How to build an SMM strategy: a step-by-step plan for promotion on social networks. Step #2

Today there is no longer any need to explain how important its presence on social media is for a business. Paradigm competition for the client today has shifted from one-way sending a message to many recipients, as was the case in outbound marketing, towards personalized, interactive communications that attract the target audience to the brand.

TO key factors The success of a business's marketing strategy now also includes how deeply it is integrated into modern communication channels. Finding new clients, increasing the loyalty of existing ones, becoming an expert in the industry whose opinion is listened to and trusted - all this can be achieved by choosing the right social media promotion strategy.

Simply creating fan pages on popular social media is no longer enough. Without a clear SMM strategy you will not achieve required level engaging the audience to increase sales.

To get the most out of inbound marketing, your SMM strategy should go through the following stages:

● Define key goals in the SMM strategy

● Conduct a SWOT analysis of social media

● Develop a content strategy within SMM strategies

● Prepare a content plan as part of the SMM strategy

● Analyze and adjust SMM strategy

Step 1. Define key goals in your SMM strategy

Any long-term project begins with planning. Social media is no exception. Without a clear idea and defining clear and achievable goals, nothing will work.

Different goals require different approaches to achieving them. For example, if your goal is to increase customer trust, then this requires a completely different approach than if your goal was to get a 30% conversion rate among subscribers.

Start by describing three key goals you plan to achieve using social media.

Particularly important last parameter- measurability. Without it, you will not be able to track progress in achieving the global and intermediate goals of your business, which are indicated in the SMM strategy. To determine how measurable a goal is, ask yourself the question “Is the goal achieved partially or completely?” If you are immersed in many hours of thought, but still cannot answer specifically, then this means the goal cannot be accurately measured.

It is also very important that the goals in the SMM strategy are related to your strategic business goals. They must overlap in the areas of sales and marketing.

Three global goals of your SMM strategy:

Step 2: Conduct a SWOT analysis of social media.

At this stage, you need to understand who is currently interacting with your brand on social media and how relevant this audience is to your target market, which social media your target audience is present on, which social networks your competitors use. You must analyze and objectively evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and compare them with opportunities and threats from competitors.

Wherever you want to go, you first need to understand where you are now

Conduct an audit. You need to start by checking the official and unofficial representations of your brand on social media. These can be fan pages, pages with reviews of former employees, malicious sites that pretend to be official. Check out these pages to see how many followers you have, how active they are, and the tone of your messaging regarding your brand.

Conduct a survey. If your business is not yet present on social media, then the first thing you should do is analyze and determine the criteria for selection social networks. Conduct a survey among your clients and you will find out which social media they prefer.

It is important to use the information obtained in conjunction with socio-demographic data.

Monitor the presence of your main competitors on social media. Rate yours strengths and compare them with competitors.

Step 3. Develop a content strategy as part of your SMM strategy

Now that you have collected necessary information, you will be able to answer the questions “How?”, “To whom” and “Where?”. It remains to answer the question “What?” This key element your communication with your audience.

Understanding your brand identity is also key to understanding the type of content your brand should source. Content marketing should help shape and promote a unique, individual brand image.

Step 4. Prepare a content plan as part of the SMM strategy

Your task is to create and publish content that, firstly, will be of interest to the reader, and secondly, will contribute to achieving the goals of the SMM strategy. The content you publish should reflect the interests of the audience you are publishing it for. And also habits, behavior and motivation.

Inbound marketing is an endless experiment. Only through experience is it possible to create what the consumer needs, and not the departments in your company

The entire content marketing production process is based on a predetermined content plan. By now you should have an editorial calendar in which you have outlined your goals, topics, and keywords.

Now it is necessary from general idea go to specifics. The topic and keywords will indicate to you the conditional direction of movement, within the framework of which you need to move towards the goal. This approach narrows the space for creativity, but at the same time directs your thinking.

The content creation process is described in detail in our article “The Content Creation Process. Six steps from idea to publication”

Step 5. Analyze and adjust the SMM strategy

Deep understanding of your audience is critical to achieving your goals with using SMM strategies. Use analytical tools to understand what type of content is most in demand by your subscribers. Study audience behavior and identify insights.

Use analytics tools to understand who is reading, commenting and sharing your content.

Once you've analyzed your current campaign, take stock of what's working and what's not. Make additions and changes to your SMM strategy.

As a result

Analytics, SMM strategy and content marketing are the three pillars of digital communications. The Jedi who understands their power will only move forward - increasing brand awareness, building long-term communication, increasing engagement, increasing customer trust and increasing sales tenfold.

