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Let’s get back to basics. Over the next few blogs, we share ten steps to create your social media plan. For those of you with an established plan, use these tips to review and refine it. 

Why use social media marketing? Consider the buying potential of the 4 billion social media users worldwide. 83% of Business 2 Business (B2B) marketers use social media, and 95% of adults aged 18-34 follow at least one brand online. The potential to grow traffic, generate leads and drive sales is huge. You need the right tools to tap into that potential. 

Here are the 10 Steps at a glance. Today’s blog covers the first two: 

1. Define Your Social Media Goals And Objectives
2. Understanding Your Target Audience
3. Determining Your Best Social Platforms
4. Boosting Your Social Media Following
5. Creating A Social Media Calendar
6. Investing In Social Media Management Tools
7. Conducting A Social Media Audit
8. Identifying Key Industry Influencers
9. Determining The Best Posting Times
10. Creating Valuable Content

1. Define Your Social Media Goals And Objectives

Create a new social marketing campaign by defining your goals and objectives. A solid strategy will grow your brand, engage your market, and generate sales. 

Start by asking “why?” “What is the purpose of this social media campaign?” “What are my specific goals?” “How will we track and measure those results?”

Consider these goals and objectives:

• Connect with customers
• Increase brand awareness
• Drive traffic to your website
• Generate sales and leads
• Grow registrations for or booth traffic at live events
• Boost brand engagement
• Increase in-person sales
• Build a community
• To create an effective social media service

Using at least one of these objectives provides a direction for your social media campaign and identifies the metrics you’ll use to measure the success of your campaign. 

Step 2: Understand Your Target Audience

Precisely identify your target audience. Find out what social networks they use and why they use these specific networks. Determine their problems and help solve them. Find out what content topics and formats will grab their attention. 

Use these strategies to better understand your target audience:

a. Determine Your Audience’s Demographics

Demographics are the key characteristics of your potential users. They include:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Ethnic background
• Education
• Occupation
• Lifestyle
• Income level

B2B buyer demographics include:

• title or role
• business function
• region
• industry
• company size

b. Survey Your Customers

Surveys are an easy way to gain valuable information about a new or existing market. They are also useful when launching a new product. 

Create your survey in Google Forms or Type Forms and use these questions in your survey: 

• What social media platform(s) do you visit?
• On what social media platform(s) do you spend the most time? 
• What topics are you interested in?
• What formats grab your attention on social media? 
• Who do you follow on social media?
• What brands do you follow on social media?

c. Research Online Behaviour: 

Check online reports that show the top-performing social media platforms based on gender, age, location, education, etc. Use these reports to tailor your social media marketing towards your target audience. 

We’ll continue with the 10 Steps to Create A Social Plan in next week’s blog. 

Social media is a great tool to generate leads, increase brand awareness, and build business relationships. It helps you grow traffic and engage with your target audience. 

Whether you’re creating your first social media marketing plan, or reviewing an existing one, contact Webby 360 today. Our experts can help get you on track.