Your Social Media Strategy Your 7-Step Plan for Success Step 1: Assess Your Current Participation... 2 Step 2: Determine Your Return on Engagement... 8 Step 3: Analyze Your Target Audience... 10 Step 4: Set Goals and Define Your Tactics... 12 Step 5: Create a Schedule... 15 Step 6: Your Accountability Plan... 19 Step 7: Maintain and Adjust Your Strategy... 21
Step 1: Assess Your Current Participation 1) Use the checklist below to answer the following questions about your current social media activity. s: o If you have an account, how active are you? o If not, No time? No interest? Another reason? o How many hours per week are you spending on this account/app? What are your reasons for participating? Do you want to: o Connect with friends and family? o Connect with clients? o Network and make new connections? o Use to share your own photos, videos, or articles? o to share across your other platforms? o Keep updated on news? o Other What kind of do you post? o Text updates, photos, videos, links, online reviews, testimonials? o Is it mostly personal, mostly business, or a good mix of both? Facebook Personal Types of posts Text Photos Videos Links Reviews Testimonials Personal Business Equal mix
Facebook Business Types of posts Text Photos Videos Links Reviews Testimonials Personal Business Equal mix Twitter Types of posts Text Photos Videos Links Reviews Testimonials Personal Business Equal mix Google+ Types of posts Text Photos Videos Links Reviews Testimonials Personal Business Equal mix
LinkedIn Types of posts Text Photos Videos Links Reviews Testimonials Personal Business Equal mix YouTube Types of videos Video tours Education videos Community Reviews Personal Business Equal mix Pinterest Types of pins Interior decorating Outdoor design Other real estate Community Personal Business Equal mix
Yelp Types of posts Reviews from clients Restaurant reviews Community reviews Profile information Personal Business Equal mix Foursquare Types of check-ins Tips Restaurants Community Other Personal Business Equal mix Instagram Types of posts Photos Videos Description: Personal Business Equal mix
Vine Types of videos Description: Personal Business Equal mix Types of posts Description: Personal Business Equal mix
2) For each of the following questions, check whether you feel you are currently doing something effectively or whether you need to improve. Very effective Somewhat effective Need to improve Notes I actively participate in conversations and listen to what others have to say I always acknowledge when someone interacts with me online I respond promptly to posts or questions I seek out ways to engage my followers I create my own great and effectively cross-promote it across my platforms I share valuable from other experts and include my own insight It s easy for people to share my posts to their followers I personalize messages on each site rather than using auto-generated templates I am careful not to oversynchronize my accounts I am the same professional person online as I am offline I take my online actions offline through meetups, notes, etc. 3) If there any accounts you need to delete, do it now. The site Just Delete Me can help.
Step 2: Determine Your Return on Engagement In Step 1, you analyzed your current participation levels in social media. Now, it s time to take a look at your return on engagement. Answer the following questions for each platform: How much business has this platform brought you? Based on the amount of time you spend on this platform (identified in Step 1), how satisfied are you with your return on investment? Facebook Personal Amount of business: How satisfied are you? Notes: Facebook Business Amount of business: How satisfied are you? Notes: Twitter Amount of business: How satisfied are you? Notes: Google+ Amount of business: How satisfied are you? Notes:
LinkedIn Amount of business: How satisfied are you? Notes: YouTube Amount of business: How satisfied are you? Notes: Pinterest Amount of business: How satisfied are you? Notes: Yelp Amount of business: How satisfied are you? Notes: Amount of business: How satisfied are you? Notes:
Step 3: Analyze Your Target Audience In Steps 1 and 2, you assessed your current levels of social media participation and rated your return on engagement. Now it s time to analyze your target market. Identify your top 3 target groups you want to focus on. For each, write down: Key demographics (e.g, age, race, technology usage, income levels, etc.) Social media sites they may use Potential topics you could post about that they might find interesting The amount of business that comes from this group Your level of satisfaction with the amount of business from this group Target #1: Key demographics: Social media sites: Potential topics: Amount of business from group: Satisfaction with amount of business: Target #2: Key demographics: Social media sites: Potential topics: Amount of business from group: Satisfaction with amount of business:
Target #3: Key demographics: Social media sites: Potential topics: Amount of business from group: Satisfaction with amount of business:
Step 4: Set Goals and Define Your Tactics Now that you have assessed your existing social media profiles, ranked your return on engagement, and analyzed your target audience, it s time to set your goals. Important: This step is a 2-part process. In Part 1, you will complete the first 3 rows of the grid to set your goals and identify current and target performance. Then, you will return to the course to complete Chapter 4. Afterwards, you will complete Part 2 of the grid to identify your tactics and ways to measure success. Part 1 Set Goals 1) Use the goal setting grids on the next two pages to write down your business goals. For example, do you want to: Get more referrals or repeat business? Gain new listings or sales in a specific area? Motivate former clients to become property investors or vacation home owners? Grow the property management side of your real estate business? Drive traffic to your website or grow your contact database? Increase your speaking engagements by showcasing your expertise? 2) Next, write down your current performance and what your target is. Make sure your target specific and measurable so you can determine your success. Stop once you are finished with these two steps. You will define your tactics and ways to measure success in Part 2 once you have completed Chapter 4. Part 2 Define Your Tactics 3) After completing Chapter 4, write down specific tactics for ways you can use social media to help accomplish your goals, as well as the platforms you will use. You will want to be very specific and detailed with your tactics. As you complete this step, consider your results from Step 2, when you analyzed your return on engagement, as well as the needs of your target audience, defined in Step 3, to make sure you re spending your time wisely. 4) Finally, write down how you will measure your success and how often.
