Sahail AshrafSocial media marketing is often about simple routines that need to be integrated into daily life. This post covers such routines, twelve of them in fact. We focus on the twelve things that you should try and include in your “beginning of the month” to-do list. Hopefully, they will all combine to ensure that you get most out of your social media marketing activities.
The first thing you need to do at the start of every month is get your data head on. Check out all the stats from the last month and see how your social media has performed. How’s the follower rate going? And do you know what the engagement rate has been? At what time during the month did people engage the most? Knowing the facts means that you can gain a fuller understanding of the impact of last month’s efforts. If they’ve left you dead in the water, change up your strategy. If they are bringing engagement, intensify your efforts. By being aware of the difference certain actions make you can ensure that you are always improving, and making progress.
Then you need to get the benchmarking done. Benchmarking means simply looking at how your competitors are doing and comparing your output and impact with them. You also need to ensure that you take a look at the bigger picture (not just your enemies) by looking at major players in the industry. This doesn’t necessary need to be only data driven either. What kind of trends are there with content and marketing in your industry, for example? Keep on top of this particular wave and you’ll be riding it for months to come. Ignore your competitors and the industry and they will ignore you.
A content marketing strategy is not meant to be just a piece of paper that is left on a desk (even if it’s your desk). Pick up and review it at the start of every month. First of all, you need to know what has been completed or left at the wayside, and has it mattered? Then, you need to ensure that you have a clear plan for the month ahead. Take time, also, to be certain that you are doing the best you possibly can to optimize the content you are producing. Is everything in place to create great content? Do you know?
Every company should have at least one big content calendar meeting. And the start of the month is the best time to do this. It sharpens the various minds and makes sure that people know what is expected of them for the month ahead. Go through the content calendar with the team, and make it your job to be certain that everyone knows all that needs to be done in the next 30 days. Challenges can be discussed, and the good stuff that came out of last month can be celebrated. This is the perfect opportunity to check that everyone is on point for the month ahead when it comes to creating superb content.
You’ve been managing the reporting side of things, right? All data and insights need to be sent out to the executives and other stakeholders. The people who greenlit your marketing. Ensure it is easy to access, has key takeaways and focuses on the value you are bringing to the company and its goals and objectives. And make sure it comes in a pretty folder too (this last part is optional). Quick Tip: Stakeholders are interested in quantifiable data. Make everything about the money the content marketing is going to bring in via branding, earned media and conversions data.
Social media has advertising very much at the core of it now. You cannot grow organically. You need to review what has happened with this particular aspect of the game over the last month. What ads are working the best? Which targeting has the lowest pay-per-click? How are the sales and conversions? Then, make sure this is all in order and accessible to all concerned, so you’re ready for the next part of the process.
Set up the social advertising campaigns so that they are informed and optimised by the data that you found in your review. Twitter? Facebook? Instagram? Google? Follower growth or reach? Where and how is spending to be allocated so you get the maximum ROI from your budget?
Set up your goals for the month. How can you change up your approach so that you gain even more engagement? What new things can you try? Set performance goals, so you can keep pushing the envelope and add more value to the social media marketing in the month ahead. If you set clear and concrete goals, you should be able to be on the road of continuous improvements. Quick Tip: Use a combination of data and clear thinking to set up measurable goals. Always tie goals to data when you can.
And this leads us onto the next step at the start of every month. Be bold, and choose at least a couple of experiments to implement. This could be all about using more visuals. If you’ve never, ever created an infographic, try one out. If the video has so far not been a major thing for your company, start down the road of creating some high-quality video that you can share with your audience. Quick Tip: Give as many people as possible the empowerment they need to try something new. Celebrate the success publicly, and encourage experimentation.
Identify influencers. It is always important to identify influencers that you can aim to make a connection with. Influencers can help you leverage your social media content, give it credibility and spread it to a larger audience. One of your goals should be to find at least one new influencer every month to reach out to and try to establish a connection with. It will help boost your social media presence.
Create at least one social media event and include it in your calendar. This could be something as simple as a hangout, a live stream or a webinar. Or it could be a full on virtual summit with people from your industry. If you are going big, don’t be afraid to plan it out over a couple of months. These things take time to build, but the important thing is that they get built. Quick Tip: Whatever it is that you’re building ensure you plan in advance and start raising awareness and expectations at least a month before the big day.
Plan ahead for the next month after this one coming up. Think about the month itself and the seasonal aspects that may affect your content marketing. Be aware that many people in content marketing don’t understand the impact of national holidays on their efforts. Be one step (and one month) ahead of that game. It makes sense to see where you are in the calendar year and plan accordingly. Otherwise, you could miss out on a truly useful marketing opportunity. Quick Tip: Have a brainstorming session on the upcoming holidays and other relevant events on the calendar. Work out how you can create unique content opportunities around that event (Father’s Day for example).
Follow the above 12 steps every month and you should see a continuous level of improvements in your activities and your results.You should integrate these steps into your monthly routine to get the most out of the work you do.
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