Social Media Marketing is the best tool to grow your business and build your community, but it’s definitely tough to get started. One thing that all successful social media accounts have in common is a social media plan. 

A social media plan is a detailed overview of your business goals, social media content, and performance analytics. It includes your social channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), your purpose, the editorial/copy, and measurements (how this content performed against your goals). 

A social media strategy is essential to ensure the success of your social media marketing efforts and to keep yourself accountable. It ensures that your brand maintains a consistent posting schedule, allows you to plan ahead and create content ahead of time. 

This will help you tell a consistent story, and publish content that is “on-brand” and proofread. Overall, an effective social media plan helps you work more efficiently and publish high-quality, intentional content at the right time. 

Now that we’ve discussed the importance of a social media strategy, here are 5 tips to plan one. 

Quality & Authenticity 

Quality, authenticity, and intention is the first thing to think about when reviewing your social media strategy. 

Always try to consistently post high-quality engaging visuals. Take a moment to put together scroll-stopping images, videos, and captions. Don’t sell yourself short when sharing your message. 

Authenticity and quality go together. People are growing tired of filler content and creating authentic content isn’t easy. However, authenticity will grow your audience and their trust in your brand.  

Audit Content 

A content audit is when you collect and analyze all the assets you have available on your website. As you plan your content calendar, it’s helpful to know what content you have available. This will help you save time and effort. 

While auditing, see what can be repurposed, tweaked, or tossed – then categorize each piece of content. Hopefully doing this will also inspire you as you create more imagery. 

Educate yourself 

There are so many trending topics nowadays that it’s hard to keep up; however, it is necessary to keep an eye on them, especially when it involves your audience or if your ideal audience cares about it. One of the worst things you can do is to look tone-deaf to the issues spanning the web. 

When you have a social content calendar, it’s easy to go into airplane mode (and that’s OK). It’s great that things are automated, but you need to check in to ensure your content is still relevant and appropriate on a weekly basis. 

Utilize Videos and Stories 

Something a lot of social media channels are introducing is the addition of stories and reels. 

Utilizing stories is an important part of building your brand’s personality. On your social media grid, we’re constantly posting curated, beautifully lit, aesthetic imagery. With the addition of stories, you can show a more real side of yourself and your business. 

A lot of social apps are jumping on the short, sweet, and simple video bandwagon. Following the success of Tik Tok, Instagram and Snapchat now have their own version. The benefit of Instagram Reels or Tik Tok videos is that they capture a larger audience than just who’s following you.

Stories and videos in tandem allow you to be your authentic self and reach a larger audience. 

Your Fundamentals 

Social media is a way to connect with your audience, but this also means it’s a way for your audience to critique you. They are looking at your response to critical or political issues. 

No longer are we in an age where business and social media communities can stay quiet on their opinions when it comes to world events and politics. 

As a company, outline your fundamental beliefs, put together a social media game plan so that you can communicate quickly to your team and your audience should anything arise. 

There you have it: our five tips for your social media strategy. There are so many more things to learn when it comes to social media, but this is a great place to start.

Users are bombarded day in and day out with social media messages and posts. 

Businesses are doing everything they can to stand out. As a brand, you want to gain your audience’s trust and if you follow these 5 steps, this is a great start to getting your social media content noticed.