A social media strategy is a summary of everything you programme to do and hope to achieve on social media. Information technology guides your actions and lets you know whether you're succeeding or failing.

The more specific your plan is, the more effective it will be. Keep information technology concise. Don't make it so lofty and broad that it's unattainable or impossible to measure.

In this post, nosotros'll walk yous through a nine-stride plan to create a winning social media marketing strategy of your own.

Bonus: Become a complimentary social media strategy template to quickly and easily program your own strategy. Also use it to track results and present the plan to your boss, teammates, and clients.

What is social media marketing?

Social media marketing is the do of using social media channels to sell or promote a brand, product or service.

Social media marketing helps businesses:

  • Increase make sensation
  • Build engaged communities
  • Sell products and services
  • Measure how people feel nearly your business
  • Provide customer service on social media platforms
  • Annunciate their products and services to target audiences
  • Track your performance and adjust your strategy accordingly

What is a social media strategy?

A social media strategy is a certificate outlining your social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve them and the metrics you volition track to measure your progress.

Your social media marketing strategy should also list all of your existing and planned social media accounts along with goals specific to each platform you're active on. These goals should align with your business'south larger digital marketing strategy.

Finally, a adept social media plan should define the roles and responsibilities inside your team and outline your reporting cadency.

How to create a social media marketing strategy in ix steps

Read on for detailed steps to creating a social media strategy. Or, lookout this video where Hootsuite's own Senior Director of Social Media Marketing, Amanda, guides yous through our free social media strategy template, pace past step:

Set Southward.Yard.A.R.T. goals

The starting time step to creating a winning strategy is to institute your objectives and goals. Without goals, you have no way to measure success and return on investment (ROI).

Each of your goals should be:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound

This is the S.M.A.R.T. goal framework. It will guide your deportment and ensure they pb to real business results.

Here'south an case of a Due south.Chiliad.A.R.T. goal:

"Nosotros volition use Twitter for customer support and lower our boilerplate response charge per unit to under two hours by the end of the quarter."

Track meaningful metrics

Vanity metrics similar number of followers and likes are piece of cake to rail, but it's hard to prove their real value. Instead, focus on things like engagement, click-through, and conversion rates.

For inspiration, take a expect at these xix essential social media metrics.

You may desire to rail unlike goals for different social media networks, or even different uses for each network.

For case, if you use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your website, you would measure click-throughs. If Instagram is for brand awareness, y'all might rails the number of Instagram Story views. And if you lot advertise on Facebook, cost-per-click (CPC) is a common success metric.

Social media goals should align with your overall marketing objectives. This makes information technology easier to testify the value of your piece of work and secure buy-in from your boss.

Screenshot of chart showing how social media goals should align to business objectives

Start developing a successful social media marketing plan past writing downwardly at least iii goals for social media.

Step 2. Larn everything you can about your audience

Create audition personas

Knowing who your audience is and what they want to encounter on social media is cardinal. That fashion you can create content that they will like, annotate on, and share. It'south likewise critical if you desire to turn social media followers into customers for your business.

When it comes to your target customer, you should know things like:

  • Age
  • Location
  • average income
  • Typical job title or industry
  • Interests
  • etc.

Here'south a simple guide and template for creating audience/buyer personas.

Get to know your fans, followers, and customers as real people with real wants and needs, and you volition know how to target and appoint them on social media.

Gather information

Don't make assumptions. Think Facebook is a better network for reaching Babe Boomers than Millennials? Well, the numbers show that Facebook'southward largest age demographic is actually 30-49.

Chart: Social Media Usage Among U.S. Adults

Social media analytics can too provide a ton of valuable information about who your followers are, where they live, and how they interact with your brand on social media. These insights let y'all to refine your strategy and improve target your audience.

Jugnoo, an Uber-like service for car-rickshaws in India, used Facebook Analytics to learn that ninety% of their users who referred other customers were between xviii- and 34-years-former, and 65% of that grouping was using Android. They used that data to target their ads, resulting in a forty% lower cost per referral.

Check out our guide to using social media analytics and the tools yous demand to track them.

Step 3. Become to know your contest

Odds are your competitors are already using social media, and that ways you can learn from what they're doing.

