Step One: Create a Social Media Strategy
Ask (and answer) the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of Social Media Marketing for your business. Who should be involved in your social media marketing efforts? What are their responsibilities? Where will they post their updates? When will they post updates and comments? Why have you selected the platforms you have? How will you advise employees about social media use?
Step Two: Develop a Content Strategy and Plan
Develop content categories and topics which are most reflective of your industry. Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot, suggests writing: “How-to articles, analysis of a current industry trend or challenge, announcements of an upcoming event, feedback on articles you read in print and online publications.”
Step Three: Create Regularly Scheduled Posts and Updates
Develop a schedule for your content strategy. One way to stay on schedule is to use an editorial calendar. A good template for scheduling blog, Facebook and Twitter posts can be found here.
Step Four: Stay up-to-date on the rapidly changing social media landscape
Keep up-to-date on trends in social media by creating your own personal reading list of blogs and/or sign-up to receive google alerts.
Step Five: Know thy visitors
Use and review analytics to gain insights into: your social media traffic sources, keywords that drive visitors to your sites, and content which most engages your visitors. e.g. Tools may include: Google Analytics for blog platforms (or other site analytics plugins for WordPress), Facebook Insights, Twitter Grader, YouTube Channel Analytics
What steps have been most challenging for your business? What recommendations can you share?
image credit: Matt Hamm’s Flickr photostream
