7 Essential Elements of a Business Social Media Strategy

With the rapid proliferation of social media networks and social media tools, having a social media networking plan is the key to using it effectively. A social media plan allows you to simplify your social media efforts by aligning your social media with your business goals. A social media plan will also help you track results, so you can see how effective each network is in achieving your business goals, and test other networks if necessary. That way, you won’t waste time on a social network if it doesn’t meet your identified goals.

Here are 7 essential elements of an effective social media plan.

1. Set your social media goals

Tip: Being on popular social networking sites because everyone else is on them and you feel left out is not a goal. Everyone knows Twitter, Linked In and Facebook, however, these are not the only social networks that exist.

Is your goal to make your brand known? Promote your products? Develop leads? Share your experience? Network with like-minded people? Get referrals? Then pick a social network that matches that goal, and you’ll have greater success than just picking one at random. Your goals should be business goals. Express them and write them down. Statistics say that people who write down their goals are more likely to achieve them. It is no different on social media.

2. Choose your social networking sites carefully

Since there are literally hundreds of social networking sites, you’ll need to experiment a bit to find the one that best suits your business goals. Twitter, Facebook and Linked In are the best known (with Twitter being the site of the moment), and while they are excellent sites, they are far from the only social networking sites.

Sticking with just these three can mean you’re on the popular sites; however, be careful not to miss out on additional networking opportunities. For example, while relationship building is the foundation for doing business online or offline, some business social networking sites are more open to promotion along with relationship building, while others frown on or forbid promoting products or services to various degrees.

Here are some business social networking sites worth checking out. For links, check out my blog post called “Social Media Is More Than Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn” where you’ll see I mention Biznik as well.

Apsense.com: Promote products and sites on your business profile and earn income from referrals

Entrepreneur Connect.com: Promote your business on Entrepreneur Magazine’s own social network

FastPitchNetworking.com: Take Advantage of Email Marketing and Virtual Trade Shows

GoBigNetworking.com is a startup community focused on finding expert advice and funding

Marzar.com: Ideal for companies, entrepreneurs and professionals to promote their products, services and discover new relationships and business opportunities, find suppliers and be aware of new developments.

Konnects.com: Are you in the newspaper and magazine industry? worth checking out

Xing.com: Create your own topic-specific social network

Once you have an idea of ​​some of the business social networks, choose a limited number to participate in. It’s almost impossible to be fully active on more than three at a time.

3. Decide on your ideal contacts

Who are you looking for? While you may have hundreds of contacts, if you decide who you want to communicate with and build deeper connections early on, your social networks will be more effective. Are you looking for corporate executives, authors, writers, recruiters? Be clear about who you want to connect with, because that will determine how you connect with them. Focus on finding like-minded people who share your goals and match your target market. Be selective instead of accepting every invitation that comes your way.

4. Constantly participate

Once you’ve chosen your social networks, engage regularly by contributing valuable content, sharing your experience, answering questions, listening, and making new connections. You must also show how you can satisfy an identified need. Drive traffic back to your own sites by including your signature, site, and blog links in your posts, articles, videos, etc.

5. Plan your time for social networks

It’s important to allocate your time for social media engagement in advance and this is where having a social media plan will help. Many businesses launch without a real plan, find that other things take precedence, and quickly become overwhelmed with the amount of time it takes to fully engage. Be patient and develop a strong, focused network that supports your business goals.

6. Track and measure your results

Small businesses suffer from a lack of time because they are doing everything themselves. Invest time in building strong relationships, but make sure they are relationships that lead you toward your goals. If you’ve established success measures for your social networks from the start, you can track your success in meeting them and make changes accordingly. Measures of success could be, for example, the number of referrals received, the number of times your free offer was downloaded, the number of leads obtained or followed up, subscriptions to your e-zine, or similar. While getting traffic to your blog or site is good, you need to tie what you’re doing to your financial goals and plans.

7. Review your plan at intervals

How are you maximizing your time on social media for your business? Are the networks you chose still relevant to your goals 2-3 months later? How does your activity translate into those goals? Need to try another network? Review your social media plan and modify it as needed.

In summary

1. Set your company’s social media goals

2. Choose your social networking sites according to those goals

3. Decide on your ideal contacts

4. Participate fully and consistently

5. Plan your time for social networks

6. Measure your results

7. Review your plan at intervals and make changes when necessary.

Follow this 7-step plan and you’ll likely have a more focused business social media experience.