Social media content is a key component of your online marketing efforts. It can help you reach and engage your target audience, increase your brand awareness and reputation, and generate leads and sales. But creating and sharing social media content without a clear strategy is like driving without a map. You won’t know where you’re going, how to get there, or whether you’ve arrived.
That’s why you need a social media content strategy. A social media content strategy is a plan that defines your goals, audience, content types, platforms, distribution, and measurement for your social media marketing. And to make your strategy effective, you need to document it.
A documented social media content strategy is a written form of your plan that you can share and communicate with your team, stakeholders, and clients. It helps you stay focused, consistent, and accountable for your social media content efforts.
In this article, we’ll show you how to create and document your social media content strategy in six steps. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Define Your Goals
The first step in creating and documenting your social media content strategy is to define your goals. What are you trying to achieve with your social media content? How does it support your overall business goals?
Some common goals for social media content are:
- Increase brand awareness and reach
- Build trust and credibility
- Educate and inform your audience
- Generate leads and sales
- Grow your network and community
Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). For example, instead of saying “I want to grow my Instagram account”, you can say “I want to gain 10,000 new followers on Instagram in the next six months”.
Once you have defined your goals, you need to write them down in your social media content strategy document. This will help you align your content with your goals and track your progress and results.
Step 2: Know Your Audience
The next step in creating and documenting your social media content strategy is to know your audience. Who are the people you want to reach, engage, and convert with your social media content? What are their pain points, challenges, needs, and interests? How can you help them with your content?
You can use various tools and methods to research your audience, such as:
- Social media analytics: You can access insights and data about your followers, visitors, and content performance on your social media platforms. You can see metrics such as demographics, engagement, reach, and impressions.
- Social media polls: You can create and share polls on social media to ask your audience questions and get feedback. You can use polls to learn more about your audience’s preferences, opinions, and behaviors.
- Social media groups: You can join and participate in relevant groups on social media to find and connect with your target audience. You can also create your own group and invite your prospects to join. You can use groups to share valuable content, start discussions, and build relationships.
- Social media search: You can use the search function on social media to find and follow your ideal customers, competitors, influencers, and industry leaders. You can use filters to narrow down your search by location, industry, company, title, and more. You can use search to discover and analyze the content that your audience is consuming and creating.
By knowing your audience, you can create content that resonates with them and provides value to them.
Step 3: Choose Your Content Types and Platforms
The third step in creating and documenting your social media content strategy is to choose your content types and platforms. What kind of content do you want to create and share on social media? What platforms do you want to use to reach your audience?
There are many types of content you can create and share on social media, such as:
- Images: You can use images to showcase your products, services, behind-the-scenes, testimonials, or stories. Images are easy to consume and can capture attention and emotions.
- Videos: You can use videos to demonstrate your products, services, tutorials, tips, or case studies. Videos are engaging and can convey complex information and stories.
- Blogs: You can use blogs to share your insights, opinions, advice, or news on topics related to your industry, niche, or business. Blogs are informative and can establish your authority and credibility.
- E-books: You can use e-books to provide in-depth and comprehensive information on a specific topic or problem that your audience is interested in or struggling with. E-books are valuable and can generate leads and sales.
- Podcasts: You can use podcasts to share your voice, stories, interviews, or conversations on topics related to your industry, niche, or business. Podcasts are entertaining and can build trust and rapport.
There are many platforms you can use to distribute your content on social media, such as:
- Facebook: Facebook is the largest and most popular social media platform, with over 2.8 billion monthly active users. You can use Facebook to share any type of content, such as images, videos, blogs, e-books, or podcasts. You can also use Facebook to create and join groups, run ads, or host live events.
- Instagram: Instagram is a visual social media platform, with over 1 billion monthly active users. You can use Instagram to share images and videos, such as product photos, behind-the-scenes, stories, reels, or IGTV. You can also use Instagram to create and join hashtags, run ads, or host live events.
