A sustainable social media strategy does not simply consist of placing online advertising with the overall goal of generating “more sales”.
First of all, social media awareness has to be created before something can be sold.
In this blog, we show you which points you should consider in order to create a successful social media presence for your company.
How to Make Your Social Media a Success
1. Vision
It’s loud and hectic on social media, and in order not to go under you need a vision. What and who is your brand on social media? You need a clear message that is recognizable and that is systematic. It is not the product that comes first, but products and services are sold from the inside out according to the motto: People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
2. Decide on your target audience
As a rule, companies can identify five to seven different personas. An example from Zalando:
Happy Casuals, Fresh Families, Modern Mainstreamers, Hip Poppers, Preppy Strivers, Cultured Elites, Street Snobs
Each segment can also be divided into male or female. Furthermore, one must of course not forget that generations X (born between 1960 and 1980), Y (born between 1980 and 2000) and Z (born from the year 2000) move on completely different channels.
3. Social Media Audit
An audit is a precise analysis of your company on social media. A distinction is made between internal and external audits. The second is to take a closer look at the competition and the opinions of your own customers and stakeholders.
The social media audit helps to develop or optimize the right social media strategy for your company. As part of the audit, your social media performance is evaluated within a specified period and all the necessary indicators for successful social media marketing are provided. This is a service that we are very happy to take on for you.
4. Decide on Your Channels
The social media prism shows how many social media platforms there are now – this overview is not even complete. New apps are constantly being added, while others are disappearing. It is certainly important to try out new tools yourself again and again and to set up test accounts so that you stay up to date and know whether there are potential customers on this channel.
The most famous social media channels at the moment are YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
But you shouldn’t start with all of them at the same time, build up a channel step by step before devoting yourself to the next one. Here, too, it is important to set different goals for the various networks (for example: brand awareness, social service, employer branding, sales, etc.). In addition, the target group determines your channel. If your decorations are selling, Pinterest or Instagram is probably better than Twitter or LinkedIn.
5. SMART Goals
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
This means you have to clearly define your goal and it has to be measurable with a number. It is also important that it does not lead to excessive demands, but is achievable in the sense of the given framework conditions.
For example: You want 20 female influencers in the coming year, each of whom will write a contribution about your product and mention your company in it. On the other hand, it is not a good goal to measure your company and the success of social media by the number of followers, because that does not lead to more reach, nor does it increase your brand identity, and it certainly does not contribute to upselling your products.
Source: K.Barber (2017), Book: Follow Me!, Core Story Canvas on page 119, ISBN: 9781982101985
6. Plan Your Budget
You need paid social media to spread your content and to ensure conversations and engagement (likes, comments, shares, clicks). Paid social media can be, for example, Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads or promoted tweets. Each social network has its own mechanisms that must be observed.
By the way, you can now also advertise on TikTok in Switzerland!
7. Measure Success with KPIs
Using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you can measure conversations on the social web. On the first level, there are simple key figures such as likes, followers, etc. that are easy to read. On the middle level you need monitoring or measurement tools and on the 3rd level at the bottom, the most demanding KPIs are listed, which can only be calculated using figures from management and all departments.
Source: K.Barber (2017), Book: Follow Me!, Core Story Canvas on page. 131, ISBN: 9781982101985 (Originalquelle: monitoring-blog.de)
Conclusion for a Social Media Strategy
Social media is work! It needs a clear structure and you have to think about it in advance and you can’t just post randomly. In the best case, a social media channel has a uniform style, for example in terms of the color scheme. Most importantly, the community needs be addressed and their questions and comments should be responded to.
In short, a social media channel needs daily maintenance.
We at GANDT can help you with any social media services, and look forward to hearing from you with questions you might have.
