A solid strategy is required for social media marketing. Users want to receive informative and well-researched content at the right time, which is disseminated on a channel-specific basis. The social media strategy therefore also includes preparing content according to the platforms and end devices. This only works with the strategic alignment of content generation.
Key questions in social media marketing
It is important to realize that every social media strategy is multifaceted. This is always a marketing strategy, only the specific requirements of social media must be observed. This means that the half-life of information is significantly shorter than in other media. First of all, it is important to formulate the core questions of your own social media strategy in relation to your own corporate goals. It usually boils down to the following questions (with a different weighting of the individual points):
- What is the goal of your own social media strategy?
- Which user group should be reached with social media?
- Which content should be communicated on which platforms?
- How does content production work?
And this is how you proceed:
Define goals
As with any strategy in marketing, realistic goals must be defined for social media. These result from overarching corporate goals. Anyone who sells products, for example, could define the primary goal of making a newly introduced brand known. On the other hand, companies struggling with image problems (for example because of problematic products that can be considered environmentally harmful) work persistently on their image in the social media area. Some companies also have to take care of their employer branding in order to promote their recruiting. Common goals of a social media strategy can be:
- Increase in brand awareness
- Build a positive image
- more range
- New customer acquisition, conversion and customer loyalty
- Put service in the focus of customers
- Sales
- Knowledge transfer
The objective of achieving changes in one of the areas mentioned via social media channels must be realistic. A lot can be achieved with viral measures via Facebook & Co., but by no means everything. Unrealistic goals demotivate the teams and under certain circumstances devour useless financial resources. In modern companies, the social media strategy is worked out jointly in a team, and regular brainstorming takes place. At the beginning the goals are formulated generically, only for the fully developed strategy are they fixed. You then need a specification that can be achieved using the so-called SMART formula (Specific-Measurable-Achievable-Reasonable Time Bound, ie goals are specifically defined, measurable, attractive for the team, realistic and fixed).
Concrete elaboration of the social media strategy
The overall goal should be broken down into sub-goals, which is also a common method for any strategy. At this moment – when defining partial goals – measurability already plays an essential role. The social media area offers excellent tools for this. The number of likes and followers on Facebook can be seen immediately. A company could set out to reach a five-digit number of followers within six months. Sub-goals must also be defined in terms of content. Common objectives are:
- Comprehensive information for new and existing customers on their own product strategy
- Start a dialogue with your own target group
- a significant (measurable) increase in sales
Get to know your own target group
A social media strategy not only ensures communication from the company to the customer but also the opposite direction. That is the big difference to classic advertising. Companies should be very attentive to the signals from their customers on platforms like Facebook, on which people are busy posting, and react to them whenever possible. Larger companies employ entire teams for this purpose. Even a small company should at least check what is happening on its Facebook page every day.
Which channels are best suited for the social media strategy?
Facebook remains undefeated, followed by Instagram and Twitter. These channels occasionally change the ranking, only Facebook has now (as of 2019) has held the undisputed top position for years. Undoubtedly a good strategy is to keep a close eye on this development. About Snapchat, for example, which was in third place in 2017, is little talked about two years later. Pinterest and even more so Tumblr have lost a lot of users. This proves the fact mentioned at the beginning: A social media strategy has to cope with the rapid changes in social media. If you don’t have any idea in social media marketing or you are a newbie, you can consult Buyinstagramfollowers365.co.uk to know more about marketing. I personally have a great experience with them.
The content production
The content has to be relevant, interesting and concise. Nobody reads long articles on the Internet without paragraphs but with nested sentences. Nowadays, headlines should get to the heart of the topic with a maximum of four to five words – less is always better. YouTuber Rezo proved that something like this works in the spring of 2019 before the European elections: He posted a video entitled “The Destruction of the CDU” online and received clicks in the double-digit million range. The video had the first four to five million views before the CDU reacted inappropriately to it (which then really sparked interest). How is something like this possible? Quite simply: Rezo put the words “Destruction” and “CDU” in a headline. This is a brilliant move in terms of communication because both terms are recognized by every German in a fraction of a second, but they have never been related. If you are thinking about a social media strategy today, you should simply think of such short, concise exciters for your own products in the course of content production. Pictures and videos are just as important, however. Here it can be concise motifs, colors, and cuts that generate incredible attention (and which Rezo also used, because he works on the still image of the video, which can be seen everywhere, with his blue hair, the blue shirt and the matching shirt blue background like a cartoon character). Without letting the discussion get out of hand, we state that there is content that everyone understands immediately and that immediately attracts attention, but there is also the opposite. Some headlines and content no one understands. Nobody even bothered to research them – why?
Content creation: Note content life-cycle
Content creation is laborious and consists of four phases that make up the so-called content life-cycle:
- 1. Creating content
- 2. Control and approval of the content
- 3. Publication
- 4. Archiving
It is also about the time factor. Larger companies are therefore working non-stop on their content production and thus also on their social media strategy.
How much can your own image be influenced by a social media strategy?
It is possible, with the right strategy, to greatly enhance a company and / or brand image. However, the content needs to be carefully considered. Otherwise, the viral distribution of content on the Internet can trigger the undesirable opposite – a shit storm. Somewhat more harmless effects such as boredom and disinterest in the audience are also possible. This is another reason why point 2 in the content lifecycle is so important. Your own team should be consistently convinced of the content. What is already failing internally should by no means have it easier with the mass audience of the network.
