Today, in order to excel in your small business you need a social media marketing strategy. Your social media strategy is a plan that will outline your goals and objectives to for your online social media platforms. Here are 8 steps to follow to develop a successful social media marketing strategy:

1. Establish marketing goals-A successful strategy starts with identifying your goals. Setting SMART goals, which are specific, measurable, actionable, relevant and time-based objectives. They will improve your brand awareness, help you sell more products and gain repeat customers. For example, if you want to sell more products your SMART goals would look something like this: Specific: Increase my sales through organic posts on my social media platforms. Measurable: I want to generate $500 in sales per week. Achievable: My products range from $10-30, so I will need to sell at least 20 per week, which seems possible. Relevant: i want to increase my revenue, so making this goal will directly impact my overall objective. Time-based: I will set a seven-day time frame to reach this goal.
2. Research your target audience-Next, build a buyer persona will help you to get an idea of who you want your customers to be. Buyer Personas are fictional, general, representations of your ideal customer. Answering questions like: 1. What is their gender? 2. What is their age? 3. What do your customers like to do? 4. Where do they live? 5. Where do they go for information? 6. What are their values? etc. By using this customer research you can target your offers to buyers by sending emails that will be based on their preferences, that will segment details like the person’s primary interests, problems and needs.
3. Check your competition-After you have identified who your audience will be, then you need to find out who your competitors are. Review social media platforms to learn what platforms are they using the most? What type of content are they posting?, How often are they posting? This review can help you understand where you can stand out.
4. Identify the right social media platforms-Once you have the first three steps completed, decide which social media platform to prioritize. If your target audience is active only on one single channel, focus on that one channel. If they are using several channels, you may need to choose two to focus on in order to reach your goals.
5. Create a content calendar-Next, you will need to create a content plan. Use your audience and competitor research to guide you in finding content that will be interesting to your audience. Your content can include behind the scenes videos, images, links to your website and bio, product updates, and sales announcements. Creating a calendar can help you to develop a regular posting schedule.
6. Engage with your audience-Setting time to respond to comments, shares, and likes from your audience regularly can build better relationships with them, which in turn can increase your revenue.
7. Track social media metrics-Tracking your social media metrics at the end of each month will let you know if you are reaching your overall goals. Entering the data into a spreadsheet will allow you to compare your results from month to month. Comparing your metrics at the end of each month, is important for understanding if you need to adjust your strategy.
8. Adjust your strategy as necessary-If you are not reaching your goals, look to see what is working, what is not working, and where you can improve, then adjust your strategy accordingly.

Those are my 8 Steps To Build A Social Media Strategy. If you use these 8 steps you will be on your way to creating a successful social media marketing strategy for your small business!