A social media & influencer strategy in 9 easy steps
Every day, social media becomes more valuable in making connections with potential clients. It is an essential ingredient of all marketing schemes. We are surrounded by social media; it’s readily accessible and reaches almost all, if not all, demographics. The trick is to know how it works and understand how to use it in favor of your brand.
Here are the 9 essential steps to build an effective Social Media plan, including influencers.
Step 1: Goals & Objectives
Step 2: Competitive Analysis
Step 3: Inspiration and Insights
Step 4: Brand Archetype & Tone
Step 5: Social platform’s usage & creative visuals
Step 6: Content frequency & promotion
Step 7: Influencers Message Amplification
Step 8: KPI’s & Reports
Step 9: Constantly Adjust
Step 1: Goals & Objectives
For any social media plan, you need to be very clear about your essential goals and objectives. Ask yourself, “What do I want to accomplish by the end of this execution?” The answer to this question is your primary goal. For example, a goal could be to maximize brand awareness or increase sales. The goal does not necessarily tell you how you will execute your plan, but mainly help you set a general direction and vision for it.
TIP: Choose 1-2 goals for any execution. If you pick more, you will have too much on your plate and won’t be able to accomplish them in the most precise and timely manner. As soon as you have your goals set, move on to your objectives.
The objectives are the specific steps that will help you achieve your goals. Be as specific as possible! Have numbers and specific dates. The more precise you are, the better. For example, if your goal is to increase engagement on your brand’s social media pages, one of your objectives will be to create 4 unique and appealing pieces of premium content each month that will motivate your users to engage with your brand. For each goal, you should have around 3 to 4 objectives.
Step 2: Competitive Analysis
Now that you know your goals and objectives, you need to know what “the others” are doing. It is crucial to study what your competition is doing to get a sense of what does and doesn’t work in your industry. First, pick 3 to 4 direct competitors (those that sell similar products and share similar goals with your brand).
Next, you stalk them! Follow their social media platforms and study what they do on a daily basis. What’s their style? What tone and language do they use in their captions? What is their engagement rate? What types of special campaigns do they employ? What works? What doesn’t? Just as with your objectives, you should be as precise as possible with your competitive analysis. Once you are clear about your competition, think: what makes my brand special? How can I make my brand as authentic as possible? The more you know about your competition, the better you will be at answering these questions.
Step 3: Inspiration and Insights
For your inspiration, you will research what other big brands are doing. You might be wondering; didn’t I just do that in Step 2? Nope. You just focused on your direct competition. Now, you are hunting for the aspirational brands. These brands tend to be in a league of their own. Feel free to also look at brands that are outside of your industry but have a presence that you want for your brand. The idea is not to imitate another brand, but to identify possible paths for yours.
Now you can move on to extracting insights. This is critical for any social media plan, since it will be the part where you dig deep into your audience. Who is your target market? Which audience segment do you want to focus on? By studying and analyzing your target segment, you will be able to create content that resonates with them.
Step 4: Brand Archetype & Tone
What tone and personality will your brand use? This is one of the most important ingredients for your strategy. You need your potential audience to feel comfortable reading, seeing, and engaging with your content.
To make this step a little bit easier, we recommend using archetypes. In layman’s terms, “a brand archetype is a way of presenting a brand – its values, behaviors, messages – as an archetypal persona, thus making it more recognizable and relatable to its audiences.”* Identifying or choosing the best archetype that matches your brand is the first step, then you can easily define your brand persona, tone, image and personality.
Step 5: Social platforms usage & creative visuals
Each social media platform requires a unique content approach in order to reach their varying audiences. Remember, people are on social media to engage with other people, friends, and family. They want to be part of a community that makes them feel safe and wanted; they want to follow brands that can truthfully represent their values. Find a solution for your audience’s needs and present your brand as the solution.
To best explain the ideal approach for each platform, here’s a popular example:
Facebook: I like Donuts
Twitter: I’m eating a #donut
Instagram: Here’s a vintage photo of a Donut
LinkedIn: My skills include Donut eating.
YouTube: Watch me eating or creating a Donut
As you can see, it is the same subject, but with a different message for each platform.
When thinking about visuals, they need to be clear and with a limited amount of text. Also, remember that this is not a personal social account. It’s the brand’s account and needs to use the same brand guidelines as any other project.
Step 6: Content frequency & promotion
You should post at least once a week per platform (an average of 3 pieces of content per week is a good start). Keep in mind that your organic content (not supported by an investment) will only be seen by 2% or less of your page’s audience (aka “fans”). It’s very important to set aside a social media budget to promote your content. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to get the traction you’re looking for.
Remember: a piece of content without any investment to promote it is like creating a billboard and placing it behind a building.
Step 7: Influencer Message Amplification
Influencers are here to stay and we need to use them in a very smart way. It’s not as much about their followers as it is about their true reach and engagement with their audience. This diagram explains the best use of influencers in your marketing plan:
Tip: It’s very important to conduct extensive research about an influencer (their audiences, true reach, engagement, and more).
Step 8: KPI’s & Reports
In social media almost everything can be measured. Every goal and objective can be assigned a KPI (Key Performance Indicator). KPIs measure success and guide your efforts on a daily basis. Your KPIs will determine the data you will collect in order to create reports/dashboards and make ongoing decisions.
Tip: Separate your KPIs into three (3) main categories: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion.
Step 9: Constantly Adjust
Adjust, adjust, adjust, and remember to adjust! Social media platforms change their rules often. That’s why it’s important to have an expert that’s up to date and constantly looking at your campaign performance. It takes ongoing care to ensure your efforts stay within your goals and objectives while also being the most effective.
What’s next? Now you know what it takes to develop a social media and influencer strategy. If you’re ready to elevate your brand in this ever-changing field, contact our Community Engagement team at community@lih.com.
* As defined in the book “The Hero and The Outlaw” by Margaret Mark & Carol S. Pearson.
You can download the reference graphic below:
