.
Snapchat is the most unique platform in terms of posting because there is no “feed”. Rather, users send “snaps” to each other, as well as posting stories. While brand accounts have been made under personal usernames, they are often unpopular or go under the radar.
If you make a brand account, be sure to post your snap code at the front desk of your business, on your other social media profiles, and on your website.
The best way to build your audience organically through Snapchat is by posting stories. Read more details in our blog post about Snapchat and Instagram stories.
Organic posting aside, most brands find success on Snapchat by utilizing paid advertisements.
Advertising can be tricky on Snapchat because of how unique this social media platform is compared to other platforms, so make sure you do your research on Snapchat For Business.
If your target market includes mostly the younger age demographic, but also has roots among all age ranges, consider using Instagram.
Instagram is the second most used social media platform, and is certainly the most contentful of all the platforms.
Make sure your business has the potential to post a lot of images, graphics, or videos, because that is exclusively what Instagram consists of.
In terms of your overall content strategy, Instagram has a big leg up on Snapchat.
This is because Instagram lets you distribute all of your content through one brand profile. Followers of your Instagram profile will receive your content in their feed, as well as in their stories.
Make sure your content embodies your brand in every way. Every image you post should have a story behind it. As a general guideline, the color in your images should mimic your brand’s colors in some way.
Instagram users only want engaging material. If your content is not unique, not visually captivating, and lacks your brand’s creative touch, don’t expect to get much engagement.
Facebook is still the most used social media platform by a long shot. Your brand should be active on this platform no matter what your target demographic may be.
Facebook is all encompassing when it comes to age groups, so don’t be afraid to start posting here.
The types of content you’ll post here is different than if you were on Instagram. While you can still post images on Facebook, there’s many different types of content you can utilize here.
Here’s a few types of content you can post on Facebook:
Visuals
- Infographics
- Memes
- Photos of your company workspace
- Photos of your product or service
Blog posts
Write a post about a blog post you’ve written that is published on your website. Make sure you provide a link to your blog within the copy of your post.
Tips and Pointers for your industry
Any insider tips or new findings related to your industry should get posted.
News about your industry
If your industry/business changes a lot, be sure to talk about it here.
Answers to common questions in your industry.
So much value can be provided upfront to your target audience when you create content that addresses common questions that they have and can be answered on their own time.
The list of potential content is endless, and the more creative the content you’re posting, the more likely your content will receive engagement (likes, comments, and shares).
The major benefit of using Twitter is the speed at which your business can release content.
The main age demographic for Twitter users are ages 18-29. While adults use this platform less-so than millennials and Gen Z, it’s still a valid place to post no matter your target market.
Twitter is great for on-the-fly business updates, press releases, and even handling customer service inquiries.
This study found that 67% of people are much more likely to buy from brands that they follow on Twitter.
If you can build a following for your brand on Twitter and keep them engaged with fresh content, there is no doubt you’ll generate customer lifetime value from just this platform.
What really sets Twitter apart from other social media platforms is the potential to reply to customers quickly. We’ll get into replying to your audience later in this blog.
YouTube
YouTube is an amazing platform to deliver valuable content to almost any age demographic, but is especially useful for young to mid age ranges.
Producing content on YouTube can be extremely powerful for your brand. Just look at companies like RedBull, GoPro, and even Purple Mattress.
These brands release engaging content regularly, and have accrued loyal fan bases because of it.
Creating content for YouTube takes a lot more effort than other social media platforms, so be sure you have the ability to post on a consistent basis.
Getting subscribers on your YouTube channel can take some time, especially near the start, but it’s well worth your efforts.
Uploading YouTube videos consistently is one of the best ways to increase your subscribers because you’re exposing your brand with new content each time you upload.
Pinterest is an extremely strong marketing tool, especially if you can capitalize on the visuals of your industry. 80% of all Pinterest users are female, so keep that in mind when determining if your product is right for this platform.
Proportionally, Pinterest drives 33% more traffic to your website than Facebook does. If your goal is to drive traffic to your website in an efficient way, consider using Pinterest as your means of delivering valuable content.
If your company’s focus is mainly on displaying the visual aspects of your business, using Pinterest could be essential in getting the website traffic you need.
If your business is B2B, you have to be on Linkedin. This is one of the most valuable social media platforms when looking for potential leads in the B2B industry.
This is a platform strictly for the business professional world, so make sure any ads or organic posting you’re doing embodies that sense of professionalism.
Gather Your Team
Once you’ve figured out which social media platforms your business must be active on, it’s time to assemble your team. The various team members you’ll need depends on how in-depth and built out you want your strategy to be.
