10 Action Steps For Social Media Marketing Success

Are you an advertiser trying to figure out the Social Media landscape? Are you trying to figure out the keys to success in your Social Media marketing strategy, but don't know where to start or what steps you should take to ensure you have an engaging campaign that delivers positive ROI?

Look no further, I'm here to help!

One of the more difficult things that you can do as an advertiser, just starting out in the Social Media marketing universe, is narrowing in on a strategy that can deliver consistent results. Some of the most common questions you might have as you start to plan are:

• Where do I start?
• What does my audience want to see and engage with?
• What type of content will deliver the best results?
• How do I come up with a strategy that conveys my intended message properly?
• Which social platforms is my audience on and how do I reach them?

And guess what? There are going to be many, many more questions as you move through the process of planning, executing, and measuring your first, or next, Social Media marketing campaign.

Having a solid plan is the key to your success in just about anything you do in life. As the old saying goes; If you don't have a plan, you're planning to fail.

You'll be throwing your dollars and cents, like spaghetti, at the wall and hoping for something to stick. Ultimately watching money get wasted without the results that you hoped for.

"Noooooooooooo...." (echo, echo, echo)

This is not the way you want to go into your Social Media marketing or marketing plan in general!

To help you along your journey in creating your Social Media marketing plan I've compiled 10 simple steps that you can take to ensure that you start your Social Media marketing campaign off with the right direction, focus, and intention!

And hopefully will spark more ideas that you can build-up from.

There are 3 phases that you'll encounter in these steps: The Planning Phase, Execution Phase, and Measurement Phase. And, I'll be honest, there are times that you are not going to go in a straight line through these steps/phases, and that's OKAY.

Don't get yourself hung up on one specific step, if you get stuck just move on to the next and come back to the others when you can. But, be sure to put thought into each one as it is important to know what to expect.

Now, without further ado, lets get started:

1. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH

Of course I'd hit you with this question to start you off! This is the question you've been asking yourself all along, right?

Listen, you need to know what it is that you are trying to achieve with your marketing before you start planning any other steps within your strategy. Your goals and objectives are going to be different, and the approach you take to market each of your products/services, or your business, are going to be different as well. So, you need to become very clear on what it is that you're trying to accomplish (get more leads, email sign-ups, branding, ect.).

What products or services are you trying to get your audience to purchase? Are you trying to get people to purchase your products online, or are you trying to drive foot traffic into your brick and mortar location? Are you trying to grow your following? Or, are you just trying to get the word out about your business and increase the engagement on your fan/business page?

I can't say it enough, no matter what it is you need to be clear, and get specific with your goals!

2. RESEARCH YOUR COMPETITORS AND INDUSTRY

Staying on top of industry trending news and what your competitors are doing is a great way to stay relevant and not fall behind on the times.

Not all of your competitors are going to be doing things right. Some, if not most, of them are probably in the same boat you are; trying to figure it all out!

Heck, they may even be reading this article right now, as well (I can only hope) .

Research and take note of what your top competitors are doing, what services they may be highlighting and promoting, what they're doing right, and definitely what they are doing wrong. This will give you an opportunity to put your company's products and services in the limelight where your competitors are falling short. And, not to mention, what social platforms are they getting the most engagement on?

To spur engagement and keep your target audience interested in your brand and what you've got to say, utilize what is going on in your industry today and voice your opinions, give insight, or even write a brief article, or create an info-graphic to help your audience understand the details of what's going on.

Find ways to incorporate these things into your Social Media marketing strategies. Its free to do and adds to your value as a leader in the industry within your market.

3. WHO IS, AND WHERE IS, YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

You don't want to put all your time and resources into a Social Platform if your audience is not there. It's important for you to take a little time to get some data on where your target audience is hanging out. As well as, knowing the age of your ideal audience, location, income level, interests, etc.

You may not always have to get too granular with your targeting, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't know some of these specs in advance.

Here's some data that will get you started (thanks to Business Insider) in finding your ideal platforms to work on:

Clearly there is more data to look into, but this gives you an idea of the age range of each of the top social platforms.

A quick online search for social media platform demographics can provide you with much more info that can help you find your audience.

4. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO MEASURE SUCCESS

Setting your 'Key Performance Indicators', or KPI's, in advance of running any marketing campaign is very important.

These specific KPI's will give you the opportunity to measure your success at any given point in time (page likes, lead captures, conversion rate, newsletter sign-ups, engagement rate, etc.).

Do not allow yourself to start a marketing campaign without any clue of how you're going to measure whether the campaign was a success or not. Again, this would be throwing your money at the wall trying to see what sticks. Trust me, nothing will... Not good!

5. TIME AND BUDGET

Set a budget and a duration for your campaign to know when you can/should measure your results. Setting the budget in advance will ensure that you do not exceed this amount, even when it gets tempting to hit that boost button on your post.

Having a set time-frame for your campaign to run will give you the opportunity to create milestones and measure your results at given times throughout the duration.

Creating content and posting engaging info-graphics may be a consistent thing that you do to keep your followers/audience engaged, but for your paid advertisements, this is important!

Make it realistic and stick to it!

6. VISUALIZE AND CREATE

Every social platform is different. Which means that you'll need to create content and ads that fit the specific platform you're using. For Instagram, images and stories are great. For Twitter, articles and opinions matter. On Facebook, live video is getting big. You're starting to get the gist, right?

Keep in mind what your posts or ads will look like to the end user.

Will they be engaging and eye-catching, or boring to the point that they scroll past without even a pause?

Give it some thought... You don't want to just post or promote anything. You want intention with your posts, and most definitely attention!

Make it eye-catching.

7. SCHEDULE YOUR ADS AND POSTS

Scheduling posts and ads will help you tell the story that you want from the beginning through to the end.

When you schedule posts on a regular basis it will keep people engaged and can create meaningful conversations that help your brand connect to your audience. And, not to mention, it will keep your topics consistent and relevant.

You'll want to be as active as you can with your social media pages and make sure that what your posting will help your advertising campaigns as well!

Be authentic and real, and don't always try to sell something. No one wants to be sold to all the time. People want to see that there are real people behind the scene.

Post regularly and consistently!

8. BE PREPARED TO PIVOT

We all know that what's HOT one day may definitely not be HOT the next.

You don't necessarily need to have another plan in place, but you have to be flexible and open minded. If something isn't working, or you're not getting the type of activity that you were hoping for, then change it up a bit. PIVOT!

Sometimes, a small change in the copy of your ad, or headline of your article, can make a world of difference.

Don't get hung up on the 'Why's this not working for me' attitude. Get into the 'How can I make this work for me' attitude.

9. MEASURE YOUR RESULTS

Remember those KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) that you set at the beginning of your planning phase? Yup! Here they are. They are going to come in handy here.

Measure the results against your predetermined KPI's and find the area's that you succeeded in, and the area's that would need some improvements.

Not all businesses are made the same, which also means that not all Social Media marketing strategies are made the same. Your results will vary depending on things such as; whats going on in the world today; the types of products or services you're trying to sell; the objectives of your campaigns, etc.

This is your opportunity to take that deep dive into your campaign and see where you can make some tweaks to come out on top.

10. OPTIMIZE YOUR CAMPAIGN FOR MORE SUCCESS

Last, but certainly not least, take what you've found from measuring your KPI's and make the changes necessary to optimize your marketing campaigns!

Maybe its a re-allocation of your budget toward the ad sets that are working well. Or it could be changing the campaign objective completely. It could be a multitude of different things, that's why its important to have the ability to measure your results.

Things can change over time. Remember, what's HOT today may not be HOT tomorrow.

Again, this will be different for every business and there is no cookie cutter answers here. But, if you've found area's that you'd like to improve on with your results, make some changes and test these changes in your marketing strategy and on your social pages.

There it is, your 10 Steps To Social Media Marketing Success.

I know for a fact that there is so much more that can be included here to help you fine tune your Social Media planning. But, this is going to get you started in the right direction, get your creative mind working, and ultimately get you on the path to Social Media marketing success!

What are you doing in your business for Social Media Marketing that has been working really well for you?

Share this info with the community below so we can all become better at what we do!