Behind every successful company there is a kick-ass social media strategy. That companies communicate with existing and potential new customers on social media is nothing new. But it's actually not as simple as just tweeting a bit, posting a story on Instagram from time to time or posting an update on Facebook. Here are six tips on how to develop a successful social media strategy that takes your business to new heights!

What is a social media strategy?

A social media strategy is a plan for how you will work with social media to achieve a certain goal. Working strategically with social media means that you will identify why you should be on social media, what channels you should focus on, what type of content you should share on your channels, how often you should update and what goals you want to achieve with your presence. A social media strategy for companies should always support the business goals and support the business in achieving these goals. Examples of goals for your social media strategy can be increasing the number of leads, website traffic or your brand awareness.

1. Start from the beginning with your social media strategy

The first thing you need to think about in your social media strategy is your purpose. Why should you be seen on social media? Is it a tool to attract new employees or to generate more customers? Once you have understood your purpose with social media, you should set goals. Then it will be much easier to find out what impacts you need to make to succeed in reaching them. Purpose and measurable goals are the key to a successful social media strategy.

2. Less is actually more sometimes

Prioritizing among platforms is an important part of your social media strategy. There is no point in being seen and heard on all social media channels unless there is a purpose to your presence. To find out which channel or channels are best suited for your particular company, you should think about where your target group is. Is it mainly IT managers you want to reach, start with LinkedIn. Do you want to get new subscribers to a cooking course, test Instagram. Sometimes the recipe for success may be to combine visibility on two or three different platforms - but do not forget to adapt the tonality and message to each channel.

3. Content is always key in a social media strategy

As you probably know, content is a and z - even on social media. Do not let your channels become a gossip funnel where you only publish something "for that". Your feed is not a "showcase" where you can only trumpet things you want to say to your followers. On the contrary, it can be detrimental to your reach. All social media channels today reward accounts that really create content that really has value for followers. So try to create content that is adapted for social media and above all - for your followers and for the channel you will spread your content to. So: the target group is one of the most important elements!

The details are also very important. Picky followers immediately notice if you are in control and know what you are doing, so confidence is the key word here. Keep in mind that images for a post on LinkedIn should be 1200 x 627 pixels in size and for God's sake do not share links on Instagram. They cannot be clicked on anyway. Be creative with your content on social media. After all, it is a fairly easy channel and should remain so. Create a Friday quiz on Instagram or share your customer quotes on LinkedIn. Only your own imagination sets the limits!

4. Advertising is an important part of the strategy

It is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to generate reach on their organic channels. On one hand, they fight with private status updates, but the algorithms are also developed daily to promote the users. There is even talk that organic posts from a company page reach less than 10% (!) of followers. Therefore, it will of course be very important to set aside part of the marketing budget for advertising, and to highlight advertising as an important part of the company's social media strategy.

5. Common Mistakes When Advertising On LinkedIn

LinkedIn is best suited if you market B2B services while Facebook and Instagram are more B2C friendly. Feel free to plan well in advance and create a year planning for various different events within the company. Maybe an upcoming event or a webinar? Also, do not forget the lead-generating activities in your social media strategy. Advertising is perfect for them!

6. Who is responsible for the social media strategy?

Appoint someone, or a team, who will be responsible for everything related to social media. These are the people who make sure that your social media strategy is realized in practice. Let these people brainstorm ideas, produce material, schedule posts, set up advertising and develop the work continuously. Remember to have respect for the social media channels - this is not something you should take care of on top of your other tasks. Feel free to have standing meetings once a week where you set aside time for planning future social initiatives. In this way, you will minimize the risk of ill-considered content without any real purpose.

7. Optimization, optimization, optimization

There is (almost) no right or wrong when it comes to social media, but some posts go viral. The posts that did not reach the required actions or didn’t get enough actions should be evaluated to examine what you can do better next time. Working with social media is always about evaluating, measuring and optimizing. Insights are important for developing your social media strategy. If it goes wrong, you can always delete and redo. You are working towards finding the way to your success story.

Social media strategy - a summary

• - Purpose and goals are the most important part of your social media strategy
• - A social media strategy should always match your business goals
• - Choose which platforms are relevant to be on for you (what supports your purpose?)
• - Make sure your content packs a punch and only post things that are relevant to your target group and the followers you want to care about. Relevance is more important than quality!
• - Advertising is an important part of your social media strategy
• - Appoint a team that is responsible for your social media strategy, evaluate and optimize your work on an ongoing basis!

Now you've got a bunch of different tips on what different parts you should include in your social media strategy to take your social media presence to the next level. Now get out there and start tweeting, experiment with filters on Instagram and put up some awesome ads that will reach your dream customers.