How to Create a Rock Star Social Media Strategy

Table of Contents

I’m starting to see it more and more: business owners are FINALLY realizing that they need to do a little planning and actually have a strategy if they’re going to be successful on social media.

In the past, I found many business owners didn’t think they needed to allocate resources, set goals, or measure results in order to be successful.

They thought that a cute video of their new puppy sneezing was all they needed to blast sales through the roof <grin>.

If it were only that easy!

social media strategy

Updated: Feb 22, 2020

Over the years, I’ve created large-scale, detailed social media strategies and marketing plans for MANY companies. For these big brands, it takes a tremendous amount of time and resources to carry them out.

However, the good news is that the principles are the same, whether you’re a solopreneur, have a mid-sized company, or a huge, multi-national brand!

In this post, I’ll share 5 steps you can use to create and launch your own social media strategy…regardless of your budget.

But first…

Why a Social Media Strategy Matters

Do you ever wonder if a social media strategy or plan is really necessary?

Or, if maybe you can just continue to squeak by without one?

According to Buffer, 73% of marketers say their social media marketing has been “somewhat effective” or “very effective”.

According to Buffer, 73% of marketers say their social media marketing has been “somewhat effective” or “very effective”.Click To Tweet

oberlo-social-media-effectivenessImage via Oberlo

If you want to fall into the “very effective” category, you definitely need a plan. Here’s why:

  • With a strategy, you’ll have goals you’re actively pursuing. This is going to save you time – time you would otherwise be wasting, randomly using social media.
  • You’ll know which platforms your audience is using.
  • And you’ll be providing the type of content they actually want to see.
  • You’ll also know what’s working and what’s not…so you can do more of what works.

5 Steps to Create a Rockstar Social Media Strategy

Convinced you need a social media strategy, but aren’t sure where to start? Follow these 5 simple steps and you’ll be on your way to a rockstar-level strategy!

Step 1: Define Your Customer Persona.

define-customer-persona

This is a super-helpful strategy for all areas of your business, and your social media marketing is no exception.

Before you do anything else, take a few minutes to think about who your ideal customer or client is. Ask questions like what is their:

  • age, gender and location?
  • occupation?
  • interests?
  • #1 struggle?
  • goals?

I find it helpful to really flesh out my persona! For instance, come up with a name, and then grab an image off Google Search (it’s okay…you won’t be sharing this with anyone outside your company).

Answer the questions above, and you’ve now got a complete profile of your perfect customer or client!

Step 2: Find Out Where Your Audience Hangs Out.

pew-research-audience-hangs-out

Image via Pew Research

Facebook is still one of the most visited social media sites, according to Pew Research.

But is that where your audience actually hangs out?

Before you jump in and commit to a particular platform, it’s important to look at the demographics for each one. Here’s an amazing resource that will help you do just that.

For instance, did you know that…

If you’re targeting females between the ages of 18 and 49, you’ll definitely want to consider Pinterest?

Or if you’re targeting highly-educated professionals who make over $75K/year, LinkedIn is where it’s at?

Or if you’re looking to reach teens or those in their 20’s, Instagram and Snapchat will be your best bet?

Step 3: Set SMART Goals.

smart-goals-kim-garst-social-media-strategy

 

Now that you know where your audience hangs out, it’s time to set some goals around what you want to accomplish.

Most people are goal-oriented, and do better when they’re progressing towards some defined goals.

Yet for some reason, with social media, people rarely take the time to establish goals!

I recommend starting with big, wide-reaching goals first, and then breaking those bigger goals down into smaller pieces. You can then establish performance benchmarks and timelines for each piece.

Your goals should be “SMART”: meaning, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

Here’s an example.

Many business owners say, “I want to use Facebook to grow my business”. But how do they know if they’re succeeding? How do they if what they’re doing is working…or not working?

Using SMART goals will remedy this: “I want to develop a Facebook strategy to drive 100 potential customers to my store in the next 90 days”.

Now you can automatically focus on activities and a strategy to support that “SMART” goal…meaning far less wasted time, and far better results.

Step 4: Measure Everything.

measure-social-media-strategy

This goes hand-in-hand with establishing measurable goals.

Measuring does many things. First, it helps you track overall progress to your larger goals. But just as importantly, it tells you what’s working and what’s not. This will allow you to naturally make adjustments to fix your strategy…or free you up to confidently try something completely new.

Let's take our same goal from above: getting 100 potential customers in your store from Facebook promotions in the next 90 days.

