Crafting a Winning Social Media Marketing Plan for Your Business No ratings yet.

Most businesses set strategies to increase sales, improve customer experience, build loyalty, and raise awareness of their products and services. This can be achieved by outlining a clear and well-defined social media marketing plan. And the best part? Leveraging social media presence is free!

Read on to learn more about a social media marketing plan, why you should have one, and the steps to follow to get started.

The social media marketing plan

A social media marketing plan outlines a business’s target audience, social networks to join, and the content it wants to develop and share related to its niche. It also defines the target audience, content plan, key performance indicators, and engagement techniques. It is a guide that ensures the activities are aligned with the business goals and deliver results.

Social media has dominated our lives. When people want to see updates or business promotions, they turn to social media platforms to get information. According to a Pew Research study, over 80% of US adults 18 to 49 and 73% of middle-aged adults 50 to 64 use at least one social media site.

It’s the same for businesses. Social media has revolutionized business operations, consumer interactions, and product or service promotions today. Platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn have become powerful avenues for branding and marketing. This is why creating and maintaining a presence in social media is necessary for businesses to survive and thrive.

But what does it take to succeed on social networks? Business owners tend to overlook and underestimate the power of social media marketing planning. They think a plan only involves posting daily updates.

Businesses need to know their goals and who they are trying to reach. They must understand the content that audiences can relate to. Why would customers engage with your content? A strategic plan fulfills all of these demands.

Why should you have a social media marketing plan?

The ubiquity of social media makes it one of the most effective free channels for marketing your business today. Here are the benefits to consider:

Interaction is king

In social media, your business becomes an active participant in the market. Your profile, posts, and interactions create a persona the audience can familiarize, connect, and trust.

You might ask, what exactly is a persona? It is the unique and consistent personality brands show on social media. This includes the values it holds, how it communicates, and how it interacts with followers. These aspects contribute to online identity and how the audience perceives the brand.

Relationship with customers

Part of interacting is connecting and engaging with your social media followers. In your posts, you can respond to their questions and comments and assist if they need it.

You can discuss products and pain points with your followers. Pull them in with giveaways to build trust and show how you value their support.

Drive traffic

When people search for your business on Google, the Facebook page or the website might likely be at the top of the results. The links in your profile, blog post links in your posts, and your ads increase traffic to your website. If the visitors browsing your page like your content, they may turn to paying customers.

Social media presence can also boost search engine optimization (SEO) boost rankings. Social media is the best way to showcase content. If it goes viral, the more your company’s website is linked back to, and this will improve domain authority.

Generate leads and increase revenue

Features on social media platforms such as Instagram/Facebook shops, direct messaging, call-to-action profiles, and appointment booking capabilities allow businesses to make money. They can sell products, book appointments, and collect customer leads through social media. Organic social media posts can boost audience engagement, but you can elevate your social media marketing by investing in paid campaigns to reach more people.

Now that online learning has changed the educational landscape, for example, running Facebook ads is an effective way to advertise course offerings and draw new students. If a university wants to ramp up MBA enrollees, they can run a Facebook video ad to showcase their MBA degrees and the average cost of MBA online to connect emotionally with prospective students. The university can also offer an exciting scholarship as an incentive to get the attention of the audience.

See how other businesses are doing

One advantage of using social media is seeing what your competitors are doing. This will help you assess what is and is not working for your competition and decide what should or should not change with your approach.

Analyze their content—posts, stories, videos, podcasts, blogs, or any format—and see how they communicate their message. Study how they interact and check their shares, mentions, reviews, ratings, or feedback.

How to create a social media marketing plan

Below, we walk you through the steps to create a well-defined plan for your business.

Set goals

Goals measure success and return on investment (ROI). It should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Metrics are a reliable way to measure goals. Followers and likes are easy to track, but they do not guarantee success. Instead, focus on engagement, clickthrough, and conversion rates.

There are ways to track goals for different social media networks. In LinkedIn, you measure click throughs. If you want brand awareness on Instagram, track the number of views on a story. And if you’re advertising on Facebook, a cost-per-click is a common success metric.

Who is your target audience?

As mentioned, interaction with your customers is important. But who are they? You can learn about them by knowing their:

• Age
• Location
• Average income
• Interest

This can help you segment your audience and find a voice that works for your business.

Analyzing social media performance

Take some time to study your pages and audit them. This will give you an overview of how social media works for your business. What is effective and what is not? Which partnerships bring the most value? What networks does your competitor use?  You can use free templates to make a social media audit.

Optimize your account and know which platform to use

It’s a no-brainer that you need to complete your profile and set up your page to make it easier for visitors to determine what your business is about. Ensure you have an updated profile picture, bio, and other information.

Know the platform’s features and find what works best to reach your goals. For example, Instagram is great for visual content and stories, while LinkedIn specializes in reaching professionals in different industries.

Posting strategy

What kind of content will you post? This will vary based on your social media, and it takes some time to figure out content suited to a specific platform.

You also need to determine when and how often you will post. You can use a social media calendar to list the dates and times when you can post content for your social media campaigns. If you’re starting, implement the 80-20% rule:

• 80% should inform, educate, or engage your audience
• 20% should directly promote your brand

Track results

The results will tell whether the strategies worked and even performed better than expected or what did not. Employ social media analytics to track metrics such as:

• Reach
• Clicks
• Engagement
• Hashtag performance
• Organic and paid likes
• Sentiment
• Views

Once you’ve got the numbers, compare them and measure them against your competitors. This is a great way to evaluate your performance and indicates if you’re doing well in your industry.

Social media marketing is worth it

Like the Internet, social media moves fast. Nothing is permanent. New networks emerge while others go through a demographic shift. Your business will go through changes as well.

Thus, tweak your social media marketing plan to accommodate these changes. Refer to it to reflect new goals, tools, or plans.

While creating a social media plan may be overwhelming, creating a social media marketing plan will save you time and be worth it in the long run.

Jon Crain

Jon Crain has written hundreds of website design and marketing article blog posts.
He is the sole owner of Pittsburgh SEO Services LLC which is a small business in Pittsburgh PA that specializes in affordable wordpress websites and digital marketing campaigns. Jon Crain has a marketing degree specializing in digital marketing and holds multiple internet marketing certifications. Jon Crain has over 25 years of experience along with managing hundreds of website projects and marketing campaigns. He also has won a variety of awards over the years from Tribune Review, Post Gazette and other publications.