If you want to release infographics as a form of visual content, you’ll need a graphic designer.
If you want to release blog posts as a form of written content, you’ll need a copywriter.
If your goal is to release both of those types of content as well as other forms of media, you’ll need a social media manager, which is likely you or you must hire one.
Running a social media content strategy across multiple platforms is almost impossible when done by yourself. This is especially true if you’re a small business owner who spends his time dealing with the inner workings of business, rather than marketing or media strategy.
If you’ve found yourself overwhelmed thus far in developing a social media content strategy, be sure to reach out to a professional social media marketing agency that knows how to help you achieve your digital marketing goals.
Content Creation
So, you know your goals, you know your target market, you’ve chosen the right platforms to post on, and you’ve even built your team. Now what?
Well, it’s time to create. But where should you start?
Start with content that can be portrayed with your brand’s voice. If you can’t differentiate your content and make it unique to your business, it’s not worth creating.
Here’s a list of different forms of content you can create to post on social media.
Blog Posts
While most people on the internet are interested in photos and videos, there’s still a large number of people whose primary source of information about brands come from blogs.
On top of reaching those people, ranking blogs on Google Search is one of the best SEO content strategies there is.
By creating SEO optimized blog posts and posting them on social media, you are not only aiding your social media content strategy, but your overall SEO content strategy as well.
Video Content
Video content is one of the most difficult to get right, and will definitely take up the most time of any type of content.
But it’s worth it.
Consumers are starting to see right through sales tactics that have worked in the past. Along with the coming of the internet came the responsibility of honest and engaging marketing.
This is why videos are the present and the future of properly engaging your audience. Video content is one of the best ways to deliver meaningful, story-rich content to your consumer.
You don’t have to have a huge production budget to tell a story either. Even a video as simple as filming throughout your office and describing what you do can be engaging.
Letting your audience know why you started your business in the first place is a great start for video content. If your brand sells an honest product or service, this is the place to tell your target consumer why your brand is worth investing in.
Consumers have the ability to invest themselves in your brand when you tell an interesting story in a visual format, and video content has the potential to do just that.
Infographics
Infographics are data, statistics, facts, or tips about your industry that are designed in a way to be visually appealing to readers. You can offer very valuable information through infographics and can also attach a logo, improving your brand awareness.
Just like blogs, infographics have the potential to be shared on other websites, making infographics another great source of naturally acquiring backlinks.
Scheduling
Some companies have found success with their social media by randomly posting content, but for most businesses this is not a good long-term media strategy.
You need to schedule.
If you only post once a week, setting up a calendar with posting dates should be effective enough.
But, if you’re developing a social media content marketing strategy on the micro level, you need to look at the specific posting times down to the hour of the day.
When figuring out when you should schedule posts on social media, you need to look at the platform you’re using.
For Facebook, the best times to post are in the middle of the day, from 12pm-4pm on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Typically, you’ll receive more engagement on posts by posting during lunch time, but the exact ideal posting time can vary from platform to platform.
Sprout Social performed some market research on each platform to determine when the most amount of users are using that platform.
Facebook has a great posting tool that allows you to schedule posts whenever you want, so be sure to schedule your postings there. Twitter also has a scheduled posting feature that allows you to schedule posts both organically and paid, but requires that you use Twitter Ads.
If you’re cross posting between multiple social media platforms and are posting a few times a week or more, you may want to seriously consider a social media management tool that can help you reach your social media goals.
Responding to Your Audience
You’ve made it this far, your social media profile is flowing with interesting content that is consistent, and it’s getting traffic.
On top of that, you’re likely to get some comments on your posts too.
You have to respond to each comment. If you’re content is driving thousands of comments, then at a minimum, “liking” each comment is encouraged. Engaging with your customers is one of the best ways to show that your brand is ran by humans! Not some robotic salesman that only wants to make money.
Customers love when brands respond to them. It provides them a sense of belonging to a specific brand, and massively improves brand loyalty.
Just remember to be creative in your responses, and be organic. If your responses are too cookie cutter, your audience will see right through that and will know your responses don’t have that “human touch” behind them.
The takeaway
Developing a social media content strategy is guaranteed to help you get more valuable content out in a faster and more effective way.
You can’t fail with a great social media content strategy. Seriously, it’s actually hard to mess up if you utilize this guide.
If you’re a business owner or just want to start a social media campaign for fun, you should now be well aware that the right social media content strategy not only helps make content easier, but also gives you a more efficient use of your time.
But you don’t always have to stress out working out a social media content strategy, you can get a marketing expert to do it for you!