Use this knowledge and may the Force be with you!

Artem Senatorov

Content Marketing: Social Media Promotion Strategies

Editor Anton Nikolsky

Project Manager O. Ravdanis

Corrector S. Mozaleva

Computer layout M. Potashkin

Cover design S. Khozin

All rights reserved. The work is intended exclusively for private use. No part of the electronic copy of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet or corporate networks, for public or collective use without the written permission of the copyright owner. For violation of copyright, the law provides for payment of compensation to the copyright holder in the amount of up to 5 million rubles (Article 49 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), as well as criminal liability in the form of imprisonment for up to 6 years (Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

* * *

The book will help:

Learn to create selling content for posting on social networks;

Avoid the main mistakes made by the vast majority of SMM specialists;

Understand what you can and should save on, and what you shouldn’t;

Develop your own effective promotion strategy and actively use it in the future.

Introduction

I'm very lucky. When I talk with my colleagues, authors of books on business topics, they often complain that it is not always possible to find a truly worthwhile topic for a new work. Either it is too narrow, or its time has not come yet, or, on the contrary, the trend is ending and there is no point in writing anymore. In my case, everything turned out completely differently - the theme of the book, in a sense, found me itself. So I think there is a certain amount of luck involved.

You have in your hands my third work on marketing. The first two books published by Alpina Publisher were called “The Battle for a VKontakte Subscriber” and “Business on Instagram.” These books were received warmly by the public. Among the readers were those who decided to offer me cooperation. So I visited many corners of our vast Motherland as a speaker at conferences, a leader of trainings and a coach in personal corporate classes. Over time, I began to notice that the first dialogue with future partners is usually structured in a similar way. It looks something like this:

– Good afternoon, Artem! Thank you for finding time for us.

– No need for thanks, let's discuss matters.

– Of course. We read your books about VKontakte and Instagram and now we understand well WHAT we need to work on. And now we would like you to tell us in as much detail as possible HOW you need to work.

At some point, it became obvious that business owners and heads of marketing departments sometimes simply get lost in all the variety of social media. Intuitively, they understand that if a particular project gains popularity, then they need to open their accounts there too. Is this true? Partly. Different social networks have different audiences. Of course, there are overlaps. For example, most Instagram users are on at least one other network. But in general, if the same people were active in different projects, the social network market would not be able to support so many players. The fact is that the services are different and the people in them are also different (in any case, they use social networks for different tasks). Therefore, before actively engaging in SMM, you should decide on a presence strategy.

Nowadays, there are many intelligent and important words devalued due to overuse. Unfortunately, the word “strategy” is one of them. Now you can find any kind of strategy: in personal finance, and in career growth, and even in gentrification summer cottage. Sometimes it feels like you can't even go grocery shopping without some newfangled "food investing strategy." Therefore, I try not to use this word unless absolutely necessary. But the case with social media exactly the one when you really can’t do without a strategy (if, of course, you want to achieve results). This is because, in my opinion, working in SMM is reminiscent of chess, where strategy and tactics are also necessary. At first glance, the comparison may seem unusual, but if you take a closer look, the similarities will be obvious. In both cases there is a position, attacking and defensive actions, effective combinations of moves, creative ideas, strong players, in the end! The only thing that is, perhaps, definitely not on the Internet is the final victory - “checkmate” of the enemy king. Yes, you will not be able to achieve absolute victory: any won battle will still be in the past, and the present will prepare new tests of strength. But this can also be considered a plus, because no one will ever be able to completely outplay you either. No matter what happens, by reviewing your actions, you can find a way to try again to achieve the result.

So if you look at work on social networks as a black-and-white battle, a lot of things become clear right away. And this book will help you with the most important thing - choosing the right strategy for your brand. I have structured the story in such a way that you can find a description of the goals that this or that strategy helps to achieve, compare with what you would like to achieve yourself, and choose the most suitable one for yourself. suitable option presence. In fact, you can read the book from any section. But still I recommend (by at least, for the first time) read it from the very beginning, because we will go from simple techniques to more complex ones, and it will be easier to perceive information in order.

We identify needs and plan work

1. First steps

What is content management and why is it important?