To do that, you’ll probably need to run a campaign on Facebook. You could make an offer that only appears on Facebook, using either a promo code or coupon that only appears there.

Now let’s say after 30 days, you only have 12 people that redeemed the coupon. What will you do?

Well, armed with this data, there are lots of things you can do.

You can do some Facebook advertising to get the offer in front of more local Facebook users.

Also, you could mention the offer in your newsletter or send a note to your e-mail list with a link to the page.

You could do a Facebook Live in your group letting your members know about the offer.

OR, you could kill the offer and try something else completely.

The point is that measuring results will drive adjustments that lead to better results!

Step 5: Have a Content Strategy.

You thought having a social media marketing strategy was enough, right? <grin>

But I also want you to have a plan for what type of content you’re going to post to social media, how often you’ll post it, and what days and times you’ll post it.

As a general rule, you should only post promotional material about 10% -20% of the time.  If you do more than that people will consider you a “spammer” or push marketer, and will disconnect.

As a general rule, you should only post promotional material about 10% -20% of the time. If you do more than that people will consider you a “spammer” or push marketer, and will disconnect.Click To Tweet

So, what are you going to post the other 80–90% of the time? Post content that’s interesting, motivational, funny, useful or otherwise has VALUE to your community.

And, I strongly recommend planning out this content, creating it ahead of time using batching, and being really clear about who is going to create it, when it’s due, and when it will be posted.

As you can see, this is what we do here at Kim Garst:

This ensures we have a solid plan that we will actually carry out, so we’re constantly providing a steady stream of valuable and useful content to my audience!

Final Thoughts

If you’re feeling lost or overwhelmed by social media, or you just aren’t getting the results you want, stop, take a deep breath, and spend a little time planning.

I’ve helped many businesses just like yours develop an effective social media strategy over the years. The 5 steps above will give you a great start, but I find often a little extra experience and guidance is necessary to really make your strategy ROCK!

If you would like step-by-step guidance create your own social media strategy, I’ve created a mini-course just for you: How to Create Your Social Media Strategy.

In this training, I’ll share my best tips for finding your ideal customers on social media, setting SMART goals, analyzing your competition, and more.

Please note: This training is one of the many courses in my Business Builder’s Academy. When you join, you get instant access to this mini-course, as well as 50+ other courses and resources you need to grow your business.

Check it out or start now!

Do you already have a social media strategy in place? If so, what works best for you? I would love to know!

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Michael Neuendorff
Michael Neuendorff
10 years ago

Kim, I think these are 7 really important tips. I particularly like #6 because this is an area where I see a lot of people struggle. They do social media for a little while, then leave it for a week, two weeks, a month. It’s really hard to expect good things to happen without the approach you promote.

Kim Garst
Kim Garst
Reply to  Michael Neuendorff
10 years ago

You are so right Michael! Thank you so much for stopping by!

Kim
Kim
10 years ago

Yes, it can be time consuming and the learning curve can be tough as well. Do what you can do and start stretching your wings as you can 🙂

Kim
Kim
10 years ago

Glad to hear this Kirsten 🙂

Steve Spillman
Steve Spillman
10 years ago

Hi Kim, Good advice. That’s one thing I love about blogs, they’ve got legs! You posted this last July and one of our authors passed it on to me today. Nice to see a person’s work last beyond a 24-hour timeline. We appreciate you.

Kim Garst
Kim Garst
Reply to  Steve Spillman
10 years ago

Love hearing this, Steve! Thanks for dropping in!

Kim Garst
Kim Garst
9 years ago

Yes, it does take time, Sean! But it’s oh so worth it 🙂

Kim Garst
Kim Garst
8 years ago

Wishing you much success!

Ben Goldberg
Ben Goldberg
3 years ago

Very Awesome.

Tanish
Tanish
3 years ago

Thanks for sharing with us.

Abdul Haseeb
Abdul Haseeb
3 years ago

Awesome article very helpful.

AkbarAli
AkbarAli
3 years ago

Thanks for the great content. I will also share with my friends & once again Thanks a lot.

Vaibhav kakkar
Vaibhav kakkar
3 years ago

Hi, Nowadays its a trend for social media and I would like to say that who don’t want to promote their website business through social media, I like your each and every point is fantastic and these strategies will help a lot for promoting the business.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Vaibhav kakkar
3 years ago

Always a pleasure, Vaibhav. Stay tuned for more informative posts.

Charlie Micasa
Charlie Micasa
3 years ago

Thank you so much for sharing such an amazing post with us. I really appreciate your efforts.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Charlie Micasa
3 years ago

Always a pleasure, Charlie. Keep posted weekly.

