Seven social media planning tips you already know but are ignoring (and the blinding science behind them) If you're embarking on a new social media strategy, or are looking to overhaul your current one, start with getting back to basics and review the plan..
1: Why are you bothering? Or goals as we call them - If you are using social media as a way to get people back to your website and not just to increase the visibility of the brand you will need to think about adding new and engaging content on your website regularly. Science: Blogs are essentially additional webpages you don’t need to pay a developer for. Add blogs as the basis for some of your social media content/comments, so people can read more (oh and look, they’re now on your website). Google loves them too.
2: Consider your time constraints. Make sure you can fit in the time to update and post to all your social media platforms, be realistic - Around an hour a week for 3 social media platforms should just about do it, but commit to it. Science: It’s like the gym, or gardening - the more you do, the more you’ll get out of it.
getting back more.
3: Get a 'dashboard'. With Hootsuite for example, you can schedule certain updates to a number of social media accounts, save some good stuff for regular current posts, sharing, commenting and sharing your feelings though - Remember to stay authentic. Science: 3 birds, 1 stone.
4: The plan itself. You could use Excel, Word or good old fashioned pen and paper, but get your ideas out of your head and onto a document. A simple way to start is to think of a theme for each week, mix up the posts with pictures, quotes and infographics - Not too much salesy stuff remember, people buy from people and social media is the ideal way to share your values and personality with your clients. Science: What was that great idea you had the other day?..um?..exactly...failure to plan is planning to fail. failing to plan.JPG
5: DO IT! - Implement your plan, see how you go and take a look back in a few months. It might be a good idea to keep a note of followers, connections etc so you can quickly see how it's going. Or, check your websites Google Analytics to see how many visitors are visiting your website through social media.
6. Make it personal. You can’t plan spontaneity but if you hear something on the radio, TV or see something on the internet that grabs you or reminds you of a client or connection share it with them on social media by @mentioning them so they and their followers will see you are present and engaging. To make sure you really hit the mark with engaging content, refer to your FAQ's and expand on some of the questions, use clients as examples.
7. Join the crowd. Use consistent hashtags to get your updates seen by people that are not your current followers and add to their conversations to improve your visibility.
Failing all that, spend a few hours with us and we will send you away with a fully formed plan! Or come to social media 101 for some support.