Strategy. Everyone says you need a strategy for just about everything there is to do when it comes to business. Client attraction strategy. Brand strategy. Sales strategy. Social media strategy. So many strategies, so little time. 

Take a deep breath. We’ve got your back! When it comes to creating a social media strategy, it doesn’t have to be some big, detailed thing. It certainly can be – and we won’t lie, the more detailed, the better – but even just getting a foundation in place is better than not having anything at all. 

So where do you start? At the beginning!  

Know Who You Are Talking To 

The first step to developing a successful social media strategy is knowing WHO you are talking to. If you have done previous research on who your client avatar is, familiarize yourself with the data collected and use it to influence your next steps. You need to know exactly who you are talking to in order to create effective messaging, otherwise content will fall flat. Not sure who you’re talking to? Check out this podcast by Amy Porterfield. 

Where Are You Going to Show up? 

The second step you need to take when it comes to your social media strategy is to figure out where you need to show up. Don’t just randomly decide on a platform. Do a little research to determine where you audience actually spends their time. That’s where you need to be!  

Rather than spreading yourself too thin by trying to be everywhere, simply focus on one or two platforms where you know your audience is. This will get you much better results, as it means you’ll be putting more valuable time posting and engage with your audience in those spots instead of posting and ghosting because you don’t have enough time to manage them all. 

Where are you Coming From? 

Next up is understanding where you currently are in terms of your social media presence and what your goals are. To figure out ‘where you are,’ click over to your analytics. This are a few of the metrics you want to check out: 

• Reach: This is how many individual accounts saw your post, this way you can see just how far your post is getting and how many different people are seeing it. 
• Saves: How many people are saving your posts.  A great metric for knowing how valuable others are finding your content. 
• Followers:  Note how many you have so you can track how fast you are growing 

Use this information as your ‘starting’ point. Going forward, you want to see growth from here. Get into the habit of looking at your analytics and monitoring activity, changes, and growth. Decide which analytics are the most important for you to measure in relation to your goals. Which bring us to our next point. 

Know Where You are Going 

What is it you actually want to achieve with your social media? Are you there simply to build brand awareness? Do you want to use it to direct people into a sales funnel? Or to send them to your website or you brick & mortar location? Being intentional about why you are on social media and have a specific objective will help you to use your social media in the right way and will help to guide your content and engagement strategy (See? More strategies!). 

When you know where you are going, you can better analyze your analytics. 

Build Up That Content 

We like to say “Use one piece of content in seven different ways.” For example, when you write a blog post, pull several pieces and quotes from it that you can sprinkle into your SM content (and even into your email strategy).   

You don’t have to necessary use a single piece seven times all in one go, rather, spread it out over time. You can definitely pepper your social media content with quotes and sections of that blog in the relative near time, but you can always use your own content as a good ol’ resource library that you can go back to again and again over the course of time.  

An example of how to use a single piece seven times: 

• The original blog post  
•  2 Instagram posts  
• Mention in your newsletter/email blast  
• Create a quick video that summarizes the topic or discusses a branch off for IGTV 
• Do a FB Live on the topic  
• Share a LinkedIn post on it 

Get Connecting 

Once you have a clear plan in place of who you are talking to, where they, and what your objectives are, it’s time to start pushing out your content and start engaging with your target audience! Post thoughtful commentary on other people’s post. Don’t just like or put an emoji in the comments. Provide meaningful engagement. After all, that is what you want people to do on your profile, isn’t it?? 

Adding to conversations helps to highlight your own strengths to your audience. People want to know you, so let them! This will lead to them liking you, and eventually trusting you, which is where they need to be to make a confident purchasing decision. 

Find people in your target audience by searching out hashtags you think they would be following and spend some time engaging with accounts there. You’ll find that spending an hour or two doing this a week will help your account organically grow. 

See! We told you this was manageable. Get started at the beginning and work your way through these steps.  Reach out to us and let us know how you did!

We have created a quarterly membership  designed to help women in business get clear on who they are, what they want, and how they position themselves. Head over to The Hustle + Flow Business Mentorship to get some more information, enrollment for the January session starts November 22nd!