Why you need a social media marketing plan

For many small and medium-sized businesses, social media seems to be the ideal way to promote their company in a cost-effective and efficient manner. After all, it’s virtually free or at least inexpensive compared to many other marketing and promotional tactics.

However, one of the pitfalls many businesses encounter with their social media marketing efforts is where to concentrate their efforts. A social media marketing plan, like any other business plan, will help you get focused and invest your time in the activities that will generate the biggest bang for your buck.

At Sydcam Marketing Communications, we work closely with all of our social media clients in developing a customized plan before we do anything else. And this isn’t something we simply came up with; we think it’s a prudent business decision.

The following is a list of the reasons why you need a plan, and how it can benefit you in achieving your desired results.

1.      Plan, Plan and Plan Some More

Every business needs to plan many aspects in order to be successful, and marketing is one of them. When it comes to social media, it’s easy for many companies to get caught up in the excitement and simply ‘wing it’.

While this can work in some circumstances, it can often lead to a haphazard approach to your marketing efforts. I doubt there are many companies that would be willing to ‘fly by the seat of their pants’ when developing a new print ad or website, so why would you think this would be appropriate with social media?

2.      Get Committed

One of the biggest benefits with any plan is the fact it gets everyone on the same page and committed to the plan. One of the many benefits of any plan is its ability to build consensus and have everyone singing from the same song sheet. A social media marketing plan is no different.

Maintaining a consistent presence on social media is another important objective. Just like any regular activity, it needs to be sustained on a daily or weekly basis. Long gaps between posts will potentially frustrate your audience and signal to them the irrelevance of your information.

3.      Content is King

Content is indeed king, but only if it’s the right content at the right time in the right context. Too many businesses fail in regards to this one criterion. They often feel that any ‘relevant’ content would be appropriate for their social media efforts.

What they fail to realize is non-targeted content is almost as pointless and as useless as no content at all. One of the many purposes of social media is to engage and connect with one’s audience. The best way to accomplish this is to give your audience when they need and expect to get from you.

This requires consistency not only in your approach to social media but also in what and how you say things. It’s also as important to decide what you won’t cover in your social media communications as it is to figure out what you will.

4.      Stay Focused

One of the easiest traps to fall into with social media is to try to be everything to everyone. After all, opening accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yelp, Foursquare, Pinterest and others is simple, easy and virtually free.

But would you do the same thing with your more traditional marketing efforts? Likely not, as publishing print ads in every print publication that your clients read would prove to be cost prohibitive. The same is true for social media. Pick the 2-3 services you feel best represent your business and brand, and which enable you to communicate your messages effectively, and commit only to them.

So if you’re planning to commence your social media marketing efforts or want to reignite them after a somewhat lacklustre start, a social media marketing plan is an integral component to your success. So commit the effort required to make this plan a reality.

And if you need help getting your plan started or want a second opinion on how it should be developed, contact us. We’d be happy to sit down with you and help determine the optimal course of action to build your business and brand through this popular medium.