Afshari Ferdoush
Afshari Ferdoush
3 years ago

thanks mam, nice article you gave some very useful tips.

The Blog 101
The Blog 101
3 years ago

What an informative & impressive post . Keep it up !!!!

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  The Blog 101
3 years ago

Thank you! Keep reading.

simonskatis
simonskatis
3 years ago

Thnx its great article please post more article like this.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  simonskatis
3 years ago

You’re welcome! I do every week so keep posted.

CodeElect
CodeElect
3 years ago

Hi,

Very valuable information, keep it up.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  CodeElect
3 years ago

Sure will! Thanks!

Long Island Laundry Company
Long Island Laundry Company
3 years ago

These tips are very important for everyone. Thanks for sharing such stuff.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Long Island Laundry Company
3 years ago

Always a pleasure!

correctdigital
correctdigital
3 years ago

Social media is really a crowd of people talking usually to each other. So, you’ll need to figure out how to cut through the noise and really engage with people.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  correctdigital
3 years ago

Yaass!

Suraj
Suraj
3 years ago

Nice post

Mishika Dubey
Mishika Dubey
3 years ago

Hi Kim,

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts on this important topic. I will definitely follow your suggestions on my website.
Keep it up!!!

Aaron Jarrels
Aaron Jarrels
3 years ago

Thanks for the little reminder that to be successful you have to know and solve a problem or issue for the customer. I get sidetracked often enough. It is good to be reminded, thanks.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Aaron Jarrels
3 years ago

Always a pleasure, Aaron!

COURTNEY M B. THOMAS
COURTNEY M B. THOMAS
3 years ago

What an informative & impressive post . Keep it up !!!!

Janet Reese
Janet Reese
3 years ago

Yeah this is a very good information you share with us

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Janet Reese
3 years ago

Thank you, Janet!

Vishwa Jani
Vishwa Jani
3 years ago

HI Kim !!
I am also planning to start a online business and social media marketing really helps in it. The information’s you have provided here are really useful for me. Keep it up !!

ame
ame
3 years ago

Thanks for sharing your opinions. very helpful information.

rohit
rohit
3 years ago

This is such a meaningful blog!

Kabira
Kabira
3 years ago

This is such a meaningful blog!

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Kabira
3 years ago

Thank you, Kabira!

HPO
HPO
3 years ago

I Love this website.

Kitappaketi
Kitappaketi
3 years ago

Hi!
Thank a lot for sharing this awesome info.

siya gupta
siya gupta
3 years ago

Enjoyed reading this blog above, I like the way you write and explained everything in detail. This article helps me a lot to understand “How to Create a Rock Star Social Media Strategy”. It is very interesting and effective. I also want to write this kind of blog your blog inspired me. Can you suggest to me some tips on how to start blog writing? Thank you and good luck with the upcoming blogs.

dara
dara
3 years ago

Thanks for your sharing your great article.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  dara
3 years ago

You’re welcome, Dara!

Beth
Beth
3 years ago

Great content. I really enjoyed the relationship building part, it will help me a lot. Thanks!

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Beth
3 years ago

You’re welcome, Beth!

Anubha
Anubha
3 years ago

Your style is very unique compared to other folks I have read stuff from.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Anubha
3 years ago

Thanks, Anubha.

Pradeep
Pradeep
3 years ago

Good contact provider them

Urdu Kutab Khana PK
Urdu Kutab Khana PK
3 years ago

Strategies Discussed here are awsome for Growth,
Well Explained with great effort.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Urdu Kutab Khana PK
3 years ago

Thanks, Urdu.

Kamal Markam
Kamal Markam
3 years ago

thanks for great content

myeatheal
myeatheal
3 years ago

Thanks for good ans

Anum
Anum
3 years ago

Hi Kim,
You are sharing really amazing tips. I am truly thankful to you.

dedicated server
dedicated server
3 years ago

The Strategies Discussed Here Are Great for Growth,
I wish you continued success

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  dedicated server
3 years ago

Thank you!

dedicated server
dedicated server
3 years ago

You made a very strategic statement. It has been a beneficial article for you

Sona Rajput
Sona Rajput
3 years ago

Hi Kim,
Thanks for sharing this valuable information. It was really useful .

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Sona Rajput
3 years ago

You’re welcome, Sona.

Emma Linda
Emma Linda
2 years ago

Thanks for the information.

Kim's Team
Kim's Team
Reply to  Emma Linda
2 years ago

You’re welcome!

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