By Jessica Gough

The Span of Social Media

It is no secret that social media is taking over the internet. In fact, over 77 percent of the U.S. population uses a social media profile regularly. That is 2.34 billion sets of eyes just waiting to be captivated. As a company, those eyes are extremely valuable to your success. So how do you attract them to your content?

What is a SMM Plan?

A social media marketing (SMM) plan allows an organization to detail what they would like to accomplish within the realm of social media. Along with these broad goals, a SMM plan also outlines what actions the organization will take in order to achieve these goals. A variety of benefits come from a social media marketing plan, so it is important to ensure your organization is taking advantage of this opportunity.

The SMM Planning Cycle

    It is important to understand that, like social media itself, SMM plans should continuously evolve. In order to maintain a successful plan, it is crucial that your SMM plan evolves with society. These nine steps will help guide you through creating your SMM plan.

• Listening

What is your brand’s current social media presence?

• Setting Goals

Analyze your organization using SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. What realistic goals does your brand want to accomplish?

• Defining Strategies

Use the “8 C’s of Strategy Development”. What strategies will help your brand reach its goals?

• Identifying the target audience

What are the needs of your target audience?

• Selecting Tools

What tools will work best for your strategies?

(hashtags, SEO, link shortening, images)

• Selecting Platforms and Channels

What platforms will reach your target audience best?

• Implementing

Put your plan into action!

• Monitoring

Track you progress, and COLLECT DATA.

• Tuning

This is a constant and continuous process.

Creating and monitoring a strong SMM plan will allow you to connect with various audiences in a familiar way. This connection can lead to numerous advantages for your organization.

Works Cited

https://www.statista.com/statistics/273476/percentage-of-us-population-with-a-social-network-profile/

https://defendernetwork.com/news/national/employers-relying-social-media/

https://getsocial4630.wordpress.com/2015/01/22/the-eight-cs-of-strategy-development/