How does a social media plan?work?

A few days ago a friend who works in sales asked me how they should explain social media to a potential client. Neither she or the client knew anything about social media marketing. Not knowing where to begin, I began at the beginning (not knowing where that is either).

Social media is the vehicle through which a community interacts with your business. It is a way for current and potential clients/customers/fans/advocates to get to know you and vice versa. At its core, social media is social. It's the personal connection a brand has with its fans. Social media the conversation you have with a current customer about their daughter's wedding and the offer of advice on where to buy flowers (even though you sell cars, not flowers). Social media is a tool to start, and continue, conversations. It's not a sales tool, it's an engagement tool. It's an engagement tool in the same way a conversation about the best pizza place in town isn't a sales tool but is a great way to create good will (engagement) between you and the client. So what do you talk about? How will you engage? Content.

Content is the key to a great social media plan. Content is what is shared on social media. It can be anything from a short sentence to a video to a pdf. It can be user generated (stuff posted by your fans), or it can be generated by your business. The content your business shares should be engaging. It should help your fans solve a problem, use your product more efficiently, use your product in a way they never knew was possible, or it should just plain entertain them (and even though cat videos are great, the entertainment you share should tie into your marketing plan).

Unsure what content you should share? Take a look at your 10 most asked customer service questions. Now create a piece of content around each of them. Here's a quick scenario: Customer: "Hello Papa's Pizza, do you have gluten free crusts? What are they made from?" Employee: "Hello customer. We sure do have gluten free pizza. It's made from the ground hooves and horns of Chilean unicorns that died naturally after living out their lives in peace and harmony." Customer: "Excellent, I'll take a 20 inch pie with kale and vegan cheese please." While the customer was able to get their answer, it's highly likely that they searched your site for that information first. Not finding it there, they called your business. Wouldn't it be great if they found that info on your website, shared it with all their gluten free friends via email and Pinterest, then called you to place their order? It sure would, because now their friends are calling you to place orders.

Always make your social media and content work in concert to help you meet your business goals (selling pizzas). If your goal is to increase sales of your product, create content that explains how your product solves the customer's wants and needs then share that content on a social media channel that has a user base that aligns with your intended audience. If your goal is to increase awareness, create  content that is worthy of sharing (such as a contest), and share it on the appropriate social media channel. In any scenario the goal is to get results. Campaigns should be created that generate leads, build email lists, or create awareness.