Updated January 20, 2019
Are you getting started with social media? Wondering where to begin? As a business, using social media to connect and engage with your audience isn’t as easy as it seems.
Simply posting or tweeting a random thought without a strategy behind it is a recipe for disaster. Not to mention, a complete waste of time.
In order to make an impact, you must be willing to commit to a long-term strategy.
This includes a daily content and social media plan, plus an effective means for management and monitoring.
Keep your company ahead of the competition and in front of potential clients by creating and encouraging conversation, no matter the social network.
How to Kickstart a Social Media Strategy on Today’s Top Networks
Before you pull the trigger on your social media strategy, know the how, what, and why behind each social network.
Once you understand each network and your goal behind it, put action steps in place to move you towards those objectives.
1. Find Your Market on Facebook
No matter the chatter about Facebook being dead — it’s still the most active social network, boasting over 2.2 billion users.
Implementing a Facebook marketing strategy requires that you understand your target market, demographic and the results you are hoping to achieve.
For example, are you interested in:
- Creating a buzz around your business?
- Recruiting potential sales or marketing professionals?
- Increasing website or blog traffic?
- Building local awareness?
- Establishing brand equity?
- Creating thought leadership?
Once you know the why behind your Facebook marketing, you can create a strategic action plan to support it.
Determine how you will:
- Connect with consumers talking about the product you sell or the service you offer.
- Share how your product or service solves the biggest problems of your target market.
- Manage a consistent and integrated social media marketing strategy.
- Interact and educate your fans on a daily basis.
- Create content that inspires and elevates social media conversation.
If you manage a Facebook Page already, take one additional step. Analyze your content and your audience.
Take a look at the “People” tab within your Facebook Insights.
What’s the breakdown of male vs. female, the age and location of your Facebook fans, and (most importantly) who is it you’re targeting as potential fans of your page?
Now, look at your content over the last 30 days. Read through each post from your fan’s perspective.
Is the content interesting, would it make you stop and comment, and most importantly — would it make you come back for more?
2. Leverage LinkedIn
If the potential of turning one connection into multiple targeted connections is appealing, then LinkedIn is the place for you to be.
LinkedIn is no longer a floundering social network hoping to find its place in the online space. Today, LinkedIn is your chance to network and engage within a professional atmosphere.
Don’t believe me?
Look at the most recent LinkedIn stats:
- 590 million members in over 200 countries and territories.
- The average time a user spends on LinkedIn is 17 minutes.
- 106 million LinkedIn users log in each month.
- 39 million students and recent college graduates are on LinkedIn — the fastest growing demographic.
Are you looking to make B2B connections or B2C? Either way, LinkedIn is the place to be.
Not only can you connect with industry power players, but it also offers potential clients the background information they need when making a decision between you and the competition.
If you haven’t taken the time to review your LinkedIn profile recently, it’s time to spruce it up. Fill out all of the necessary data and take the time to add appropriate details, giving a complete picture of who you are.
And keep in mind that first impressions matter. LinkedIn expert, Melonie Dodaro recommends that you…
“Strategically write your LinkedIn profile with your ideal clients in mind, this is essential before you start connecting with prospects so that you can create an impactful first impression.”
If you’re not sure where to begin, look at those within your industry that have a strong LinkedIn presence.
Ai Addyson-Zhang is someone that’s mastered the art of mixing promotional, educational, and informational content on LinkedIn. Your goal is to find your perfect style, then show up on LinkedIn regularly.
3. Pin It on Pinterest
Are you spending time on Pinterest? If not, here’s why you should:
- 83% of Pinterest users are female, and women drive 70-80% of all consumer purchasing.
- 1 out of 2 U.S. millennials use Pinterest every month.
- Half of Pinterest users earn $50K or greater per year, with 10 percent of households making greater than $125K.
- 87% of Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest.
Don’t miss this opportunity to share details around your business in a unique visual format.
Whether it’s a community event or your latest blog post, pin your content to offer insight into your business.
Build boards that spotlight historical data about your company, photos around a recent conference, or a behind-the-scenes look into the inner-workings of your business.
Alisa Meredith, a Pinterest Marketing expert, highlights the specific keywords or phrases that her target market would be looking for in all of her pins, boards, and descriptions.
Notice how easy she’s made it for people to find her and make sure to do the same.
Think about what you want to be (are) known for and how to best share that through your visual content.
