Understanding Social Media Strategy

These days, many companies are working to learn how to keep up with competitors who seem to dominate the world of social media, and the right social media strategy can help. A good strategy is the plan you create to build brand exposure in the world of social networking, and there’s quite a bit to learn about how to build the best social media strategies. Fortunately, there are some small things you can do right away to begin using social media as part of your business marketing efforts.

Begin by setting some goals. The difference between developing a strategy and simply utilizing the social media networks out there is that a strategy automatically means having an action plan that will help you meet certain goals. You can’t have a good plan without a goal. The goal, or goals, will help you measure your level of success and keep you on track at the same time. It’s easy to get off track with social media. For example, you may begin monitoring your competitors’ efforts or get wrapped up in your own analytics. The right goals, though, will help you remain focused on your strategy as a whole.

Just after the goal setting exercise, you’ll want to make sure you bring your whole team onboard with your efforts. Let everyone know exactly what you’re trying to do, because in some cases, everyone can play a role. Whether you have your IT department putting the right links on your site or the CEO making sure everyone understands the goals, it may make a difference in your level of success.

Your success can’t be based on what works for someone else. The goal of social media is to get the best possible level of interaction with your customers, so you have to think about what that looks like for you. For instance, if you run a local flower shop, the social media strategy that seems to be working well for the local plumber may not do quite as well for you. You need to do some research within your industry, then see where your competitors are seeing good results to decide what might work for you.

It’s also important to remember that cheating doesn’t work here. There are many ways to cheat, but none of them are actually beneficial. Don’t get wrapped up in the number of likes you have on Facebook as compared to your competition. Don’t worry about how many Twitter followers you have right now. Yes, you want to monitor them. Yes, you want to see what your competition is doing, but taking shortcuts to catch up with them by buying fans just isn’t going to help you in the long run.

Finally, keep in mind that you’re going to have to do some waiting during this process. A social media strategy doesn’t begin to pay off right away. As with Search Engine Optimization, you likely won’t see any results from your efforts for at least three months. That certainly shouldn’t scare you away or make you give up, but it should serve as a reminder that the process takes time.

There are several parts to building the right social media strategy, and the right professional can help, thus eliminating any wasted time or effort in the process.

Farin Innovations is a Miami, FL web design and web development company that specializes in the creation of custom websites, content management systems, social media strategies, and SEO work as well as many other services. Give us a call today to learn more.