Is your business active on social media? Are you getting a return on investment from your social media marketing strategy?

It’s very common nowadays that businesses are active on social media. It’s even more common for businesses to not integrate social media into their companies marketing strategy, treating it in isolation.

Social media provides an open channel of communication between all users, both business and personal. Harnessing this opportunity and leveraging the potential it offers comes down to strategy and implementation.

Social Media Marketing Strategy

There are many resources freely available online that provide frameworks for creating a social marketing strategy. Here’s a summary of popular guidelines that you can follow…

Create A Social Media Marketing Strategy Plan In 6 Steps

Learn what a social media strategy plan should include, and follow this 6 step plan for creating your own.

1. Create social media objectives and goals
2. Conduct a social media audit
3. Create or improve your social accounts
4. Get social media inspiration from industry leaders, competitors, clients
5. Create a content plan and editorial calendar
6. Test, evaluate and adjust your social media marketing plan

Social Media Marketing Strategy Video: Building Your Action Plan

Ric Dragon presents a framework to develop a social media marketing strategy and action plan. He tackles issues such as the development of metrics, the use of micro-segments, the value of social media for crisis and reputation management, and the need for storytelling.

Fundamentals Of A Social Media Marketing Strategy Action Plan

Starting at the ground flour and building up, here is an overview of how to create a social media strategy action plan from scratch.

1. Choose your social networks
2. Fill out your profiles completely
3. Find your voice and tone
4. Pick your posting strategy
5. Analyse and test
6. Automate and engage

7 Steps To A Business Social Media Marketing Strategy

To ensure that your social marketing strategy campaigns contribute to your brands greater business objectives, here is a 7 step process to follow:

• Ensure Social Goals Solve Challenges
• Extend Efforts Throughout Your Organization
• Focus on Networks That Add Value
• Create Engaging Content
• Identify Business Opportunities Through Social
• Engage Instead of Ignore
• Track, Improve and Market Your Efforts

10 Steps to a Successful Social Media Marketing Strategy

In this SlideShare presentation 10 steps you need to implement are looked at, plus some specific tactics and case studies of brands and businesses that have been successful with their social media marketing strategy.

6 Social Media Marketing Strategies To Improve Your Efforts

Here are 6 social media marketing strategies to take control of your social channels and drastically improve your effects.

1. Create a game plan and stick to It
2. Treat each channel as an individual entity
3. Go above and beyond in customer service
4. Embrace mishaps
5. Track and talk
6. Stay active on Google+

Social Media Marketing Strategy Funnel

Image by Angie Schottmuller which is very poignant with regards to social media marketing strategy and various brands successes (or lack there of).

80% of marketers incorrectly begin with social media tactics instead of goals. If you have already created some form of social media marketing strategy, at which stage on this image did you start?

Social Media Marketing Strategy Infographic

This infographic was inspired by Jay Baer’s take on how to develop a social media marketing strategy.

This social media marketing strategy infographic was originally posted here.

8 Elements Of A Social Media Marketing Strategy

Goals and objectives guide your social media strategy to help you successfully connect with your customers. Here are 8 essential elements you need to include in your social media marketing strategy so it works from day one.

1. Identify Business Goals
2. Set Marketing Objectives
3. Identify Ideal Customers
4. Research Competition
5. Choose Channels and Tactics
6. Create a Content Strategy
7. Allocate Budget and Resources
8. Assign Roles

Time To Develop Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

This complete guide should give you all the knowledge and resources you need to develop your own social media marketing strategy. It’s now up to you to put your learning to practice.

What do you think is the most challenging aspect of creating or implementing a social media marketing strategy?

Do you have any success or horror stories to share in the comments section below?
 

Further Resources On Social Media Marketing Strategy

• How to get more social shares to your website – covers several methods that brands can implement to get more social signals to their websites.
• The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Great Social Media Manager – extensive guide on everything you need to know about becoming a social media professional and managing social strategy.
• Using Social Media to drive contextual links and brand mentions – details every process needed to consistently build brand awareness (through links and brand mentions) to a site.
• 30 Best Social Media Monitoring Tools For Business – overview of the best social media monitoring tools to listen effectively, make better informed decisions, spot opportunities and shore up any weaknesses that you might have in your social media output.
• Boost Your Social-Media Marketing With Image Tagging – considers using image tagging to give your images enhanced context while also making them easier to locate.
• Research and Planning for your Social Media Strategy – outlines why research and planning is an essential phase of social media strategy development.