Conduct a competitive analysis

A competitive analysis allows you lot to sympathise who the competition is and what they're doing well (and not and then well). You lot'll get a good sense of what'due south expected in your industry, which volition help you set social media targets of your own.

It will likewise help yous spot opportunities.

Mayhap ane of your competitors is ascendant on Facebook, for instance, just has put little attempt into Twitter or Instagram. Y'all might want to focus on the networks where your audience is underserved, rather than trying to win fans abroad from a dominant player.

Utilize social media listening

Social listening is another way to proceed an eye on your competitors.

Do searches of the competition's company name, account handles, and other relevant keywords on social media. Observe out what they're sharing and what other people are saying almost them.

Pro tip: Use Hootsuite Streams to monitor relevant keywords and accounts in real-time.

creating a social listening stream to track competitors' mentions in Hootsuite

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As you track, you may observe shifts in how your competitors and industry leaders are using social media. You may meet new, exciting trends. Or, y'all might spot a specific postal service or campaign that really hits the mark—or totally bombs.

Utilize this kind of intel to inform your ain social media marketing strategy.

Bonus: Get a free social media strategy template to apace and easily plan your own strategy. Besides apply it to runway results and present the program to your boss, teammates, and clients.

Get the template now!

If you're already using social media, accept stock of your efforts then far. Inquire yourself the post-obit questions:

  • What's working, and what'southward not?
  • Who is engaging with you?
  • Which networks does your target audience use?
  • How does your social media presence compare to the competition?

In one case yous collect that information, you'll be ready to commencement thinking well-nigh ways to ameliorate.

We've created an easy-to-follow social media audit guide and template to walk you through each step of this process.

Screenshot of a social media audit spreedsheet for building an effective social media strategy

Your audit should give you a clear picture of what purpose each of your social accounts serves. If the purpose of an business relationship isn't clear, think about whether it's worth keeping.

To help you decide, inquire yourself the following questions:

  1. Is my audience here?
  2. If so, how are they using this platform?
  3. Can I utilise this account to assistance achieve my goals?

Asking these tough questions volition keep your strategy focused.

Look for impostor accounts

During the audit, y'all may discover fake accounts using your business name or the names of your products.

These imposters tin be harmful to your brand—never mind that they're capturing followers that should be yours.

Report them.

Yous may want to get your accounts verified too to ensure your fans know they are dealing with the real you.

Here's how to go verified on:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • TikTok

Stride 5. Ready up accounts and improve profiles

Decide which networks to use

Every bit you lot decide which social networks to use, y'all will besides need to define your strategy for each.

Benefit Cosmetics' social media managing director, Angela Purcaro, told eMarketer: "For our makeup tutorials … we're all near Snapchat and Instagram Stories. Twitter, on the other hand, is designated for customer service."

Hootsuite's ain social team even designates different purposes for formats within networks. On Instagram, for instance, they utilize the feed to post high-quality educational infographics and product announcements and Stories to cover live events or quick social media updates.

Pro tip: Write out a mission argument for each network. A one-sentence proclamation to continue you focused on a specific goal.

Case: "We will utilise Twitter for customer back up to keep electronic mail and call volumes down."

One more than: "We will use LinkedIn for promoting and sharing our visitor civilisation to assist with recruitment and employee advocacy."

If you can't create a solid mission argument for a particular social media aqueduct, you may desire to enquire yourself if it'south worth it.

Fix up your profiles

Once you lot've decided which networks to focus on, it's time to create your profiles. Or improve existing ones so they align with your strategy.

  • Make sure you fill out all contour fields
  • Include keywords people would apply to search for your business
  • Utilize consistent branding (logos, images, etc.) beyond networks so your profiles are hands recognizable

Pro tip: Utilise high-quality images that follow the recommended dimensions for each network. Check out our always-up-to-date social media paradigm size cheat sail for quick reference.

We've as well got step-past-step guides for each network to walk you lot through the procedure:

  • Create a Facebook business page
  • Create an Instagram concern account
  • Create a TikTok business relationship
  • Create a Twitter business account
  • Create a Snapchat account
  • Create a LinkedIn Company Page
  • Create a Pinterest business account
  • Create a YouTube channel

Don't let this list overwhelm you lot. Think, it'southward better to use fewer channels well than to stretch yourself thin trying to maintain a presence on every network.

