A social media marketing strategy is a summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve on social media. It guides your actions and lets you know if you are succeeding or failing.
The more specific your plan is, the more effective it will be. Be concise. Don’t make it so tall and wide that it can’t be measured or reached.
In this post, we will walk you through a nine-step plan for creating your own winning social media strategy. We even got expert input from Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Social Marketing Manager.
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing is the practice of using social media channels to sell or promote a brand, product or service.
Social media marketing helps businesses:
- Increase brand awareness
- Build Engaged Communities
- Sell goods and services
- Measure brand loyalty
- Provide social customer service
- Advertise products and services to the target audience
- Monitor performance and adjust larger marketing strategies accordingly
What is a social media marketing strategy?
A social media strategy is a document that outlines your social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve them, and the metrics you will track to measure your progress.
Your social media marketing strategy should also list all of your existing and planned social media accounts, as well as goals specific to each platform you are active on. These goals should align with your business’s broader digital marketing strategy.
Finally, a good social media plan should define roles and responsibilities within your team, as well as outline your reporting frequency.
Creating Your Own Social Media Marketing Strategy (Video Tutorial)
Don’t have time to read the whole article? Let Amanda, Hootsuite’s own senior social media marketing manager, help you with our free social media marketing strategy template in less than 10 minutes:
How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 9 Steps
Step 1: Choose goals that match your business objectives
Set SMART goals
The first step to creating a winning social media strategy is to set clear goals and objectives. Without goals, you have no way to measure success and return on investment (ROI).
Each of your social media marketing goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Psst: If you need examples of smart social media goals, we’ve got you covered.
Track Meaningful Metrics
Vanity metrics like number of followers and likes are easy to track but hard to prove their real value. Instead, focus on things like engagement, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
For inspiration, take a look at these 19 key social media metrics.
You might want to keep track of different goals for different social networks, or even different ways each network is used.
For example, if you are using LinkedIn to drive traffic to your website, you should be measuring clicks. If Instagram is for brand awareness, you can track the number of views on an Instagram Story. And if you’re advertising on Facebook, cost per click (CPC) is a common measure of success.
Social media goals should align with your overall marketing goals. This makes it easier to demonstrate the value of your work and secure your boss’s approval.
Start developing a successful social media marketing plan by writing down at least three social media goals.
“It’s easy to get confused when deciding what to post and what metrics to track, but first you need to focus on what you want to get out of social media,” says Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s senior manager of social marketing. “Don’t just start posting and tracking everything: align your goals with your business and your metrics with your goals.”
Step 2: Find out everything you can about your audience
Get to know your fans, followers, and customers as real people with real wants and needs, and you’ll learn how to target and engage them on social media.
When it comes to your ideal client, you need to know things like:
- Age
- Location
- Average earnings
- Typical position or industry
- Interests
- and so on.
Here is a simple guide and template for creating audience/customer personas.
Social media analytics can also provide tons of valuable insight into who your followers are, where they live, and how they interact with your brand on social media. These insights allow you to refine your strategy and better target your audience.
Jugnoo, an Uber-like auto-rickshaw service in India, used Facebook Analytics to find out that 90% of their referral users were between the ages of 18 and 34, and 65% of that group used Android. They used this information to target their ads, resulting in a 40% reduction in cost per referral.
Check out our guide to using social media analytics and the tools you need to track them.
Step 3. Get to know your competitors
Chances are your competitors are already using social media, which means you can learn from them.
Conduct a competitive analysis
Competitive analysis allows you to understand who the competitors are and what they are doing well (and what is not so good). You’ll get a good idea of what’s expected in your industry, which will help you set your own social media goals.
It will also help you identify opportunities.
Perhaps one of your competitors dominates Facebook, for example, but doesn’t make much of an effort on Twitter or Instagram. You might want to focus on social media platforms where your audience is underserved rather than trying to poach fans from a dominant player.
Use social listening
Social listening is another way to keep an eye on your competitors.
