What is social media strategy, exactly? Isn’t just what you post?

We get asked this question all the time: “What should I be posting on social media?” And our reply is usually, “well, what do you want your posting to accomplish for your business?”

Posting is just the tip of the social media iceberg. It’s the most visible part of your marketing work. But to get effective, engaging posts that deliver on a specific set of goals, you need to be talking about social media strategy.  Strategy is how you use those posts (and all of the other tools/actions available in social media platforms) to get your the outcome you want for your business or organization. 

Social media strategy is:

1. Knowing which social channels your target audience is on
2. Determining how often to post on social media (without posting too much or getting squashed by the algorithm)
3. Understanding what impact each platform’s algorithm will have on your content, and its visibility
4. Staying current with best practices for caption length, hashtag use, video length, and image specs
5. Creating organic social content that interests, delights, excites, or moves your audience
6. Tailoring your content for optimal performance on each platform– or, how to repurpose content
7. Handling challenging topics and issues in a manner consistent with your company’s ethics and ethos
8. Navigating crowded or  challenging social media periods (example: election season, holiday seasons)
9. Honing a social voice that truly represents your company, and also resonates with your audience
10. Implementing targeted use of CTAs (calls-to-action) in your social media posts
11. Testing key content messaging and creative to assess effective directions for your social content strategy
12. Searching for relevant accounts to follow or engage with
13. Researching hashtags for opportunities
14. Assessing what kinds of content (photos with captions, graphics, videos, Stories) your audience most likes to engage with
15. Reporting on how your social campaigns are delivering on their original goals.
16.  And finally — continuing to develop fresh ways of communicating with and engaging your audience. 

Pretty simple, right? Building and executing a successful social strategy involves weaving all of these elements together on a continuous basis. If you feel like your social media activity isn’t getting your message across, then maybe it’s time to take a good look at your strategy.