When you think of the benefits of creating a killer social media strategy for your business, the question really is: Where do you start?

Well, how about increased brand awareness and the opportunity to grow a larger audience?

Or the chance to connect with your audience in a far more effective and engaging way?

What about increased website traffic and lead generation?

Ultimately, this all leads to more sales and higher profits. You see, when all is said and done, it’s a no-brainer.

Still not convinced? Well, the numbers don’t lie. And the numbers look very impressive indeed.

For example, did you know that Facebook has over 4.4 billion visitors per month? What’s more, Instagram boasts over 500 million accounts that are active daily. Even one of the often forgotten about social platforms – Pinterest – has a staggering 454 million users.

Whatever your business is and what you want your brand to be, those numbers are not to be sniffed at!

The importance of defining your goals and choosing the platforms that are right for you

The opportunities that social media offers any business knows no bounds. The old adage ‘the sky’s the limit’ really fits the bill here. However, it’s important that you define your goals and think carefully who your target audience is – and what will engage them.

Take Facebook as an example – yes, there is a possible audience of over 4 billion out there, but you are not targeting everyone. In reality, you just want a tasty little slice of that pie.

Different platforms are better for different purposes, and some are best suited for particular audiences.

This is why defining your audience and goals are so important.

Lots of businesses make the mistake of having a presence on every social media platform out there. Although, this can be done, it’s far better to choose a couple of platforms that are best suited to your needs and focusing on posting great, consistent content on those – rather than spreading yourself too thinly across multiple channels.

How do you set achievable goals?

Ultimately, you can’t aim for anything if you don’t have a target. Your main goals and aims will be the focus and the driving force of your social media strategy.

Here are our top tips for setting goals:

  • Be specific
  • Make sure your goals are achievable
  • Be clear how you will measure success

It’s also important to create a specific strategy for each platform you decide to use.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Why are we using this platform?
  • Who are we aiming to reach on this platform?
  • What type of posts work best on this platform?
  • How are our posts unique and different on this platform?

These are quite basic questions, but – like anything – with social media, it’s important to get the basics right first. If you do this, you are building the blocks you need to create the foundations for success.

From there, the focus needs to be on getting your message right and posting consistently and ensuring that the priority is on the quality of the content you create

Get in touch with the Shine On Digital team if you have any questions or if you want to give your social media strategy a kick-start.