Creating your social media marketing strategy.

Having a social media marketing strategy is like adding icing to your cake.

What is a social media marketing strategy and how can you create one?

A social media marketing strategy summarizes everything you plan to do and also what you hope to achieve on social media. It serves as a guideline to your actions on social media by letting you know whether you are succeeding or failing. When you make your strategy specific, carrying out your social media of plan will be more effective. It is important to keep your goals and plan S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound).

Here are some steps to guide you through creating a winning social media strategy of your own.

· Create a social media marketing goal that align with brand objective.

In doing this, first consider your social media objectives and goals. This will be of great help in measuring your success on social media.

Also note that aligning your social media goals with your overall marketing strategy will show the value of your work and also get you executive buy-ins.

· Make sure to track meaningful metrics — as much as re-tweets and likes are fun and easy to track, it is also very hard to prove their value to your brand/business.

Focusing on targets like lead generation, web referrals and conversion rates are better metrics to track your progress on social media.

Another important thing to do is to alongside learning everything you can about your audience, is to create a buyer’s persona

this will allow you think in the direction of your potential customers/followers and what they would like to engage with.

Knowing who your audience are and what they are interested in or want to see on social is key to creating great content that will increase brand engagement across social media platforms.

Make sure to get real world data — This is very important and will help you be informed and aware about your niche or industry. Providing you with tons of information about your followers/audience their behaviour patterns and how they interact with your brand on social, you are able to refine your strategy and make it more targeted with these insights.