Search for the competing company name, account IDs, and other relevant social media keywords. Find out what they share and what other people have to say about them. If they use influencer marketing, how much engagement are these campaigns generating for them?
Pro Tip: Use Hootsuite Streams to monitor relevant keywords, hashtags, and accounts in real time.
Try Hootsuite for free. You can cancel at any time.
As you track, you may notice changes in how your competitors and industry leaders use social media. You may come across new, exciting trends. You may even notice certain social content or a campaign that really hits the mark – or just bombs.
Use such information to optimize and inform your own social media marketing strategy.
Just don’t overdo it with spy tactics, Amanda advises. “Make sure you don’t ALWAYS compare yourself to the competition – that can be distracting. I would say that checking monthly is healthy. Otherwise, focus on your own strategy and results.”
If you’re already using social media, appreciate your efforts. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What works and what doesn’t?
- Who is working with you?
- What are your most valuable partnerships?
- What networks does your target audience use?
- How is your social media presence compared to your competitors?
Once you’ve gathered this information, you’ll be ready to start thinking about ways to improve.
We’ve created an easy to use social media audit guide and template to guide you through every step of the process.
Your audit should give you a clear idea of what purpose each of your social accounts serves. If the purpose of the account isn’t clear, consider whether it’s worth keeping.
To help you make a decision, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is my audience here?
- If so, how do they use this platform?
- Can I use this account to achieve my goals?
Asking these hard questions will keep you focused on your social media strategy.
Look for fraudulent accounts
During verification, you may find fake accounts using your company name or the names of your products.
These impostors can harm your brand – no matter if they grab the followers that should be yours.
You can also check your accounts to let your fans know they are dealing with the real you.
Here’s how to get verified:
- tik tak
Step 5: Set up accounts and improve profiles
Decide which networks to use
When you decide which social networks to use, you will also need to determine your strategy for each of them.
Angela Purcaro, social media manager for Benefit Cosmetics, told eMarketer: “In our makeup tutorials…we all use Snapchat and Instagram Stories. Twitter, on the other hand, is about customer service.”
Hootsuite’s own social team even defines different goals for formats within networks. On Instagram, for example, they use the feed to post high-quality educational infographics and product announcements, and Stories for live event coverage or quick social media updates.
Pro tip: Write a mission statement for each network. A one-sentence declaration to keep you focused on a specific goal.
Example: “We will use Twitter for customer support to reduce calls and emails.”
Or, “We will use LinkedIn to promote and share our company culture to help recruit and advocate for employees.”
Another: “We will use Instagram to highlight new products and post quality content from influencers.”
If you can’t create a clear mission statement for a particular social media channel, you may be asking yourself if it’s worth it.
Note. While large companies can work with any platform, small businesses may not be able to – and that’s okay! Prioritize the social platforms that will have the biggest impact on your business and make sure your marketing team has the resources to craft content for those networks. If you need help focusing your efforts, check out our 18 Minute Social Media Action Plan.
Set up your profiles
Once you’ve decided which networks to focus on, it’s time to create your profiles. Or improve existing ones to fit your strategy.
- Make sure you have filled in all profile fields
- Include keywords that people will use to search for your business.
- Use consistent branding (logos, images, etc.) across networks so that your profiles are easily recognizable.
Pro Tip: Use high quality images that match the recommended sizes for each network. Check out our always up-to-date social media image size cheat sheet for a quick reference.
We also have step-by-step guides for each network to help you through the process:
- Create a Facebook Business Page
- Create a business account on Instagram
- Create a TikTok account
- Create a business account on Twitter
- Create a Snapchat account
- Create a LinkedIn Company Page
- Create a business Pinterest account
- Create a YouTube channel
Don’t let this list overwhelm you. Remember, it’s better to use fewer channels than to strain yourself trying to maintain a presence on every network.
Step 6. Find inspiration
While it’s important that your brand is unique, you can still draw inspiration from other companies that are good at social media.
