The 8-Step Guide To Get Started With Social Media

get started with social media

Through social media, businesses can share content, videos, and images with their followers, and also get feedback from them. This means creating content that is interesting and relevant to your target audience. Ask yourself; what kind of content would my existing audience want? What content will attract your ideal audience? Once you have a good understanding of this, creating content becomes much easier. 

The ultimate objective of any content marketing strategy is to inform, educate, and entertain audiences through content that inspires action. Let’s dive into the 8-step process to get started with social media marketing!

#1 Understand your target audience

Understanding your audience is the key to creating relevant content that resonates with them. However, making blind assumptions about your audience isn’t going to cut it. 

Here are some questions to ask about your audience (1) Who are they? (2) What do they care about? and (3) Which social media platforms do they gather or frequent?

#2 Define S.M.A.R.T. goals & key-metrics

Set realistic and measurable goals. If you lack a clear vision of what you want to accomplish, you are likely to end up wasting money and resources. The classic SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals is a good template to do for this step. Getting clear on goals and metrics, allows you to focus your efforts as you progress towards them.

social media, video

#3 Go where your customers are

It is a given that you are always going to be working with limited marketing resources, identify which platform (or two) your audience is most likely to be found and then double-down on creating meaningful content and experiences on that platform. Also, you don’t have to be on every network. It’s a common mistake when starting out to overextend across platforms. You can always expand your efforts into different platforms later.

outsourcing social media

#4 Determine the right content mix

The next step is to create the content to be posted on the channels you’ve identified. You can do a comparative analysis of the social media accounts of your competitors as a starting point. Another method you can benchmark is, the 80-20 rule. This means that 80% of the content you post should be focused on entertaining, informing, and educating your audience. And 20% should be focused on directly promoting your brand. Additionally here’s a simple guide to remember, always be helpful. 🙂

#5 Scheduling & resource maximization

To maximize your ROI from social media marketing, not only should you post content regularly but also at the best times. But at the same time this needs to be balanced with your efforts and resources as well. 

Creating content can be arduous, even if you choose just one or two platforms, so it’s important not to overtax your resources. Instead, consider ways that you can utilize, adapt, and repurpose existing content to make your resources stretch even further.

#6 Have an engagement plan

Engaging with your audience in a timely manner is critical to the success of your social media marketing. If you don’t provide speedy responses to their questions, comments, or shoutouts, you’re leaving serious money on the table. Of course, you should not sacrifice quality for speed as well. 

Don’t forget to listen to your audience as well. Also, don’t forget the “social” in “social media.” Social media marketing isn’t about broadcasting; it’s about communicating. By interacting with your audience online, you can increase brand awareness by increasing engagement.

social media

#7 Focus on quality, not quantity

Quality, not quantity, of followers. Quality, not quantity, of posts you create. Quality, not quantity, of promotions. Even though the growth may seem slow over time, quality matters on social media in the long run. And this will drive more meaningful results and better ROI, which is the foundation of successful social media marketing.

#8 Evaluate and optimize

Look at your success metrics and keep making the necessary tweaks and adjustments to your strategy to ensure that your goals are met. Continual testing will help you understand what’s working and what’s not so that you can refine your strategies to get the maximum returns.

Get a Content Team in Your Pocket!

So if you’re serious about using social media to grow your small business, investing with Storyy might actually save you money in the long run. From a content team in your pocket to our innovative Storyy app, you can send your videos, we’ll edit it for you, schedule and publish your content to all your social media channels, engage your followers, and monitor what people are saying about your brand online! Check out our products page!

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