4. Create Conversation on Twitter
Twitter can be a challenge for even the most seasoned online marketer.
The way you can harness the power of Twitter is to craft succinct and compelling quips, tips and quotes about your business in 280 characters or less.
How to use Twitter to build your online presence:
- Define who you’re looking to connect with. Is it peers, clients, recruits? Be specific in the words that you choose.
- Optimize your profile by completing your bio. Use keywords that your target market would search for.
- include a link to your website or blog, and add connections to other important locations to make it easy to connect.
- Design a custom header to create a consistent brand look and feel across all of your online properties.
- Identify the type of content you’ll share. The best is a mix of informative, promotional, and entertaining.
- Use an automation tool like Agorapulse to schedule content and maintain a consistent presence. I love the color coding based on topics. It makes it easy to see at a glance what’s going out and at what time.
6. Be Visual on Instagram
Ready to put the power of Instagram – a mighty visual network – to work for your business?
Or are you still on the fence, not convinced that Instagram is where you should spend your time?
While you might have thought it’s just the tween or even teen demographics using Instagram, you’d be mistaken.
Businesses are dipping their toes in the water every day only to find massive success.
In June 2018, Instagram reported a landmark. Instagram now has over 1 billion monthly active users (MAUs). This grew from 800 million MAUs in September, 2017.
How can you get started? Begin to share content relevant to your target market.
What to Share:
- Local events
- Neighborhood or community meetings
- Charity work
- Historical timeline of your business
- Pictures of your staff
- Your love of the city you work in
- Products
- Services
- Speaking engagements
- Book launch
Whatever you share — make it 100% in line with your brand.
Just take a look at Christina Nicholson, a reporter, anchor, and PR agency owner to see an example of this in action.
Everywhere you look, you see the same, Christina. Vibrant, full of life, and always sharing content that supports, promotes and establishes a strong personal brand.
7. Get Seen on YouTube
With over 30 million daily active users, YouTube is your go-to for video marketing. Not only can be it be a lethal social media weapon, it works to humanize your online presence.
Video done right can generate audience awareness and interaction. Plus, it adds a layer of authenticity to your business.
There are so many ways to use video within your business. You’re only limited by your own creativity.
A few video content ideas:
- Share your latest company news.
- Give details around a product or service release.
- Break down a popular blog post and add additional commentary around specific tips.
- Offer insight into your local market or industry, giving your viewers the chance to make an educated decision.
- Once you know your topic, it’s time to script your video with your audience in mind. Identify the most compelling angle that speaks their language. Your goal is to give them a reason to come back for more.
Consider the type of video content you’ll create. What’s your audience currently consuming? What’s your competition creating?
How can you use those learnings to create unique content your audience is eager to engage with?
Whether you share short, educational or entertaining video content, make sure YouTube is a part of the strategy. Not sure where to begin? This video from Darrel Eves and Sean Cannell will get you going.
Getting Started
Creating a powerful online presence through social media will take a commitment to daily tactics.
Begin by prioritizing the steps you must complete on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. What pushes you towards your goals?
Add that to your calendar and stick to it without fail.
Then organize your system:
- Who will handle what tasks and how will each person communicate?
- Identify the tools and services you’ll use to support positive progress.
- Measure and track your success to keep you focused and on target.
And last but not least, be resolute. It’s easy to lose sight of your end goal when there are bumps in the road.
Stay the course and always… expect challenges and eat them for breakfast.
Hi Rebekah,
This was a great post and very helpful, especially concerning what you said about Pinterest and Instagram. I recently joined Instagram and “reworked” the way I was using Pinterest to help promote my new blog posts and it’s made a huge difference in the amount of traffic I receive.
Thanks for a great read, I really enjoyed it!
I love how you broke down the steps to take to create a strategic plan for social marketing. Even for people who are nervous about posting, this works. Great article.
Great article. Thank you.
Thanks for this article. I took away many points that I have not thought of. I hope to implement some of these this upcoming week. God bless
Hi Jeff! I appreciate you stopping by!
Love the article Rebekah, thank you! Shared on our Twitter.
Thanks Anla!
Szeretném köszönteni az itt lévő embereket .Én egy kicsit, tanulni jöttem, hozzátok hogy el lessem mit, hogyan, csináltok ha nem baj ?Nem vagyok olyan régen a térképen, mint ti . Ezért úgy gondolom, sok új dolgot tudtok mondani, nekem .Én előre is köszönöm, nektek ha segítetek . Csak egy baráti ölelést, tudok cserében adni, ha elfogadjátok hogy csatlakozom hozzátok.
