Social Media Strategy for Beginners

You probably have a social media profile like billions of other people online.

You likely also know about careers like social media marketing and being an influencer.

However, most people don't know that such social media work is not as simple as 'posting random content'. Often, the most seemingly low-effort viral content is carefully strategized to create success.

Being successful on social media is a journey that requires consistent attention, fine-tuning, and learning. It requires a strategy.

Every successful social media account, from Nike to Mr. Beast and even micro-influencers, needs a strategy to get engagement.

This post will help you learn about growing on social media. You can use the knowledge you learn here to boost your profile so hiring agents and clients can find you. Or you could start your own social media agency or freelance service to help brands succeed online. Keep reading to build your knowledge!

Social Media Strategy For Beginners

Behind any kind of success lies a proper plan- and social media marketing is no different. Having a strategy in place will make sure your efforts are focused, efficient, and effective.

So, here are the basic steps you need to follow when creating a social media strategy as a beginner:

1. Create an overarching goal

The entire point of a strategy is to fulfill a goal. So, what is your goal? What your goals are will determine your strategy.

Some examples of goals include:

• Building a stronger personal profile to find freelance clients or to stand out as a possible hire

• You could drive up sales for your eCommerce store by directing your social media audience to product landing pages and driving sales

• Grow your business affordably

• Connect with other people and grow your community or professional network

• And more.

And you can be even more specific. Along with large goals, you also need objectives defined by numbers and timelines.

For example, if you want to grow your business without much expense, your objective could be to see a 10% increase in followers every quarter using value-creating social media posts.

This objective starts directing you to think of the means, aka the strategy of your social media marketing.

2. Define your audience

Social media is less about your business and more about your audience.

This is not the place to get promotional. But how do you achieve your business goals and create a strategy unless you promote your business from time to time?

The reality is that you have to provide value first. And to do that, you must know your audience.

This means getting really specific. It isn't enough to think of your audience as 'shoppers' or 'millennials'.

Be as focused as you can. Depending on your brand, product, and history, your audience could be single professionals with an income between 50K-100K USD in the financial sector. They could be in a specific location, too.

When you know who you're talking to, your language and content will reflect that. And you'll be more likely to resonate with people and make an impact on social media.

3. Build your content calendar

This is the core of your social media strategy. Now that you have your goals and audience charted, it's time to build content.

However, this isn't about posting random things online.

You need to create a calendar for your brand where you will prepare your content ahead of time, schedule it, and publish it according to various standards and needs.

A content calendar helps you as it makes your content online more cohesive. You create a consistent message and brand image. And you can use events, holidays, and trends to shape your content ahead of time.

Build your social media content calendar with a simple tool like a spreadsheet.

However, you are likely better off using a specialized social media tool like a few we'll discuss in the next section.

4. Bring it all together with social media tools

Anyone who is serious about creating results with social media will invest in good tools.

And doing so is worth it because the results will make the effort and expense worthwhile.

Let's look at some tools you need to effectively run your social media strategies.

• Social media plugins: These are tools that you can add to your WordPress site. The right social media plugins act as a bridge between your site and your social media profile. Use these tools to add social feeds to your content and keep your audience engaged on your website.

• Social media management tools: These are tools where you can link your profiles, add content, and then schedule them at the right time to different platforms. They'll publish automatically, so you save time and streamline workflows. These sites will also give you social analytics and monitor various social media feeds in one place so you can monitor your engagement and other metrics.

• AI: At no other time have we been able to create and scale content as we can today. You can find specialized AI tools only for social media, or you can use free content generators like ChatGPT to bulk create and upload content for your posts. They're even great for scripting videos.

• Video and Image Editors: Social media is a visual experience above all. While text is important, it's secondary to videos and graphics. You need to use video editing and image editing tools to help. And you need to learn how to use them. Being good with social media means having editing skills and an eye for designing and attracting people. Some editing tools have video and image options as well as social media scheduling (like Canva).

These are the primary tools you'll need to manage your social media and effectively carry out your strategy. There are many options out there with varying features; choose one (or more!) that serves you best and helps roll out your social media strategy effectively.

5. Connect with others

Social media is about connection. And building connections should be strategized, too.

You should have a plan to handle good and bad PR, for example, getting negative reviews and comments.

Make it part of your normal workflow to see and respond to comments and direct messages. Many people send business enquires via DMs or direct messages in your social media accounts, and you must use bots or other means to take care of such queries.

Another key aspect of any social media strategy is to also work with influencers. Collaborating with different types and 'tiers' of influencers can help you grow faster, foster a closer relationship with your audience, and tie your brand to someone relevant.

Leverage Social Media Strategies to Achieve Your Goals

The key to success on social media is strategy.

Your social media efforts need to be planned, deliberate, and cohesive. It's the only way to stand out and reap the rewards of the many opportunities that social media offers.

So, create a social media strategy, as shown here, and you'll be on your way to greater engagement and success no matter your goals.