- Twitter: Twitter is a micro-blogging social media platform, with over 330 million monthly active users. You can use Twitter to share short and snappy content, such as text, images, videos, blogs, or podcasts. You can also use Twitter to create and join hashtags, run ads, or host live events.
- LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a professional social media platform, with over 760 million monthly active users. You can use LinkedIn to share content that is relevant and valuable to your industry, niche, or business, such as images, videos, blogs, e-books, or podcasts. You can also use LinkedIn to create and join groups, run ads, or host live events.
The content types and platforms you choose should depend on your goals, audience, and resources. You don’t have to create and share every type of content on every platform. You should focus on the ones that work best for your situation and goals.
Once you have chosen your content types and platforms, you need to write them down in your social media content strategy document. This will help you plan and execute your content creation and distribution.
Step 4: Create a Content Calendar
The fourth step in creating and documenting your social media content strategy is to create a content calendar. A content calendar is a tool that helps you organize and schedule your content creation and distribution. It helps you stay consistent, efficient, and effective with your social media content.
A content calendar should include:
- The title or topic of your content
- The type and format of your content
- The platform and channel of your content
- The date and time of your content
- The status and progress of your content
- The metrics and results of your content
You can use various tools and methods to create and manage your content calendar, such as:
- Spreadsheets: You can use spreadsheets, such as Google Sheets or Excel, to create and update your content calendar. You can use columns and rows to organize your content information and use formulas and functions to calculate and analyze your data.
- Apps: You can use apps, such as Trello or Asana, to create and manage your content calendar. You can use cards and lists to organize your content information and use features and integrations to track and monitor your tasks and workflows.
- Software: You can use software, such as CoSchedule or Loomly, to create and manage your content calendar. You can use templates and dashboards to organize your content information and use features and integrations to plan, create, publish, and measure your content.
Once you have created your content calendar, you need to write it down in your social media content strategy document. This will help you execute and optimize your content creation and distribution.
Step 5: Measure and Analyze Your Results
The fifth step in creating and documenting your social media content strategy is to measure and analyze your results. You need to track and evaluate the data and metrics that are relevant to your goals and objectives.
Some of the key metrics that you can measure on social media are:
- Impressions: The number of times your content was seen by your audience
- Reach: The number of unique users who saw your content
- Engagement: The number of likes, comments, shares, and clicks your content received
- Followers: The number of users who followed your page or profile
- Leads: The number of users who expressed interest in your products or services or provided their contact information
- Sales: The number of users who purchased your products or services or became your customers
You can use various tools and methods to measure and analyze your results on social media, such as:
- Social media analytics: You can access insights and data about your followers, visitors, and content performance on your social media platforms. You can see metrics such as demographics, engagement, reach, and impressions.
- Google analytics: You can use Google analytics to track and measure the traffic and conversions that your social media content drives to your website or blog. You can see metrics such as sessions, users, bounce rate, and goals.
- CRM software: You can use CRM software to manage and monitor your leads and customers that you generate from your
- social media content. You can see metrics such as lead source, lead status, lead score, and sales revenue.
By measuring and analyzing your results, you can:
- Understand what works and what doesn’t work for your social media content strategy
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses
- Optimize and improve your content and performance
- Achieve your goals and objectives
How Ukiyo Visuals can help you with your social media content strategy
If you want to take your social media content strategy to the next level, you can opt for the service offered by us at Ukiyo Visuals. We are a company that specializes in helping individuals and businesses grow their social media presence and performance through our social media services.
We can help you create and document your social media content strategy effectively and efficiently. We have a team of experts who have years of experience and knowledge in social media marketing and content creation. We have helped hundreds of clients achieve their social media goals through our service.
We offer different packages and plans that suit your needs and budget. You can choose from our basic, standard, or premium plans, or customize your own plan according to your preferences.
To learn more about us and our social media services, you can visit our website or contact us here. You can also follow us on social media to get more tips and insights on how to create and document your social media content strategy.