Step 6. Find inspiration

While it's important that your brand be unique, you lot can still draw inspiration from other businesses that are great on social.

Social media success stories

You lot can usually find these on the business section of the social network's website. (Here'due south Facebook's, for example.)

Case studies can offering valuable insights that yous tin use to your own social media plan.

Award-winning accounts and campaigns

You could also cheque out the winners of The Facebook Awards or The Shorty Awards for examples of brands that are at the peak of their social media game.

For learning and a laugh, check out Refrigerator-Worthy, Hootsuite's bi-weekly awards bear witness highlighting brands doing smart and clever things on social media.

Your favorite brands on social media

Who do you enjoy post-obit on social media? What exercise they do that compels people to engage and share their content?

National Geographic, for instance, is one of the best on Instagram, combining stunning visuals with compelling captions.

Then there's Shopify. The ecommerce brand uses Facebook to sell themselves past showcasing customer stories and case studies.

And Lush Cosmetics is a great example of superior customer service on Twitter. They utilize their 280 characters to answer questions and solve problems in an extremely charming and on-brand mode.

Detect that each of these accounts has a consequent vocalization, tone, and style. That's key to letting people know what to wait from your feed. That is, why should they follow you? What's in it for them?

Consistency besides helps keep your content on-make even if you accept multiple people on your social media squad.

For more on this, read our guide on establishing a compelling brand voice on social media.

Ask your followers

Consumers can also offer social media inspiration.

What are your target customers talking about online? What tin you lot learn about their wants and needs?

If y'all have existing social channels, you could too ask your followers what they want from you. Merely make sure that you follow through and deliver what they ask for.

Footstep 7. Create a social media content agenda

Sharing great content is essential, of grade, but it's equally important to have a plan in place for when yous'll share content to become the maximum impact.

Your social media content calendar also needs to account for the time you spend interacting with the audience (although yous demand to permit for some spontaneous engagement as well).

Ready your posting schedule

Your social media content calendar lists the dates and times at which you volition publish types of content on each aqueduct. It's the perfect place to plan all of your social media activities—from images, link sharing, and re-shares of user-generated content to blog posts and videos. It includes both your day-to-day posting and content for social media campaigns.

Your calendar also ensures your posts are spaced out appropriately and published at the best times to post.

Pro tip: You lot tin can plan your whole content agenda and get recommended all-time times to mail on every network based on your past engagement rate, impressions, or link click data in Hootsuite.

Hootsuite Analytics best time to publish
Hootsuite'south Best Fourth dimension to Publish feature

Determine the right content mix

Make sure your content strategy and calendar reflect the mission statement you've assigned to each social profile, then that everything you post is working to support your business goals.

Y'all might decide that:

  • l% of content will drive traffic dorsum to your website
  • 25% of content volition be curated from other sources
  • 20% of content will support atomic number 82-generation goals (newsletter sign-ups, ebook downloads, etc.)
  • 5% of content will exist about your company civilisation

Placing these different mail types in your content agenda volition ensure you lot maintain the correct mix.

If you're starting from scratch and y'all're not sure what types of content to post, effort the 80-20 rule:

  • fourscore% of your posts should inform, brainwash, or entertain your audition
  • 20% tin can straight promote your brand.

infographic showing the 80/20 rule for content in a social media strategy

You could as well try the social media content marketing dominion of thirds:

  • One-third of your content promotes your business concern, converts readers, and generates profit.
  • One-third of your content shares ideas and stories from thought leaders in your manufacture or similar-minded businesses.
  • One-third of your content is personal interactions with your audience

infographic showing the social media content marketing rule of thirds

Don't postal service too much or too piddling

If you're starting a social media strategy from scratch, you may not accept figured out how often to postal service to each network for maximum engagement yet.

Post also oft and y'all take a chance annoying your audition. But, if you post too fiddling, you risk looking like yous're not worth post-obit.

