Steps to an Effective Social Media Strategy

1: Assessment

Start with a single question: “Why social media?” The answer will dictate everything you do in this first phase. Assessment is to evaluate where you are, where you want to go and what the wins will be along the way.

Put Your Audience First

First things first: You need to clarify your audience’s needs, wants and challenges—not to mention where they’re spending time online. Use tools like Survey Monkey or Google Docs to quickly and inexpensively survey your customers. Each time I want to learn more about my audience's behaviors, I create a quick survey and post it on my social networks to go straight to the source.

5 major benefits of knowing your audience are considerable:

Laser focus: You can create content that resonates instantly.

Break barriers: Confront pain points head-on to build trust.

Language: Increase engagement by being a person your audience relates to.

Empathy: The more you listen, the better you can respond to specific needs.

Positioning: You can become the go-to source in your niche.

Step #2: Implementation

Next up: execution. The implementation phase is all about zeroing in on the details and day-to-day tasks you and your team are now responsible for.

Have a Step-by-Step Plan for Promotion and Growth

There are literally hundreds of ways to get your team promoting and sharing on the key social media sites you plan to use. Here are a few to get you started:

Visible social media icons and social plugins are some of the easiest ways to drive traffic to your social media networks. Integrate social media on your website with plugins and icons.

Visible social media icons and social plugins are some of the easiest ways to drive traffic to your social media networks.Run contests and promotions or offer rewards.

Showcase your expertise. Drive traffic (and build a reputation) by offering webinars and training programs,interviewing experts and guest blogging, to name a few.

Promote your networks consistently. Add networks to letterhead, email signatures and business cards.

Identify Core Sales Campaigns

Yes, social media is about relationships first. But the fact is, once you’ve built solid, genuine relationships online, you’re going to want to use your influence to grow your business. That doesn’t mean shoving it down fans’ throats or putting sales above the relationship. It simply means that you can and should promote what you offer to the people who believe in your mission.

Establish an action plan for the core campaigns you’ll use to collect and nurture leads, like:

Outline promotional policy—what is acceptable, and what is not allowed?

Identify and implement opt-in opportunities—like a custom welcome tab on your Facebook page.

Determine where to direct leads—for example, will you create an eCommerce platform on Facebook with a custom tab, or sell only on your site?