5 reasons you need a social media strategy

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin

You’ve heard that one before, right? Well, it’s relevant here, too. If your social media efforts are falling flat, it could be because you didn’t prepare a strategy.

Without an effective social media strategy, you may find yourself lost in a muddle of ideas and exerting a disproportionate amount of effort in relation to the rewards you reap. Your social media presence may feel directionless, distracted, or stagnant.

The people you follow on social media who are seemingly smashing it haven’t got there by chance. They’ve been chipping away at it consistently for a long time, and their efforts are firmly rooted in a solid social media strategy.

What is a social media strategy?

There’s a difference between a strategy and a plan. In a nutshell, a strategy is where you want to go, and a plan is how you’re going to get there. Think of the strategy as your foundations — without it, everything you do is on shaky ground.

An effective social media strategy should detail your why, who, what, where and when and set you on the path for stress-free social media marketing that gets results.

Here are our top 5 reasons to embrace a social media strategy:

Keep aligned with your goals and your brand

Is your goal to increase brand awareness, build relationships, provide customer service, generate new leads, or drive traffic to your website? A social media strategy will help you narrow it down, give you clarity on what you’re trying to achieve and keep you firmly on the right path — the unwavering sense of purpose derived from a strategy is a powerful thing.

Successful social media marketing is all about consistency. From purpose to brand voice and identity, to the channels you choose to focus upon, a strategy gives you definition, direction and keeps you true to your brand values. Without one, you’ll find yourself being pulled off course and your business will get lost in the tides of social media.

Get ahead of the competition

For every day you avoid social media marketing, your competitors will be thanking you.

Prospective customers or clients expect to be able to learn about businesses on social media before they commit. They want to connect with a human face, get to know and trust you and have open lines of communication. With no social media presence, potential clients will question the credentials of your business and choose a competitor who’s become a familiar face on their social media feed.

You need to become that familiar face, so that when customers are ready to buy, you are the trusted business who first comes to mind — through social media you’ve already shown them how your solutions will meet their needs or solve their problems.

A social media strategy will help give you clarity on how you’re different to the competition, how to use your difference to stand out and connect with your target audience and give you confidence to compete. Once you’ve done the groundwork preparing your strategy, it will feel easy to build trust with your target audience in an authentic, natural way.

Ultimate efficiency

There’s a lot of conflicting advice out there when it comes to what you should and shouldn’t do with social media and it’s easy to get distracted and drawn into activity that isn’t right for your business.

“Random social media tactics lead to random results. You need a strategy.” Stephanie Sammons

Whether it’s reels, lives, stories, groups or ads, there will always be a latest trend that’s tempting to try. But if you suddenly start putting out reels without first considering their value, there is a danger you could alienate followers and damage your brand. Not to mention waste a lot of your time.

A social media strategy streamlines your efforts, and keeps you grounded, consistent, and focused on social media activity that moves you closer to your objectives.

A positive, growth mindset

Successful social media marketing requires a positive mindset. Once you’ve got over any initial barriers that may have been holding you back, creating a strategy will help keep any niggling uncertainties at bay and give you the confidence to keep going.

At the root of your strategy are your business’s core values and your core values must be inextricably linked to your mindset. If your beliefs aren’t driving your strategy, you will struggle to be authentic and stick with it.

Build your strategy on your values, believe in your strategy and growth will follow.

Get results

The world is full of your potential customers. And with over 53% of the population on social media, you need the right strategy to reach them so your business can get results.

Think of your strategy as a series of ladders. At the top of each ladder is one of your goals — reaching new audiences, generating leads, or making more sales — and each rung is a step you will take to reaching the top and achieving the results you’re aiming for. Expecting results without a strategy is like trying to climb a ladder without any rungs.

A strategy makes the social media workload manageable and allows you stay in control of your time and your narrative, keep focused on your purpose, your target audience and your goals, and ultimately, will get you tangible results.

Is your business ready to take flight? Start creating your strategy and release your social media voice with purposeful social media marketing.