“I see it as my job to stay active on social media: to know what’s trending, which campaigns are winning, what’s new on the platforms, who’s doing the best,” says Amanda. “This step may be the most interesting for you or the most difficult, but it is just as important as all the others.”
Social Media Success Stories
You can usually find them in the business section of a social networking site. (Here ‘s Facebook for example.)
Case studies can provide valuable insights that you can apply to your own social media plan.
Award winning accounts and campaigns
You can also check out The Facebook Awards or The Shorty Awards winners for examples of brands that are at the top of their social media game.
To learn and have a laugh, check out Fridge-Worthy, the bi-weekly Hootsuite Awards, dedicated to brands doing smart and smart things on social media.
Your favorite brands on social media
Who do you like to follow on social media? What do they do that makes people engage and share their content?
National Geographic, for example, is one of the best on Instagram, combining stunning visuals with eye-catching captions.
Then there’s Shopify. The e-commerce brand uses Facebook to market itself by showcasing customer stories and case studies.
And Lush Cosmetics is a great example of excellent customer service on Twitter. They use their 280 characters to answer questions and solve problems in an extremely charming and branded way.
Hey honey! 💕 We are sorry that you are missing Scrub Scrub Scrub. We’ll make sure our team knows you’d love to see it back on the shelves. In the meantime, check out Magic Crystals to feel like a scrub 😍💜
— Lush North America (@lushcosmetics) October 15, 2021
Please note that each of these accounts has the same voice, tone and style. This is the key to letting people know what to expect from your feed. That is, why should they follow you? What’s in it for them?
Consistency also helps keep your content recognizable, even if you have multiple people on your social media team.
Read more about this in our guide to creating a compelling brand voice on social media.
Ask your followers
Consumers can also offer inspiration on social media.
What are your target customers talking about online? What can you learn about their wants and needs?
If you have existing social channels, you can also ask your followers what they want from you. Just make sure you follow through and deliver what they ask for.
Sharing great content is important, but it’s just as important to have a plan for when you’ll share content to get the most out of it.
Your social media content calendar should also account for the time you spend interacting with your audience (although you should account for some spontaneous interaction as well).
Set a posting schedule
Your social media content calendar lists the dates and times you’ll post content types to each channel. It’s the perfect place to schedule all your social media activities, from images, link exchanges, and re-sharing of user-generated content to blog posts and videos. It includes both your daily posts and content for social media campaigns.
Your calendar also ensures that your posts are properly posted and posted at the best time to post.
Pro Tip: You can plan your entire content calendar and get a suggested best time to post on each network based on your past engagement, impressions, or Hootsuite link click data.
Hootsuite “Best time to post”feature
Determine the right set of content
Make sure your content strategy and calendar reflects the mission you’ve assigned to each social profile so that everything you post works towards your business goals.
(We know it’s tempting to jump on every meme, but there should always be a strategy behind your social media marketing efforts!)
You may decide that:
- 50% of content will return traffic to your site
- 25% of content will be selected from other sources.
- 20% of content will support lead generation goals (newsletter subscription, ebook downloads, etc.)
- 5% of the content will be dedicated to the culture of your company.
Placing these different types of posts on the content calendar will ensure the right combination.
If you’re starting from scratch and don’t know what types of content to post, try the 80-20 rule:
- 80% of your posts should inform, educate or entertain your audience.
- 20% can directly promote your brand.
You can also try the rule of thirds for social media content marketing:
- A third of your content promotes your business, converts readers, and generates revenue.
- A third of your content shares ideas and stories from opinion leaders in your industry or like-minded companies.
- A third of your content is personal interaction with your audience.
Don’t post too much or too little
If you’re starting a social media marketing strategy from scratch, you may not yet have figured out how often to post on each network for maximum engagement.
Post too often and you risk annoying your audience. But if you post too little, you risk looking like you’re not worth following.
