Fail to prepare, prepare to fail – Creating a social media strategy that works

If you are struggling to know where to start with your social media strategy for 2021,  it is helpful to identify specific goals you want to achieve and build your strategy around achieving these. Setting clear targets will help you to focus your efforts and create valuable, effective content that will further the success of your business. For example, your goals may be to increase brand awareness, grow your audience or generate more sales – or a combination of all three! 

Understand what is already working for you

Take time to study your website and social media analytics, this will enable you to see which platforms are working best for you and perhaps highlight areas in which you could improve. Look at which posts performed well, which ones didn’t and how it varies across platforms. Once you have your strategy in place, keep an eye on the analytics and use them to measure your success and fine tune your strategy to hit those objectives. 

Create a solid plan for the coming months

Once you have set your primary goals and know which content performs best on each platform, you can start to build your social media content calendar. The Food Marketing Experts has created a 2021 social media calendar that you can download for free here which is packed full of #socialmediadays and key foodie events so you can capitalise on established seasonal opportunities. 

Plan and schedule your content

Your content calendar will enable you to visualise your ideas and see the bigger picture, rather than focusing week on week with no real direction. When planning your content, take advantage of hashtags and events that could help drive traffic to your profile. There are a number of online scheduling platforms, such as Hootsuite and Later, that enable you to plan and schedule your content and will post it to your feed automatically. Some also offer tools that show you what time of day is best to post to optimise your reach. 

Analyse your content to see what is working

Finally, ensure that you are posting quality content. Even the most detailed social media strategy will have little effect if the content you are putting out is lacking. Your earlier analysis should have shown you what  performs well so use this information as a framework for any future content creation. Really think about what you are communicating out. Is it engaging? Does it have a consistent brand voice? Does it make you stand out from the competition?, Remember, your branded content  needs to be more than just a pretty picture, it should add value to your audience’s feed. ⁠Whether that is by providing them with a solution to a problem,  inspiring them to use your product in a new way, or simply making them smile, content should aim to elicit  a response from your target audience.

Need any help?

Can’t stand the heat? Let us stir the pot instead. Social media is critical to a successful marketing strategy, but ridiculously time consuming. Plus, if writing’s not your thing, it can leave you stumped. Let us step in with our on-trend, proactive, shareworthy content. Your one-stop-shop for all your digital marketing needs. If this sounds more like it, get in touch ask@thefoodmarketingexperts.co.uk