Guide to Social Media Marketing

written plan on paper

“Social media” for your business consists of a wide range of tasks that someone has to tackle. Some are daily, some are quarterly. Sometimes it’s scheduling content, sometimes its communicating back-and-forth with your followers.

In order to stay organized, it’s good to have a plan. We’ve put together a sample outline of a social media marketing guide to help break down what tasks you should be doing daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly for your business on social media.

 

Social Media Marketing Guide:

Daily

1. Check and respond to any comments, mentions, and direct messages.

One huge mistake businesses make on social media is not responding quickly to their followers. Not only are they your customers, but they’re also used to how instantaneous communication on social media is. They’re expecting you to respond to them just as quickly as a friend would.

Communicating on social a great way to build relationships with your customers and provide customer service. So make sure you’re staying on top of those notifications.

2. Create and share content. 

Make sure you’re consistently sharing creative and fresh content with your followers. Posting the same things over and over again can get boring and won’t encourage your followers to engage with your content. Stick to creating simple and clear posts that capture viewers’ attention.

3. Keep up with industry news/updates and curate content.

Don’t only post your own content. A portion of your social media posts should be curated from outside sources in your industry. By sharing relevant content, you’re also proving that you’re on top of any changes in your industry and care about expanding your knowledge.

Weekly

1. Engage with content from other thought leaders.

Take the time to check out what other people in your industry are talking about. Comment on their posts, connect with them on LinkedIn, retweet them, etc. It’s networking in the social media world.

2. Reshare evergreen content.

It’s hard to continuously come up with high-quality content.  That’s why evergreen content is so great. Keep a running list of content you’ve created that went over well with your followers and isn’t time sensitive. Repurpose (or just reshare) this content to keep its engagement going and help fill out your content calendar.

3. Work on a blog post.

Every week or every two weeks, work on writing some long-form content. Quick social media posts are great for keeping your business active online and engaging with your followers, but blog posts are a great way to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

Monthly

1. Analyze your social media metrics.

Regular monthly reporting is essential for demonstrating ROI. Unless you’re tracking your activity and creating reports, you have no idea what impact your social media efforts actually have. By figuring out what’s working and what’s not, you’ll know how to tweak your social media plan.

There are two types of metrics you should focus on:

  • Engagement: likes, comments, and clicks.
  • Conversions: tracking a lead from the minute they interact with your social media post to where they end up in the sales funnel.

2. Create a content calendar and schedule posts.

A content calendar keeps your posting activity consistent and helps you visualize when your content will be rolling out. Building your first calendar might take a little trial and error; but once you have it set up, it will save you time and almost guarantee increased engagement.

Every social media platform is different and moves at a different pace. So how often you post depends on both the platform and how your followers are responding. Here’s what we recommend:

  • Facebook: 1-2 times per week.
  • Twitter: 3-9 times per week.
  • Instagram: 1-2 times per week.
  • LinkedIn: 1 time per week.

Quarterly

Review analytics for the quarter and revisit your strategy. 

Now it’s time to really evaluate how your strategy has been working. You can make some changes month to month, but it’s best to check in every quarter to make sure you’re meeting your goals. Evaluate your content performance, posting times, and audience growth so you can figure out what direction you need to go in.