Creating a Social Media Marketing Strategy

August 07, 2023

Digital Marketing

If you’re here, then you’re already probably figuring out how to use the data gathered from social listening. The next step in creating a pitch is making a social media marketing strategy for the client.

Back to Social Listening, consumer data obtained is analyzed in order to create an analysis on the state of a business. It is used to highlight the things that are doing well and the things that need to be worked on.

Social Listening also enables us to see how competitors are doing on social media. Researching about competitors is first and foremost an elementary way to get ahead of them. Checking how competitors are doing will open up avenues on the content they post. It will also help you see how they conduct themselves online and in front of customers.

The weaknesses of a competitor can in turn become a strength for creating a marketing plan, but where do we start? What areas are important? If these are questions you have while creating a social media marketing strategy, keep on reading as we’ll try to remove any concerns you might have.

Client Branding

The first area you have to work on before pitching a social media marketing strategy is to establish a brand identity. If a business is still starting out, brand identities might not be in place yet and these can be hurdles in the future when trying to differentiate one’s business from a competitor.

Establishing a brand identity helps build a personality. A brand identity is supposed to represent what the business stands for, what goals they bear in mind, and overall just sets the tone for the service/product being sold.

Brand identities open up a way for customers to engage and relate with the company, creating long term and loyal audiences.

In order to create an efficient brand identity, you must consider the impact of the identity in media coverage. This means that the brand must be able to reach larger audiences using different types of media such as: pictures, videos, music, etc.

Next, the brand must obviously be visually appealing. A greater understanding of the target audience is needed here as different age ranges will need different artistic approaches.

Older audiences may not be able to appreciate some new artistic styles that have grown popular during the recent years, similar to how younger audiences would need a deeper understanding of art history to appreciate old art styles.

The last thing to focus on in creating a brand identity is to work on brand voice. This ranges from how you write your marketing materials to how your customer service interacts with customers or clients. Focusing on this branch will allow customers to feel more welcome and will set the tone the company wants their audience to know, hence, more loyalty.

Content Marketing

Once we’ve taken care of client branding and establishing a brand identity, we can now work on pitching a social media strategy and planning the type of content to be posted on social media.

The first step in creating a social media strategy is to first figure out what current competitors are doing. This helps in surpassing their good points and turning their weaknesses into your strengths.

One thing to take into account when making social media content is current trends. The most effective way to reach large audiences is to use trending topics. These can range from social issues to more fun BerMonth trends, which is an incredibly huge culture that is celebrated in the Philippines.

Next is to actually create the content to be posted. Let’s take a moment to look into graphic designing and animating. Right off the bat, graphic design is fairly straightforward. It is used to communicate effectively to an audience with the use of appealing designs and colors.

Graphic Design and Animation

As said before, different art styles cater to different age groups, so researching on what the target audience is into will greatly help. Just make sure that the message is clear and will not create controversy. Also keep in mind that the graphics used will need to keep an audience engaged.

Photo and Video Production

Social Media marketing will sometimes also include photo and video posts. Photo and Video Production will require a bit more effort since it will require more professional help.

Professional help does mean that it will be costing a bit of money, but it’s not really a definite amount. Production requires a wide range of expertise and will more often than not include a:

Director
Producer
Director of photography
Camera operators
Lighting technicians
Audio personnel
Video editor

Aside from personnel, extra special equipment and technology will also cost more. This still doesn’t include the software needed to edit. Lastly, locations used to shoot photos and videos will also be another thing that drives up the cost. Remember to ask clients when and where they want shoots to be taken.

If you wish to use videos and professional photos as content, be prepared for the cost as these things can be really expensive, especially for businesses that are just starting out. Remember that not all companies have the budget for this.

However, if you still wish to go through with it, read this in order to get a few tips to make video production more accessible.

Content Writing

If photo and video production isn’t up your alley, another branch of social media marketing is content writing. A very cost-effective and cheap way to engage with an audience, content writing simply just means writing text to make sure customers take action.

These can be simple captions on each post on social media that will make a reader enticed with the business, or even articles that are more in-depth and target a larger scale issue that you want readers to be informed about, that will then make them want to engage with the business.

Audience and Demographics

The audience and customers are the most important part of any marketing plan as you are doing all of this for them. A few things to keep in mind when determining the target audience for a business is to

First, why is the business there in the first place? Figure out what and who the product/service is for and go from there.
Once you have that in mind, whip up a simple age range of the audience. For example, video games can be catered towards teenagers from ages 13-19.
Lastly, where will the business take off? Different countries have different cultures and trends surrounding them. For example, the Philippines has a heavy attachment to the months that end in ‘ber,’ hence the BerMonth culture.

If you’ve figured out the target audience and demographic, it is time to create sample text and keywords that will set the mood for the social media posts. It is important to sound inviting and warm as people like to be welcomed, especially if the business is new.

These will be your tips for creating a good caption or article.

Advertising Strategy

Now that we have the target audience, figuring out how to reach them will be the next problem. This raises the question of which social media platform will be used. Of course, each platform has its own demographic too, and it will be easier to focus on one platform if the target audience is mainly located there.

For example, people from ages 40-50 will most likely be located on Facebook as it is most popular with them. Facebook falls under the Meta company so contacting the Meta Ads Manager will be the plan if you wish to post ads there.

Instagram on the other hand will be more suited for you to use if the target audience is mainly millennial, mostly ages 25-40. Then again, Instagram is under Meta as well, so contacting the same person you did for Facebook will be your choice.

If the main target of the social media marketing campaign is Generation Z, stylized as Gen Z, then Twitter or TikTok is where you need to post advertisements. Gen Z is heavily involved in these apps as it is a freer space for opinions.

Campaign Duration and Budgeting

Before getting started with any of the things listed above, you must first figure out how long the marketing campaign will last. Marketing campaigns can last as long as the client wants, so it is important to set this in stone before starting so everyone is clear and on board.

Everything must be figured out and this includes the budget for the campaign. Marketers and clients must both set-up a budget for how much the content will cost as well as the ads to be posted on social media.

Note that this is especially important regarding photo and video shoots as these cost the most. Video content can also be the most important aspect of a campaign, so be mindful of this.

Campaign Outcomes

The duration of the marketing campaign is important, but it’s as important as the expected results of the campaign. Set-up a plan about how well the campaign will go, and metrics to measure if it was a success or not.

If you’ve experienced running ads before, it won’t hurt to give estimates on how well the ads can perform. This will make you appear experienced with the client. Also, be sure to emphasize on numbers being an estimate and that figuring out optimal results comes with the journey.

Consider the things that will make you consider the whole marketing campaign a success.

Remember to Research!

Before ending, do some research about the brand identity. Is the client satisfied? Are the customers satisfied? Remember that a branding is more than just a logo, it is supposed to resonate with your audience.

Lastly, research about how the industry your business is in is doing content. How are the competitors doing? How are the competitors creating content, or what is their overall tone?

These questions will help you get ahead of your competitors and develop a solid brand.Conclusion

All in all, creating a social media marketing strategy has its ups and downs and can sometimes be complicated. You must first establish a brand identity for the business and figure out the content to be posted. Next is to figure out target audiences and mapping out budgets for the campaign.

All of this can be a lengthy process, so plan out your time wisely with the client. We hope that this helped you get an overview on how to create a social media marketing strategy.