How to Create a Strong Social Media Content Strategy

• Updated on: 2021-01-13
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How to Create a Strong Social Media Content Strategy
Social media is the most widely-used content distribution channel, with 94% of content marketers using it. It can give content marketers a high return on investment, but many fail to see significant results. That’s because many business owners don’t have a social media content strategy. They just post things at random because they have an idea to share. 
Does this sound familiar? If it does, then you’re probably frustrated with social media and the lack of results. 
A content marketing strategy makes sure that you target the right audience, create the right content for that audience, and use the best channels to reach that audience. 
Read on to find out how you can develop a social media content management strategy that gets attention. 
Who Is Your Audience? 
The first step in creating a content management strategy is understanding your audience. You need to know who they are, how they shop online, and how they research products and services. 
You also have to dig deep into their psychographics. Do you know what emotional problem they’re trying to solve? A landscaper doesn’t just cut grass, they help homeowners outshine the rest of the neighborhood with an amazing yard. 
A gym doesn’t just help people lose weight. They help people gain confidence. 
What is it that you really do for your customers? Your answer is the core of your marketing messages in your content. 
Pick Your Social Media Channels 
Your audience gravitates towards certain social media channels. You need to decide which ones you want to invest in. 
Is your audience on TikTok? Pinterest? Instagram? Facebook? All of them? 
Then ask yourself which ones will generate a return on investment. 
If you have a small staff and budget for content marketing, you can pick 1-2 social networks. Just make sure you do them well. 
Set Your Marketing Goals 
Your social media content has to have a purpose. You should set specific goals for your content and social media marketing efforts. 
A goal can be to increase website traffic by 20% in 6 months. Another goal can be to increase leads by 30% in 9 months. 
Decide What Content You’ll Produce 
Once the channels and audience are established, you should have an idea as to what kind of content you want to produce. 
Videos, graphics, and stylized images tend to get the best response. You can and should take advantage of live streaming on different platforms and stories. 
If you’re going to produce video content for Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, you have to bear in mind that people view videos differently on each channel. 
For Instagram, you can post small video clips and create a story or a reel. You can start with a full-length video on YouTube. That video needs to have an introduction to tell the viewers what the video is about and then you can get into the meat of the video. 
Facebook videos have to be edited to capture attention immediately. A slick graphic at the beginning to keep viewers engaged helps. You’ll want to caption your videos on Facebook because viewers prefer to watch videos without sound. 
Create a Content Plan 
You can lay out an annual calendar and know which holidays are the most important for sales. For example, if you know that people are shopping online on Amazon Prime Day, you can have a social media campaign built around your own products and services. 
Fitness businesses know that the last two weeks of December into the middle of January is when they get the most members and clients. These businesses can create a campaign to help people with their New Year’s Resolutions. 
Content Creation 
This is where you execute your content strategy plan. The research and planning should make what you produce easy, but it’s hard to stay consistent creating content. 
There are a lot of tips for good content creation . You want to make sure the content provides value for your audience and your audience. 
How do you have the time to post on social media every day? With a content management system, you don’t have to worry about taking up valuable time in your day to post. 
You can use a post scheduler to load up your content on all of your social media channels in advance. These schedulers can be great for seeing the big picture of your content, making sure you hit on all of the important messages. 
The caveat is that if you have content going out during a major news event, you have to remember to pause your queue. It will reflect poorly on your brand to have business content go out while everyone else is online talking about something else. You don't want your business to look tone deaf or insensitive if tragedies or social issues are occurring, especially if they relate to your industry in any way. 
Be Ready to Engage With Your Audience 
The mistake that content managers make is that they create a strategy that works. They start to implement it and then it goes flat. 
Social media works as a two-way street. You post something, your community responds. You don’t follow-up with a comment. 
People will start to think that you run your business that way, too. You have to regularly respond to comments, at least say thank you! 
Think of yourself as a community manager rather than a content manager for SMM. 
A Social Media Content Strategy That Works 
Content management isn’t easy. A social media content strategy is the glue that holds all of your pieces of content together. With a strategy in place, you can make sure your content delivers the right message to the right person at the right time for social selling success. 
All it takes is research, planning, and consistent execution of the social media content strategy plan . For more tips and insights into content management, be sure to click on the Social Media and Influencer Marketing sections of the Bootstrap Business Blog.