Hi Laszlone – glad you found the article helpful!
I am trying to take baby steps to get my company social media savy… It is difficult and challenging as it requires lots of time to learn how to do so in between working mega hours. Most small business owners face this same problem. What do you suggest. It is so overwhelming… I wish I had a private tutor to guide me through process…thanks for your inspiring article!
Hi Frances! Baby steps is the smart way to go rather than taking on too much all at once. Have you read today’s post? That should really help!
Hi Rebekah maam,
I guess I am a li’l late here. But your post is great inspiring the small businesses and online marketers to start their journey into “Meaningful” social marketing.
I am happy you wrote about almost every popular and potential platform so that the reader might choose what interests and “converts” him.
I think 2-3 social networks are enough to concentrate on, however its not bad to be omnipresent. 🙂
Thanks for kickstarting our social media strategy. ::
You are right writing random blogs or writing comments is just wastage of time that is I am slowly steadily withdrawing from usage of online social media. It is like shouting in “dead well” where one can hear his/her voice only.
As far smallbusiness is concerned one year back somebody engaged or say hired me to promote their company. One gentleman called me on my mobile from
New York and told me to resell name f his company. Is it possible? If I request you to sell “dharam bindra” in US market and charge 150 dollars. You give just 15 dollars to me and rest 135 you can keep as commission. Will you be agree with?
After wasting almost 18 months valuable time online i generally tell people don’t get befooled like me and waste your time online.
I am again shouting in a dead well because I don’t think that you might have time to reply my 2 questions.
Hi Dharam – that is a difficult situation. It sounds like you’ve run across some less than ethical people online. It definitely happens and there will always be those looking to take advantage of a situation. I’m sorry to hear that happened.
Rebekah,
Your blogs never cease to amaze me! I’ve learned so much from you since subscribing to your mailing list. I share your blogs regularly on my Facebook business page Kairos Social. Keep up the great work
Hi Shon! Thank you for subscribing and your constant support. Just checked out your FB page – thanks so much for sharing!
Great article. Thanks! Shared on LinkedIn.
Thanks Catherine!
Great post! Really enjoyed your post!
Appreciate that David!
Thank you so much. I recently cleared out my inbox by unsubscribing from almost everything (focus, focus!!) but you deliver such useful, creative and inspiring content for my business. Thank you!! Ps i love to spend time on instagram researching amd sharing design
That really means a lot to me Laura. I know how cluttered our Inbox can become and the fact that I made the cut is awesome! 🙂
Great post. Too many businesses use social media as a platform to talk AT their customers rather than using strategic marketing to build communities and really connect with them. Thanks for the strategic tips.
So true J’Neal. It’s often easy to blast messages rather than to have a conversation.
I love the way you encourage companies to be consistent and actually put work and thought behind each post. It is incredibly annoying as a consumer to be following a company and then get bombarded with indelible posts that mean nothing to the company. I also think it is highly important for a company to be strategic on which social platforms they decide to market on. There is no need to be active on all social media platforms if one of them doesn’t make sense in regards to your social strategy… (ie AT&T on Pinterest). A company should focus on the overall strategy and target market then choose the appropriate channels to reach that market and convey that message.
I enjoyed your post!
Hi Jess! I completely agree. There’s no need to try to be everything to everyone or on every platform. Find what works best and master it.
There’s that LinkedIn reminder again! 😉
I don’t know what I would do without Pinterest. It’s not only my FAVORITE platform but it’s my greatest traffic driver too. It’s a win/win in the most wonderful way! Great tips lady!
That LinkedIn reminder is just going to keep popping up for you Andrea! 🙂 I’m right there with you on the Pinterest love. It’s an incredible tool.
These are definitely the Top Social Networks Big Brands and SMB’s alike need to have an active presence. The examples you gave will help someone new to social media marketing a nice target to shoot for. Having a well designed profile is a good start point, but as with most things, the devil is in the details (e.g.) getting found on G+ won’t mean much (unless) you engage, entertain and provide value to the social conversation.
Yes indeed Neil. The devil is always in the details and those details will get you every time. There is so much more we can do to get the word out about our business. Taking the time to completely fill out profiles is a great start, but not the end of the story.