The first topic that I would like to cover is the topic of content. When I worked as a journalist and wrote materials for various glossy magazines, editor-in-chiefs liked to say that “articles are the lifeblood of publications.” It's hard to argue with that. Of course, no matter how successful an issue you put together, a new one should come out next month, and it should also be on par. In this sense, it’s a rather thankless job - you don’t have to rest on your laurels, like, for example, a musician who recorded one platinum album that will be sold (and performed at concerts) for many decades. The journalistic role in this regard is more like the work of a chef, who also has to create his masterpieces again and again every day. I write all this to the fact that work in SMM belongs to the category of precisely those jobs where you need to keep your finger on the pulse at all times. And here, accordingly, there must be its own “blood”, thanks to which the process will continue. This is His Majesty Content.

What's behind this word? I have my own own definition quality content– this is relevant (and, if possible, original) information that can arouse interest among the audience and maintain its loyalty.

I would like to clarify the latter. The term "relevant" means that the content you publish meets your audience's expectations. Of course, if you created an Instagram account for the purpose of making money by selling advertising and called it “All the Most Interesting,” then you can post almost anything here - from humor to a video of a spaceship launch. If the page has the name of your brand and you produce, say, teapots, you need to be more careful and explain the appearance of this or that material on your pages. For example, if you want to post something funny, then mention that in Russian the phrases “The kettle takes a long time to boil” and “The kettle doesn’t boil for a long time” mean the same thing. And a video of the shuttle launch can only be provided if, for example, the same metal alloys were used in the production of your product as in the rocket that rushed into space.

Rice. 1. By the way, the so-called “Attacks” show phenomenal vitality - this content format has been well received by the audience for several years

When I write “as original as possible,” this does not necessarily mean “not published anywhere, ever, or by anyone before.” This is far from the case. "Original" in in this case- it is rather “inscribed in your behavioral style.” For example, if you wrote an article and published it, and then (a few months later) repeat it, this is still original content in a certain sense. Even if you just publish thematic quotes from classic books, but arrange them in a special, recognizable way (for example, in pictures with a watermark), then this is also suitable.

Marketing strategy for social networks.

The human mind is like a small fragile shell - and physically cannot accommodate the bottomless abyss of social networks.

If you have all these elements, then you can start developing a marketing strategy

Step 1: Setting Goals

This may sound like a phrase from the book “Marketing for Dummies,” but any strategy begins with setting goals, and there’s no getting around it. For example, what do you want from your Facebook pages? Sales is the obvious choice, but it can't always be achieved directly. Therefore, pay attention to secondary goals that lead to increased sales, here are some of the possible ones:

Increasing general awareness of your business or products. This goal can be a little difficult to measure, but another option is to monitor the increase in the number of likes on your page. Set specific, and most importantly achievable goals (for example, 300 new “likers” in the next 3 months).
Creating a community of loyal consumers. Pareto's Law more or less works in any field, and it can be argued that 20% of loyal customers will generate 80% of your sales. To measure this indicator, look at how many people are discussing your page, how many people “like” and discuss individual posts - these caring people are your loyal consumers.
Strengthening authority and demonstrating professionalism. Social media is a great place to showcase your past accomplishments, your deep expertise, and prove your company's uniqueness.
Identifying people who might be interested in your product or service. You can give out product samples to your subscribers for free, you can give a discount coupon for new “likers” or hold a competition with prizes from your products. This way you will have a base of people who are interested in your product or service.

Direct sales. Selling directly from social networks is not easy. If only because you cannot bombard your subscribers with advertising messages - it is believed that the maximum share of advertising messages should not exceed 20% of all content on a social network, and possibly less. To determine the effectiveness of advertising posts, include links to special pages on your site, and then track conversions using Google Analytics, or a traffic counter (which, in addition to the main one, must be installed on this page).

Regardless of the goals you set, make sure you set specific numbers and deadlines for each. Also make sure you know exactly how you will measure each of these metrics.

Step 2: Marketing Research

Your research will include the following areas:

Defining your audience. Look at the demographics of your subscribers and create a portrait of the “average liker” - perhaps after this you will understand that you need to adjust your strategy or, at least, your content.
Research the activities of your competitors. See what they do and what works for them and what doesn't.
Research of the social network itself. There's something new on social media all the time—keep an eye on the trends so you know what works for others and can work for you.

Step 3: Operational Plan

Now you have your goals set. Work backwards from these goals to determine how you will achieve them. Want to get 300 new fans in the next 3 months? Make sure you either provide adequate levels of activity or allocate advertising budget, such as on , to support this goal.

Content calendar

A bad plan is better than no plan. Having a calendar plan of what you are going to post on social networks will help you organize yourself, optimize your search and preparation necessary materials, correctly place advertising messages among information and entertainment content.

