Social media is no longer something you should be merely considering as part of your marketing plan. With almost 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is topping the charts for the most users on a single social platform.
When it comes to your overall marketing strategy, social media plays a large and very important factor. An active social campaign is something you need in order to put your business in front of your customers. No matter if you’re currently running a social campaign or need some help to kickstart a new campaign – read on to learn about the steps of running a social campaign that will actually benefit your company.
Step 1: Planning
An important part of social posting is to make sure your content reflects your brand. Prior to starting your campaign, it is important to identify your target audience, the voice that your company wants to portray to your followers, and the overall goal of your campaign. You should have your goals clearly defined before starting your campaign. 
The planning phase includes brainstorming content that your fans will respond positively to while still accomplishing your goals. These business goals might include reach, website traffic, brand awareness or conversions. Measuring these goals can help validate the success of your campaign. For example, you are able to track website traffic coming from social by going to Google Analytics acquisition overview. Google Analytics will give you a breakdown of what social channels the traffic is coming from, as well as average session duration, bounce rate, and percentage of new users.
It is important to know that even similar companies might have very different, customized goals. One company might only want to increase brand awareness and engagement with users by posting very interactive, fun posts to get users to engage with them and leave a lasting impression. Another company might have a conversion goal, which could be measured by an increase in sales. In this instance, they might have a more professional voice with very specific calls to action.
Step 2: Posting
Now that the planning is complete, you should begin writing quality content that your fans will find useful and also aligns with your goals. Once you have a plan, social can be quick and easy. With a few clicks of your mouse, you can start sharing your content in seconds. You also have the opportunity to share content in real time from almost anywhere. Don’t worry though, the posting doesn’t always have to be in real time. For those who thrive on organization, Facebook has a useful scheduling feature that allows you to pre-write posts and assign them a time to go live. This feature gives you the opportunity to plan your posts, and lets Facebook make sure they go live at the right time. Fancy, huh? Get excited, because the fun doesn’t stop here.
Step 3: And More Posting
I often get frustrated when I find a business Facebook page and notice the most recent post was from years prior. Yes, it’s great to have a Facebook business page, but if you aren’t updating it consistently, then what’s the point? There isn’t one. The beginning stage of a social campaign is important because this is the time when you’re building a loyal fan base. Having a larger fan base also makes you more reputable to the community.
If you begin to struggle thinking of original, quality content to share, this doesn’t mean the social road ends for you. If your fans engage with your posts regularly and you stop posting, you’ll leave them hanging. My advice to you: Don’t stop! If you’re getting bored with the same posts, or running out of ideas — spice things up. While staying consistent with your goals, branch out and try posting using different formats. Research different industries and see what kind of posts they share for more inspiration.
Step 4: Evaluate Your Success
Facebook Insights is a great tool that allows you to analyze all of your posts and measure the post reach and engagement of your users. Insights will compare your posts, both organic and paid, and measure the percentage of increase or decrease in engagement compared to other posts. This can help you decipher which post formats work best with your Facebook audience, and which posts will reach a larger audience. Are you unsure when the best time to post is? No problem — Facebook Insights can help you with this too. Insights gives you an hour-by-hour breakdown of when most of your fans are online to help you choose the most popular hours for organic posting.
Step 5: Spend Money
After analyzing your engagement using Facebook Insights, you should be able to decipher what types of posts work the best for getting organic engagement from your fans. If you are having trouble building up a fan base or attracting engagement on your posts, I would recommend investing some money in Facebook promotions. Boosting your posts on Facebook allows you to target specific audiences based on demographics and personal interests.
Organic post reach is declining because there are over 18 million businesses competing for timeline space. According to Facebook for Business, of the 1,500 or more stories a person might see whenever they login to Facebook, News Feed only displays about 300. Lucky for you, Facebook advertising is affordable and allows you to set your own daily budget. Promotions can help put your business name and content in front of users who aren’t already following you.
Different strategies work in different ways for all different types of businesses. Even a well-planned social campaign might not show great results immediately. However, it’s important to remember the importance of simply having a social presence. If you don’t have time to run a social campaign, there are specialists that can help you achieve your company’s goals.
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