6 Ingredients of a Social Media Plan

As social media is such a hot topic and so many corporate entities and organizations are realizing they cannot afford not to be a part of the conversation, there is a great need for social media planning.  Life without a road map is often challenging.  So too is navigating audience sentiment, new content development and venue selection without a social media plan.

In contrast to a traditional marketing plan, social media plans require:

• Active and Ongoing Listening
  As audience focus, interests and needs change, the content you develop and distribute must as well.  Using listening tools like alerts, rss feeds from influencers and social media monitoring services like Radian6 and Spiral16 can help you guide the narrative.
• Even Greater Flexibility than Traditional Plans
  Because your social media plan must be a reflection of what your audience is discussing, plans can be altered on a frequent basis.  Your core message should never sway, but the facets of your business you emphasize should connect with momentary discussions within social media venues.
• Greater Focus on Engagement and Education, Rather than Sales and Leads
  It should be made clear - social media is primarily a public relations tactic.  We do have clients who track tens of thousands of dollars in sales from their Facebook presences.  Others have seen ticket sales and new business leads come from Twitter and LinkedIn.  However, positioning your social media plan primarily around revenue generation can be a bit wishful.  It is used best as a method for engaging the audience and encouraging meaningful activity with and among loyal customers.

In comparison, social media plans look similar to their traditional counterparts (see below)



Here is more information on each element of a sound social media plan:

Objectives
To reiterate, social media should not be ruled out as a revenue generating tactic.  However, we have found social media plans are most effective with objectives that focus on educating current and potential customers, embracing new (and potentially younger) audiences, and providing customer service communications.  Other potential objectives include driving site traffic, increasing event attendance and securing new content developed by customers.

Messaging
Messaging within your social media plan should not differ too greatly from your overarching marketing plans.  Core messages are the same.  The real difference is in how you say it.  Provide information that breeds action.  Embrace regular posting schedules.  Be engaged and accentuate the positive. 

Strategies
Social media strategies typically revolve around the idea of making connections with the audience by providing relevant content, asking the right questions and empowering the audience to get involved.  Active listening and meticulous moderation of forums, boards, blog comments will also help guide your next series of messages and how/where you want to communicate them.  I was at a recent MarketingProfs conference in which it was overheard, "Many companies feel that their customer service operations are a burden, but in fact, they are a goldmine." Other sample social media strategies involve reputation management and the ability to react quickly to messages about one's organization (both positive and negative).

Tactics
There are literally hundreds of social media Web sites.  Consider which ones will be utilized by your target.  Chances are you can roll with the popular outposts and be selective based on your audience needs and various aspects of your business. If you have the means for creating video and feel that it would help you deliver your message, use YouTube or Vimeo.  If there is a connection between photography and your overall business offering, build a presence on Flickr.
Facebook and Twitter are quite popular, but choose wisely with your social media plan, and consider how much time you can commit to these efforts (to be discussed later).  With your social media planning exercises, brainstorm ways that you can use these venues creatively that will encourage a loyal following.  Contests, incentives, trivia and other creative implementations can build a fan base.  Subsequent messages and tactics should be used to hold interest.

Measurement
Social media reporting can include numbers of fans/followers with relevant growth trends.  However, measurement should reflect business goals.  Our social media reports often include traffic to the Web site from social media venues, number of clicks tracked from posts with URL shorteners, and utilizing listening tools, quantified sentiment ratings from the audience based on the joyful or dissentient content they produce. 

Time & Resources
So many people are turning to social media as a method of supplanting other marketing communications tools that require a significant budget.  It's true - social media does not co$t that much to perform effectively.  Don't underestimate, however, the amount of time it will take to develop a social media plan, create valuable content, manage communications amongst the audience, conduct active listening and measure results accordingly.  In many cases, the time required can equate to a full time employee...or an entire team.

Have you created your social media plan?  If so, how does this format compare?

About the Author: Chris Sietsema

As Director of Interactive Marketing, Chris oversees day-to-day digital marketing responsibilities including search engine optimization, paid search advertising, social media, email marketing and media buying.

View more blog posts from Chris Sietsema >

Contact Chris

<< back to blog