Calendar of promotional events

Another thing to do is plan your promotional activities: when will the competition be held, when will the advertising be launched, when will the discounts be given out, etc.

Social networks are a “time killer”, and in order not to discover that instead of 5 minutes, 3 hours have passed unnoticed while looking at cats, it is better to spend time preparing plans and try to act in accordance with it. In the long run, this will save you much more time than it took to prepare it.

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Why do you need an SMM strategy?

One of the advertising options is the systematic promotion of goods through. Efficiency this method due to the high popularity and ease of using social networks for communication and work. Huge number people every day go to their own pages and the pages offered to them for review, as well as to their favorite groups to receive new information, entertainment and communication, and it is impossible not to take advantage of such a situation.

An SMM strategy allows you to work with groups to promote goods and services more effectively. Systematic activity always brings much greater results than unsystematized posting of posts “about the weather.”

In this article, you will learn how to make your audience love you.

How to build an SMM strategy

Working with a group based on building an SMM strategy will allow you to direct social network users in the right direction for the business owner. While an “independent” movement can lead them to competitors.

The following steps will help you achieve the desired results:

Drawing up a portrait target audience, creating marketing personas for each audience segment. This is necessary to understand with whom the work will be carried out, what needs they have potential client, that he is interested in what kind of life he leads, in which regions the work will be carried out.
What information is needed to make a purchase decision and form an image of a product or service. Information campaigns will be carried out based on this response of this business. Modeling the situation of a consumer searching for information will allow you to take into account all the details - what information, about what and where the consumer is looking.
In which social networks do representatives of the target audience communicate more often and search for necessary information? It is necessary to understand which social networks should be used for maximum efficiency promotion campaigns.
When and at what time of day do representatives of a certain target audience prefer to “log in” to social media? networks. The answer to this question will help you avoid unnecessary expenses on advertising that no one sees.
And finally, the main question is - what are the goals of the SMM strategy? Having defined the goals, you should then write down the tasks, the solution of which will lead to achieving the goal. Creating goals is a real science, the main thesis of which is this: the goal must be urgent, that is, have a specific date for its planned execution, specific (without “if” and “after that”), real - that is, potentially achievable, measurable - 10,000 subscribers after 2 months, for example.

2. Choice of communication tactics.

It is very important to determine the style and tone of communication in a group right away, so that there is no miscellaneous communication, either “you” and “dear friend,” or “you” and “let me clarify.”

It is necessary to determine who and when will respond to comments and publish posts - if it is not one person, but a team, this issue is especially important. In addition, you need to immediately think about whether records will be kept on behalf of the group or on behalf of the administrator.

The appointment of a chief expert will help create the image of a serious organization, even if the role of chief and administrator will be played by the same person who is under different accounts. But it’s still better if he is truly an expert in his field, key manager or the head of the department. The expert will need to answer the most complex questions and resolve conflict situations.

Creation of a single brand, its visual design, by which users will be able to “recognize” the organization in all social networks. networks, will simplify the task of forming the image of the organization and its activities as a whole.

3. Content creation

Content is the basis of business promotion through social media activities. networks.

Content planning will help you correctly and accordingly develop a strategy for posting posts.

The following actions will help achieve the effectiveness of your content campaign:

Announcements created and presented on other resources of the organization, repetition of the materials most liked by the audience, notifying the audience about changes in the information of already published posts after time has passed.
The visual appeal of materials will help attract more users to view it. The most interesting in this regard will be video materials, infographics, photos, and presentations.
Users more often become “zealous followers” of those groups where they can participate in competitions and discussions on a particular topic. By doing so, administrators and moderators involve users in the content creation process and show that users' opinions are very valuable.
Reposts from friends and acquaintances will help increase the number of visitors and subscribers to the group.

4. Content optimization.

This implies correct design publications to attract the largest number their reposts and attracting new ones:

Interesting title.
Readability of content - its compliance with the rules of text formatting, compliance optimal sizes pictures, text, free space.
Unique vivid images to the posts.
Appealing phrases that help the reader make a purchasing decision or switch to another resource.
Subscription widgets on the main resource will lead the site visitor to a group on social networks. Such integration creates user loyalty. Many users find it more convenient to receive up-to-date information about new products, promotions and other events of the organization in a group, and the convenience and comfort of resource visitors is the basis for their trust.
By keywords will ensure the visibility of publications for both search engines inside social networks, and for search engines Google systems and Yandex.