WHY IS THIS THE CASE?

There are many potential reasons, but one is the that there are so many opportunities. There are so many platforms and ways to interact (that evolve rapidly), that it can be completely overwhelming. It's so easy to get started with social media, that it may seem that devising a social media strategy without a template to follow is not necessary or too daunting. It can be much more tempting to 'just get it out there' without thinking. By doing that though, you have no way of knowing if the content is relevant and engaging, or if it's done the job you intended it to. 

SO WHERE DO YOU START?

Put simply, a lot of businesses don't, but really every action you take on social networks should be part of an integrated social media strategy. 

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

You should start by creating a plan for social media that follows the SOSTAC structure which we recommend overall digital marketing strategy and each digital channel. 

Using this approach, the planning document should include:

- Situation: An assessment of the current situation (both internally e.g. team capacity to manage SM channels, and externally such as competition, target audience, etc)

- Objectives: A list of SMART objectives to be achieved

- Strategy: A plan of how to get there based on insights about the audiences you are targeting and the content formats and types to engage your audience and hit your targets

- Tactics: Which networks to use, how often to share content, who will be responsible, what content to share, etc.)

- Actions: Deliverables (what's in and out of scope)

- Control: A set of benchmarks and KPI's to help analyse results, as well as a means to reporting against these.

By formulating a thorough plan that works for your business, you can ensure that social media does not sit in isolation, is sustainable, and plays an important part in your customer life-cycle marketing strategy.

MISTAKE #1 - No Social Media Strategy