Get started with these posting frequency guidelines:
- Instagram (feed): 3-7 times a week
- Facebook: 1-2 times a day
- Twitter: 1-5 times a day
- LinkedIn: 1-5 times a day
Pro tip: Once you’ve planned out your social media content calendar, use the planning tool to prepare posts ahead of time rather than constantly updating them throughout the day.
We may be biased, but we believe that Hootsuite is the best social media management tool. You can schedule social media posts for each network, and an intuitive calendar view gives you a complete picture of all your social activity each week.
Here’s a quick video overview of how scheduling works in the Hootsuite posting tool.
Step 8: Create compelling content
Remember those mission statements you created for each channel in step 5? Well, it’s time to go a little deeper, that is, to provide some examples of the content that you will publish in order to fulfill your mission in each network.
If you don’t know what to post, here is a long list of social media content ideas to get you started.
The idea here is to:
- Make sure your content matches the purpose of each network;
- Show other stakeholders (if applicable) what content they can expect to see on each network.
This last point will especially help you avoid tension when your colleagues want to know why you haven’t published their case study/white paper/blog post on TikTok yet. It’s not about strategy, Linda!
Ideally, you will generate content types that are appropriate for both the network and the purpose you have set for that network.
For example, you wouldn’t want to waste time posting brand awareness tweets if you’ve designated Twitter primarily for customer support. And you wouldn’t want to post super polished corporate video ads on TikTok, as users expect to see short, unpolished videos on the platform.
Some testing may be required over time to figure out what type of content works best on what type of network, so be prepared to update this section frequently.
Let’s not lie: content creation is not as easy as it seems to everyone who is not part of the social team. But if you’re struggling, Amanda suggests getting back to basics.
The first question to ask is: is there a relationship between your content types? Is your content valuable? Do you have a good mix of entertaining or educational content? What does he offer that makes a person stop and spend time? Creating several different columns or categories of content that cover different aspects of storytelling for your brand and what you can offer to your audience is a good start.
This brings us to step 9.
Step 9: Monitor performance and make adjustments
Your social media marketing strategy is an extremely important document for your business, and you can’t expect to get it right on the first try. As you start implementing your plan and tracking your results, you may find that some strategies don’t work as you expected, while others work even better than expected.
Look at performance metrics
In addition to analytics on each social network (see step 2), you can use UTM parameters to track visitors from social networks as they move through your website so you can see exactly which social media posts are driving the most traffic on your website.
Reevaluate, test and do it all again
Once this data starts coming in, use it to regularly reevaluate your strategy. You can also use this information to test different publications, social marketing campaigns and strategies against each other. Constant testing lets you understand what works and what doesn’t so you can improve your social media marketing strategy in real time.
You’ll want to check the performance of all your channels at least once a week and learn the basics of social media reporting to track your growth over time.
Pro Tip: If you use Hootsuite, you can view the performance of all your posts on every network in one place. Once you learn how to validate your analytics, you can even set up different reports to show specific metrics for different time periods.
Surveys can also be a great way to find out how well your social media strategy is performing. Ask your subscribers, email list and website visitors if you meet their needs and expectations and what they would like to see more of. Then be sure to do what they tell you.
Completing Your Social Media Strategy
Spoiler: nothing is final.
Social networks move fast. New networks emerge, others undergo demographic shifts.
Your business will also go through periods of change.
All of this means that your social media marketing strategy should be a living document that you review and adjust as needed. Refer to it often to stay on track, but don’t be afraid to make changes to better reflect new goals, tools, or plans.
When you update your social strategy, be sure to let everyone on your team know about it. So they can all work together to help your business get the most out of your accounts.
Social media strategy template
What’s next? When you’re ready to put your plan into action, we’re here to help…
Save time managing your social media marketing strategy with Hootsuite. From a single control panel, you can easily:
- Plan, create and schedule posts on each network
- Track relevant keywords, topics and accounts
- Stay up to date with the all-in-one mailbox
- Get clear performance reports and improve your strategy as needed
With files from Shannon Tien.