How to make a Social Media Plan? We are going to see how to make a Social Media Plan step by step, what are its main parts , and what is a Social Media Plan, and how to customize it for your online business .
Come on. The time has come for strategy. You are going to make your first Social Media Plan of your brand . Stop working without strategy, without an editorial calendar for your social networks. You need a Social Media Plan .
If you don’t know how to make a Social Media Plan, today we are going to see how to make a Social Media Plan step by step, a complete guide to create your Social Media Plan tailored to your needs. A strategy of its own.
For this, I have divided it into steps to follow in order , from the previous Social Media Audit , to the steps of your Social Networks Plan.
You will no longer have an excuse, without experience, to be able to create and develop an efficient Social Media Plan for your business with a good strategy. Will you join me in this Social Media guide?
How to develop a Social Media Plan? Steps in strategy
First of all, you have to know what a Social Media Plan is . You’ve probably heard it before, and you’re wondering what it’s for, and why do I have to make one. It’s hard?
Nothing is difficult if you don’t try. So we are going to do it step by step, from the first piece to the last, so that your Plan is perfect for your brand. You just have to follow it to work it.
What is a Social Media Plan
The Social Media Plan is a flexible document . It is our written Guide of the strategy and actions that we are going to carry out for our company in its Online part, where we set the objectives that we want to meet and in what terms. It is a flexible Manual document adapted to present and future circumstances.
Characteristics of a Social Media Plan
Every social media strategy has some characteristics:
1- Unique and personalized
Each Social Media Plan is unique. Every business needs a personalized one. You cannot copy another and adapt it to you, because your objectives and business needs are different.
2- Put the focus
Planning in social networks helps you to focus on what is most important, to save time and resources available for the development of your social networks strategy.
In addition, it allows us to see which social networks are more interesting, according to our target audience , and which we can do without in our online strategy.
3- Team
Thus, the Social Media Plan determines the role of each team member in the development of the strategy in social networks. Each one knows what to do, and like everyone as a whole they are more productive and efficient.
4- Measurement
Everything you do on social networks has to be measured, to see if you meet the objectives of your network strategy, and see where you are less efficient and can improve, and in which cases you can optimize more on what works best for you.
Steps to take into account before making the Social Media Plan
Well, now that we know what a Social Media Plan is, and what it is for, let’s go with what you have to do before creating your Plan :
1- Know the brand
First of all, before working with a brand, or with your own, you have to know it thoroughly.
Beyond what it is and what it does: how it lives, how it breathes, what benefits do the product or services have, how does it really differ from the competition, etc.
A brand connects with its target audience if it makes them feel as their own what the brand’s values are. It’s the key.
2- Initial situation and competence
How is the business currently? What is your current competition? Comparatively, how is the brand compared to the competition?
3- Current objectives
What goals do you want to meet as a business? Are you really fulfilling them? Do you believe it or are you really fulfilling it?
4- Online presence
Each brand has an online presence. First, do you have it? Is it defined? What presence does the brand have today? In which social networks is it present? What is that presence like? Does it really reflect what you want to convey?
Parts of a Social Media Plan
To make a Social Media Plan you have to follow several steps, from point one, the Social Media Audit, to the review of the plan and its duration, the last phase.
Step-by-step Social Media Plan
Step 1- Social Media Audit
The Social Media Audit is the first contact we have with the reality of a brand , how it has behaved so far, what it has done, its effectiveness. We see his trajectory to date.
What we have to consider in a Social Media Audit :
1- Objective : that of the brand to date, that the main and secondary ones are recognizable, and if it is linked to the objective of the brand’s general Marketing Plan.
2- Brand awareness : if we have a community around the brand, brand awareness, if recognizable degree of this knowledge, and feeling towards it (positive, negative or neutral).
3- Social Networks : determine the effectiveness of the strategy and actions in the set of social networks, and in each of them. It has worked? What is its performance?
4- Loyalty : we determine if the brand has a loyal audience, how is its engagement in social networks (degree of commitment to the content, active users, etc.), and determine where there is more engagement, in which social network or social networks.
5- Web positioning : does your website bring you organic traffic? It is a very good traffic, with medium and long-term performance, and cumulative. Position your website in relation to certain types of searches that users make.
How is your website’s keyword positioning working for you?
6- Web / Blog : what is the web like? Is it goal oriented? What can we improve on it? What does the competition do?
Step 2 – SWOT Analysis
Now, secondly, after knowing the status of the brand before getting to work with it on improvements, it is the turn of the SWOT.
What is SWOT analysis?
A SWOT is a map of strengths , weaknesses , threats and opportunities that the business has now, and has ahead.
Thus, as we see, there are two that are positive for the business (strengths and opportunities), and two negative (weaknesses and opportunities).
In addition, 2 of them are external to the company (threats and opportunities), and two internally (strengths and weaknesses).
With all this, you must do the SWOT analysis of your business taking into account the following premises:
* Related to marketing.
* With the human team.
* Others related to economic viability.
* Customer service.
* Range of products and services offered to the client.
* Type of organization.
* In relation to the competition.
* To the professional sector in which the business operates.
* Business strategies in social networks.
* Business actions in social networks.
* Degree of communion of the Marketing Plan with the Social Media Plan.
*Online Reputation.
*Pricing policy.
* Positioning of the business with respect to the competition in the sector.
* Possible changes in legislation.
* Business in potential growth or in decline.
* Crisis Plan.
* Potential risks in the sector and with the competition.
Step 3 – Plan Objectives
Now, in this next step, you have to determine the business objectives .
An objective tells us if our strategy in social networks is fulfilling its mission, if the strategy is good, or if it needs to change its course and improve.
There are several types of objectives in a Social Media Plan, which I will list for you:
a) Quantitative objectives :
Objectives that are determined by real and measurable quantities. For example, if we want to reach an engagement rate on Instagram of 10%, and after the set time we have not reached, that objective will not have been met .
We know it because we have a figure that confirms it.
b) Qualitative objectives :
Secondly, other types of objectives are qualitative ones, focused on measuring the more difficult to follow and measure, more intangible objectives, such as our brand image or the degree of feeling of our public with the business.
c) Primary objectives :
They are the most important objectives for the brand at the time the Plan is in effect. Contribute to the main goal that the business has in social networks.
d) Secondary objectives :
Now for secondary goals, with perfect complement goals for the primary ones. They contribute to the primary objectives being achieved more quickly and effectively, and are in themselves additional objectives of the business in Social Media.
Therefore, having seen the 4 types, now we are going to see the characteristics that these objectives have in the Social Media Plan ( SMART ):
* Specific : the objectives have to be specific. That is to say, “that is typical of something and characterizes it and distinguishes it from other things” (RAE).
* Measurable : what you cannot measure you cannot know if you have achieved it. All objectives have to be measurable.
* Achievable : you have to be realistic. As much as we want, every business has limits on resources, equipment, time and money. The proposed objectives must be achievable within a realistic range.
* Realistic : that is true to reality. Therefore, the objectives have to be realistic, not imaginary.
* In Time : the objectives of your Plan have to be achieved in a certain time, within a period of time. If the deadline arrives and you do not reach it, you must look at what has failed; On the other hand, if you have done very well, you may exceed those objectives and you can be more ambitious in the future with the development of your business.
For example, I want to reach an engagement rate of 10% on Instagram in the next 4 months.
