Create a social media strategy in 6 steps

Social media is a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their customers, increase brand awareness, generate leads and sales, and grow their online presence. But without a clear and effective social media strategy, you might be wasting your time and resources on random posts that don't align with your goals or resonate with your audience.

A social media strategy is a plan that outlines what you want to achieve on social media, how you will do it, and how you will measure your success. It helps you focus your efforts, optimize your results, and stay consistent across different platforms.

We will show you how to create a social media strategy in six simple steps, We use GRAACC to create our and our client's social media strategies.

Goals

The first step to creating a social media strategy is to define your goals. What do you want to accomplish on social media? How does it support your overall business objectives?

Your goals should be SMART:

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

For example, instead of saying, "I want to increase my followers," you could say, "I want to gain 10,000 new followers on Instagram in 6 months."

Some common social media goals are:

• Drive website traffic
• Increase brand awareness
• Generate leads and sales
• Improve brand reputation
• Research your market
• Build community engagement
• Provide customer service

Write down your goals and prioritize them according to their importance and urgency. For example, if you want to increase brand awareness, you could put that goal at the top of your list. From there, you can create a strategy to help you achieve that goal.

Research

The next step is to research your target audience. Who are the people you want to reach on social media? What are their demographics, interests, pain points, and preferences?

Knowing your audience will help you create content that appeals to them, choose the right platforms to reach them, and tailor your messages to their needs and expectations.

You can use various tools and methods to research your audience, such as:

• Analyzing your existing customers and followers
• Creating buyer personas or customer profiles
• Conducting surveys or interviews
• Using social media analytics or insights
• Monitoring social media conversations and trends

Audit

The third step is to audit your current social media channels. If you already have some social media accounts, you need to evaluate their performance and identify what's working and what's not.

A social media audit will help you:

• Check if your profiles are complete and consistent with your brand identity
• Review your content quality, frequency, and engagement
• Measure your reach, growth, and conversions
• Compare your results with your competitors and industry benchmarks
• Spot any issues or gaps that need improvement

Analyze

The fourth step is to analyze your competitors and the market. Who are the other players in your industry or niche that are active on social media? What are they doing well, and what are they missing?

A competitive analysis will help you:

• Learn from their best practices and mistakes
• Identify opportunities and threats in the market
• Differentiate yourself from them and highlight your unique value proposition
• Benchmark yourself against them and set realistic goals

You can use tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, or BuzzSumo to monitor and analyze your competitors' social media activity.

Choose

The fifth step is to choose the right platforms for your social media strategy. You don't have to be on every social network out there. You should focus on the ones that are most relevant to your audience, goals, and content.

To choose the best platforms for your business, you should consider:

• The size and demographics of each platform's user base
• The type and format of content that each platform supports
• The tone and purpose of each platform's communication style
• The features and functionality that each platform offers

Create

The sixth step is to create a content calendar for your social media strategy. A content calendar is a schedule that outlines what content you will post on each platform, when, and how often.

A content calendar will help you:

• Plan and avoid last-minute stress
• Make necessary adjustments when any new information or changes arise.

Following all the above steps will help you create a successful social media strategy that will help you achieve your goals and grow your business. If you need help with your social media strategy, we can help you create a winning strategy and manage your social media accounts.