Part 1 Goal: Current: Target: Part 2 Tactics: 1) 2) 3) Platforms: 1) 2) 3) How I will measure success (include frequency): As you work through this grid, you may also find it helpful to refer back to the goalsetting examples from Brent and Sheila, which you downloaded in Chapter 3.
Part 1 Goal: Current: Target: Part 2 Tactics: 1) 2) 3) Platforms: 1) 2) 3) How I will measure success (include frequency): Assess Your Participation Levels Now that you have set your goals and tactics, review your list of active accounts from Step 1. If there are any that you will no longer be keeping up to date, delete them now.
Step 5: Create a Schedule Now that you ve identified your goals and tactics in Step 4, it s time to create your weekly and daily schedules for updating your social media sites to help you meet the goals you have defined in Step 4. As you re planning your schedules, you may find it helpful to refer back to the target audiences you identified in Step 3 and your tactics from Step 4 to help you decide what types of posts will be best for your audience. On the next page, you ll begin mapping out your weekly schedule, then you ll complete your daily schedule. Points to Consider as You Schedule Your Participation: Platforms: Which platforms will you use? Interactions: o What type and how many direct interactions with followers will you have (e.g., liking, sharing, or commenting on others posts, or responding to people who interact with you publicly and through private messages)? Content: What will you post? Will it be original or curated? o Original : Storage: Where you will store it (e.g., your website, blog, a spreadsheet on your computer, or another approach)? How you will share it (e.g., a direct link to on your website/blog, a direct link to not on your site, or posting new directly on your social media sites)? Will you use a URL shortener like bit.ly to measure traffic? o d : Where you will store URLs for curated (e.g., a dedicated folder on your computer, bookmarked links in your web browser, a bookmarking website, an app, or another approach)? How you will share it (links, photos, videos, articles)? What reliable s you can use to curate? o How much time you will dedicate to social media? o How you will track and schedule new and curated posts (e.g., a spreadsheet or document on your computer, an automation tool like Hootsuite, or another approach)?
Weekly Business Goals: Weekly Social Media Goals: S Platforms: Content Sources: Interactions: M Platforms: Content Sources: Interactions: T Platforms: Content Sources: Interactions: W Platforms: Content Sources: Interactions: T Platforms: Content Sources: Interactions: F Platforms: Content Sources: Interactions: S Platforms: Content Sources: Interactions:
Daily Now, it s time to plan your daily social media activity. Use the following grid to identify what actions you will take each morning, afternoon, and evening. Be specific map out exactly: What you will aim to post (photos, videos, short blog posts, links, etc.) What and how many direct interactions with followers you will have, whether it s liking, sharing, or commenting on others posts, responding to people who interact with you publically and through private messages How much minutes you will spend on each activity Daily amount of time I will spend on social media: Mornings What I will post: Include platform and type of you will post My interactions: Include type and number of interactions Afternoons What I will post: Include platform and type of you will post My interactions: Include type and number of interactions Evenings What I will post: Include platform and type of you will post My interactions: Include type and number of interactions
Schedule Ruthlessly Now that you ve defined your weekly and daily plans, open up your calendar and schedule these in for the next year. Re-evaluate your schedule quarterly and adjust your calendars as needed.
Step 6: Your Accountability Plan Now, it s time to set up your monitoring plan and identify sites that can help you measure your engagement levels and progress toward your business goals. 1) Spend time exploring the features and functionality of the following tools to determine which ones will be most useful to: Monitor social media mentions of you and your business, as well as Provide you with helpful analytics tools Google Alerts Social Mention Mention Topsy Social Searcher TalkWalker Twilert Hootsuite Sprout Social Postling Facebook Insights Twitter Analytics Google+ Analytics Pinterest Analytics Other Useful for monitoring Useful for analytics Notes
2) Set up alerts to monitor your information on the site(s) above you feel would be most useful for monitoring. For example, you may find it helpful to monitor: Your name and any variations of it, such as Tim Brown, Timothy Brown, Tim J Brown, Timothy J Brown, Tim Jacob Brown, Timothy Jacob Brown Your agency name Your motto or slogan Your social media handles Competitor names All of your websites and blog Respond to alerts: Be proactive review and respond to alerts on a daily basis. 3) Make a plan to monitor your analytics on a monthly or quarterly basis. Schedule this into your calendar accordingly.
Step 7: Maintain and Adjust Your Strategy For your social media strategy to be successful, you will need to dedicate time monthly or quarterly to reviewing your strategy and making adjustments to optimize your success. 1) Check your analytics: Dedicate time monthly or quarterly to checking analytics from several of the sites you identified as having useful reports in Step 6. What types of posts are engaging your audience the most? What do you need to change to better support your goals? 2) Review your return on engagement identified in Step 2. Are you satisfied with the amount of revenue as a result of your social media efforts when compared to the amount of time you are putting in? If not, what needs to change? 3) Review your goals and tactics identified in Step 4. What s working? What s not? What can you adjust to allow social media to better support your business goals? 4) Adjust your schedules (weekly and daily) defined in Step 5 according to any tactics that need to change.