How to Create an Effective Social Media Strategy in 2020?

2020 has begun for good. It’s high time to create a social media strategy for this year. You need to think about some issues, from choosing the right channels to figuring out and creating your content plan. There is a lot of work to do so let’s get started. 

Your to-do list for creating the best social media marketing strategy in 2020

A marketing strategy must be well thought out. Every business is different, that’s why there’s no ready-made template to use. To create your own, consider all of the aspects below.

Define your social media marketing goals

First things first, before running your strategy, you need to define your goals. No matter how it sounds, this needs to be done in advance to be effective. Make sure your social media goals are accurate. You have probably heard about the SMART technique. Use it. It may turn out to be very helpful. You have absolutely no idea what goals to set? Feel free to get inspired.

• Increase community engagement – are you wondering how to grab more reactions from your audience? No wonder, after all, over 90% of Millenials are active on social media. There is a big space for action. What you need to do is focus on content. Create some tests, surveys, giveaways. Maybe a dedicated hashtag? Baltimore County Tree Removal Crew could use #BaltimoreCountyTreeRemovalCrew but also #Baltimore and #TreeRemoval. It’s all up to you.
• Generate leads and sales – leads and sales are a clue to business online. Using social media should help generate more. Maybe you should start sending push notifications or e-mails about promos?
• Increase brand awareness – to build a strong brand, your communication with the audience should be authentic. Avoid overly promotional and business-like language. Emphasize all your values and uniqueness.   

Research your competitors

After setting goals, research your competitors’ performance on social media. You need to know what you are facing. An in-depth analysis can show which marketing tactics work well now on social media and which don’t know what a win tastes like. It will also provide you with valuable insights about useful tips and an opportunity to learn from somebody else’s mistakes.

Learn more about your target group

Get to know your audience better. Making assumptions has harmed many marketers – only particulars matter. The more you know about people who are familiar with your brand, the better. Once you have researched your audience, your strategy may be almost ready. You would know how to address posts, what kind of language you should use etc. Also, depending on who your target is, you should focus on different ads, e.g.: 

• high-educated specialists will appreciate LinkedIn ads. They spend more time here than on Facebook or Twitter;
• on Pinterest, you might find mostly women – so if they are your target then you know what to do;
• Millennials are more familiar with Instagram than anybody else – so in case they are your target, Instagram ads here you come.

This shows that social media is not one big platform. Different brands, different targets, various social media platforms. Keep it in mind when preparing your ads.

Establish your content strategy.

No surprise that content means everything on social media. There are so many types of content to choose: text, images, videos, links. Speaking about the latter, if you want to start sharing links with your audience then use custom ones – it will increase brand awareness. Thanks to RocketLink, you can add UTM tags to follow their performance. You also have access to all available stats and analyses. Thanks to tracking your link, you can quickly check the performance of the whole campaign or any particular post. If you are wondering what kind of content would be entertaining to your audience, then it depends on who is in your target group. But there are some guidelines that are handy no matter what the target audience is:

• Stick to the theme – the whole feed will look aesthetically pleasing and consistent. What’s more, people will go back to your profile because they know what to expect. If consistency is not one of your strong suits, use a dedicated tool to plan each post in advance. 
• Interactive content – surveys or quizzes are more responsive than just questions. Never lose an opportunity to interact with your followers. It is the best thing that you can do on social media – to make them social. When it comes to quiz ideas, you can create personality quizzes, trivia quizzes, or even knowledge quizzes related to your industry or niche. You can also offer prizes or incentives to encourage more people to participate and engage with your content. Just make sure the quiz is fun and engaging to keep your followers coming back for more.
• Surprisingly, FOMO (fear of missing out) can be helpful with social media. Instagram stories are available for only 24 hours. If a follower doesn’t visit your profile, they won’t see your stories – this is an example of a simple dependency, a classic case of FOMO, and a great way to increase traffic.

Create a timeline

Check out when is the best part of the day to post your content. Are your followers morning birds and love to share your content before midday, or do they prefer to comment on your post right before they go to sleep? You have access to statistics and post-performance, so use them. Also, remember to be responsive – answer all of your questions, tags, and DMs, ASAP. It builds a secure connection between you and your audience, as well as increasing brand loyalty. Seems good to have a plan, huh? 

Step by step, you can create your own (and the best) social media strategy plan for 2020. Once you’ve done all of the above, you’ll be prepared to conquer the social media world and ready for the year 2020!