74% of consumers refer to social networks before making a purchase. And 72% of companies have increased their sales and generated more in-store traffic thanks to their Social Media strategy.
Investing in social networks is therefore absolutely essential for brands. Whether to raise brand awareness, reach a wider audience, boost sales or create a community of loyal, committed customers, social media marketing is an ultra-efficient communication channel.
All the more reason to create a relevant Social Media strategy, in which your company will detail the actions it intends to take on social networks. In this article, we’ll take you step-by-step through the process of drawing up this action plan.
What is social media marketing?
Social network marketing involves using platforms like Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) Pinterest or even TikTok to promote your brand to potential customers and sell your products or services.
Social media marketing can take many forms: from the simple act of sharing content on these platforms, to (paid) advertising campaigns or partnerships with influencers (influencer marketing). Interaction with platform users (by reposting their publications, replying to their comments, etc.) is also a form of social media marketing.
By social media strategy, we mean the action plan created to plan efforts on social networks. This involves defining objectives, audience and expectations. As well as developing a content calendar and performance KPIs to measure the achievement of results.
What you need to remember is that social network marketing is a unique acquisition and sales channel. It requires specific expertise, dedicated resources and in-depth tracking.
Why do companies need a Social Media strategy?
This question may seem obvious when you consider that almost all brands have a presence on social networks. But it is important to understand the benefits of a Social Media strategy in order to identify the results that you can reap from it.
- Increase brand awareness. 53% of consumers say their use of social media has increased over the past two years. It is essential for brands wishing to raise their profile or federate a community s to communicate via this channel.
- Create a relationship of trust with your audience. Social networks have a huge impact on consumers trust, particularly among younger people.
- Increase sales. Beyond the reach of social networks, the content shared on them is effective in converting customers. The authentic publications and social selling levers are gradually being integrated into the platforms. Making them tools for promoting products and boosting revenues.
- Make it easy to track performance. Social networks integrate tools to track key performance indicators. This makes it easier to assess the return on investment of your social media strategy.
Steps to follow for an effective social media strategy
Now that we’ve proven the relevance of developing a Social Media strategy, it’s time to take action. To create a precise and effective action plan, it’s important to follow these steps.
1. Establish your brand’s objectives on social networks
As we’ve seen, social networks enable you to reach and engage your prospects at every stage of the sales funnel. But it’s also a complex marketing channel, requiring a great deal of time and resources from companies. So it’s important not to jump in blindly, but rather to target your strategic objectives precisely.
The idea is to focus on one or two objectives that are particularly crucial for the company. If it is just starting up, the main challenge will be to raise awareness and generate new leads. If it is already well established, social networks can be a lever for engagement and loyalty, etc.
Each objective must be linked to precise performance KPI’s, which will enable us to monitor their achievement and adjust the Social Media strategy if necessary.
2. Analyze your audience
To create impactful content on social networks, you need to understand who you’re talking to and what your audience’s expectations are. The best way to do this is to question your audience and collect zero-party customer data (through interactive mechanisms such as polls, for example).
Brands can also benchmark companies in their sector or content creators in their niche. By studying their publications and the interactions they generate with their audience, they’ll have a better understanding of the codes they need to respect to share their own content (the tone to use, the frequency of publication, the most popular formats, etc.).
3. Choose the best channels to invest in
The worst mistake a brand can make when drawing up its Social Media strategy is to be everywhere at once and simply duplicate its content across all these networks. Each platform has its own specific audience and codes. You therefore need to choose the channel that best reaches your target audience, and the content format that best matches your brand image.
4. Plan and diversify your content
With these last elements, the brand can start planning and sharing its content. The aim isn’t to publish as often as possible, even if regularity is crucial to cracking the social network algorithm. Rather, it’s to create truly differentiating content that generates strong emotions in its audience, resonates with their expectations and values, and captures their attention.
Gamification is an excellent lever for making content on social networks more original and engaging. Competitions, for example, are a very popular format on platforms, helping to capture users’ attention (particularly through the promise of an attractive prize).
These campaigns are all the more powerful when backed up by other levers of visibility and engagement specific to social networks. For example, they can be publicized via an advertising campaign or a partnership with an influencer to reach a wider audience.
5. Measure results and adjust your Social Media strategy
The most important KPIs to track on social networks are engagement KPIs. They enable brands to assess the relevance of their content to their audience and the interest it generates.
Depending on the results of its publications and advertising campaigns, the brand can refine its Social Media strategy. Many companies, for example, have learned from experience that the more authentic the content (i.e. the less elaborate and promotional it is), the more engagement it generates.
Conclusion
Boost your Social Media strategy by integrating gamification into your marketing campaigns. Marketing games are highly effective at capturing attention and engaging your audience. To create differentiating interactive experiences, you can choose from a catalog of playable mechanics the one best suited to your strategic objectives. Our team can also take charge of your campaign!