Offset with these posting frequency recommendations:

  • Instagram (feed): iii-7 times per week
  • Facebook: 1-2 times per day
  • Twitter: 1-5 times per twenty-four hour period
  • LinkedIn: 1-5 times per day

infographic showing posting frequency recommendations for social media

Pro tip: One time you take your social media content calendar planned out, use a scheduling tool to prepare messages in advance rather than updating constantly throughout the solar day.

We might be biased, but we think Hootsuite is the all-time social media scheduler. You lot tin can schedule posts to every network and the intuitive calendar view gives you a full motion-picture show of all your social activity each week.

Here's a quick video overview of how scheduling works in Hootsuite's post composing tool.

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Step eight. Create compelling content

Recall those mission statements you created for each channel in Step 5? Well, it's time to go a bit deeper, a.thousand.a. provide some examples of the type of content you'll postal service to fulfill your mission on each network.

If y'all're non certain what to mail service, hither's a long list of social media content ideas to get y'all started.

The idea here is to:

  • Keep your content aligned with the purpose of each network;
  • Bear witness other stakeholders (if applicative) what kind of content they can await to run across on each network.

This concluding point especially volition help y'all avoid any tension when your colleagues want to know why y'all haven't posted their case study/whitepaper/blog post to TikTok still. It'due south not in the strategy, Linda!

Ideally, you lot will generate content types that are both suited to the network and the purpose yous've set out for that network.

For instance, you wouldn't desire to waste time posting make awareness videos on Twitter if you've designated that channel for primarily client support. And you wouldn't want to post super polished corporate video ads to TikTok, every bit users expect to see curt, unpolished videos on that platform.

It might have some testing over time to figure out which blazon of content works best on which type of network, so set up to update this section frequently.

This brings the states to Step 9.

Step 9. Track performance and adjust your strategy accordingly

Your social media strategy is a hugely important certificate for your business concern, and yous can't assume you'll become it exactly right on the outset try. As you starting time to implement your plan and rail your results, you may detect that some strategies don't piece of work likewise every bit yous'd anticipated, while others are working even better than expected.

Wait at operation metrics

In addition to the analytics inside each social network (encounter Stride 2), you tin utilise UTM parameters to rail social visitors as they move through your website, and so you can run into exactly which social posts drive the virtually traffic to your website.

Re-evaluate, test, and practise it all again

In one case this data starts coming in, use information technology to re-evaluate your strategy regularly. You tin can also apply this information to test unlike posts, social marketing campaigns, and strategies against one another. Constant testing allows you to sympathise what works and what doesn't, and so you lot tin can refine your strategy in real time.

Y'all'll want to check the performance of all your channels at least once a week and get to know the basics of social media reporting then you can track your growth over time.

Pro tip: If y'all use Hootsuite, you can review the performance of all your posts on every network in ane place. In one case you go the hang of checking your analytics, yous may even want to customize different reports to show specific metrics over a diverseness of different fourth dimension periods.

social media analytics report in Hootsuite

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Surveys can as well be a great style to find out how well your strategy is working. Ask your followers, email list, and website visitors whether you're coming together their needs and expectations, and what they'd similar to run across more than of. Then make sure to evangelize on what they tell you.

Finalizing your social media strategy

Spoiler alert: nothing is concluding.

Social media moves fast. New networks emerge, others go through demographic shifts.

Your business will go through periods of change besides.

All of this means that your social media marketing strategy should be a living document that you review and adapt every bit needed. Refer to it often to stay on rail, only don't be agape to make changes so that it better reflects new goals, tools, or plans.

When you lot update your social strategy, brand sure to let anybody on your team know. That way they can all work together to help your business concern make the most of your accounts.

Social media strategy template

Bonus: Go a free social media strategy template to quickly and easily plan your own strategy. Also use it to track results and present the plan to your dominate, teammates, and clients.

What's next? When you're set to put your plan into action, we're here to help…

Salvage time managing your social media strategy with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can easily:

  • Plan, create, and schedule posts to every network
  • Rails relevant keywords, topics, and accounts
  • Stay on superlative of engagement with a universal inbox
  • Go like shooting fish in a barrel-to-empathise performance reports and improve your strategy as needed

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With files from Shannon Tien.

Hands manage all your social media in one place and save time with Hootsuite.

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