Mar 22, 2016
Drafting a social media marketing strategy: a chance to re-analyze your business potential
By Alice Moretti
Recently I have been talking to a design startup founder who was looking for a social media marketer. He was looking for a creative candidate, able to draft a compelling digital marketing strategy to make his startup visible on social media and thus draw leads to his website. Despite his enthusiasm, after asking him a couple of questions about the startup mission and products, I realized that the guy was missing a clear idea of what made his design products different from the others available on the market. In addition to this, he had a very long list of items he wanted to launch, maybe even too long for a startup struggling with his funds. The conversation has been very interesting, especially because it has led me to think about the role that designing a social media strategy can have in re-analyzing and clarifying the mission and the strength points of a business.
Too often we read articles underlying the importance for companies to be on social media to create brand awareness, convert leads, increase sales etc. Fewer times we read about the process of drafting a social media strategy as an opportunity, especially for startups or recently established companies, to re-analyze goals and strengths and individuate new opportunities.
Let’s think of the steps to follow when creating a digital marketing editorial plan:
- Identify your goal (e.g. increase traffic to your website);
2. Identify your target by conducting buyer personas research;
3. Identify the topics of the editorial plan according to the goal and the buyer personas’ profiles;
4. Identify the form of the content you want to use (text, image, video, podcast);
5. Identify the best social media channel to convey your message to the right audience.
In order to be able to efficiently tackle the previous points you should know very well what you are offering and why people should buy it. In other words, you should have a clear idea of what makes you stand out from the crowd. For example, how can you draw the profile of your buyer personas and match their needs with your product if you cannot explain why they should choose you among dozens of competitors? Furthermore, being unable to conduct accurate buyer personas research can easily jeopardize the next step of the list: brainstorm and select the topics you will talk about across your social media channels. Indeed, your content should be tailored according to your target audience and respond either to its needs or interests.
To summarize, prior to going on social media you should ask yourself the following questions:
A. What products/services are we selling?
B. What is our unique value proposition?
You are probably thinking: “This guy has discovered hot water…”. The point that I would like to underline here is that this concept, which is probably very clear to web copywriters and social media specialists, might not be as evident to companies. For those, many times being present on social media is just about advertising themselves and consequently, they might not even grasp the key role that drafting a digital marketing strategy can have in helping them think about their unique features and potential.
With this in mind, the role of a good social media marketer and web copywriter goes beyond collecting information about a company and transforming it into appealing digital content. Indeed, it becomes closer to the one of a business developer.
