A well-researched, data-informed social media strategy is the key to any business’ success on a social media platform.
Whether you consider yourself a social media strategist, social media manager, or both – one excellent way to add more value to any of your social media services is to include the development of a customized social media strategy.
Seriously – did you know you can charge more when you include a social media strategy in your monthly social media management services?
If you’ve just been “tossing it in '' as part of your regular client onboarding, we feel the need to tell you that you can absolutely charge an additional fee for this one-time service. Not to mention you can provide social media strategy development as a standalone premium offer!
Ready to create premium, professional, PAID strategies for your social media clients?
Here are 5 things to include in your client’s social media strategy…
1 | Brand Details
It’s important for you & your team to understand your client’s brand as a whole. In order for you to show up on social media on their behalf – in an authentic, consistent way – you must focus on the things that make them unique and how they want to be perceived.
The Brand Details section of your social media strategy helps you to gather all the information you need to dig deeper into your client’s mission, products, and services. This also provides a space for you to curate and organize certain branding assets you’ll need in order to create content – so you’ll want to include things like brand fonts, colors, logos, etc.
This information establishes a solid foundation for the project, showing your client you've taken the time to learn about who they are as a company.
2 | Objectives & KPI
The purpose of having a social media strategy is to lay out your plan for achieving success. The specific bits of information you include in a social media strategy are like directions on a roadmap. You can’t create a map if you don’t know where you’re headed!
Clearly state what the overall objectives of the social media strategy are, as well as how you will measure & determine success through specific KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
PS. You’ve likely already discussed these goals & objectives with your clients – perhaps during their Discovery Call, or within your service proposal.
The social media strategy you develop should “define success” & include specific actions that will lead you directly to your client’s desired outcomes or objectives. When determining the objectives for your client’s strategy, consider these questions:
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What are your client’s reasons for wanting to use social media in relation to their business?
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How does your client define success on social media?
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What metrics or specific outcomes will prove you are reaching or exceeding your goals?
3 | Market Research
In order to create a social media strategy that speaks directly to your client’s ideal audience, you’ll have to know who their ideal audience is – which is where thoughtful market research comes in.
In this section of your social media strategy, you can outline the specific industry research you've done as it pertains to your client's target audience, products or services. What have you discovered about their customer's needs, desires & overall psychology that can help you create highly relevant content and campaigns?
There is no one way to conduct Market Research, so this information will be different depending on your client and their goals. Detail your specific findings and share key information that will inform your approach to the social media strategy.
4 | Competitor Research
Once you know your client’s target audience inside & out, you can turn your focus to their direct competitors.
Within your social media strategy, you’ll want to outline the specific research you've done as it pertains to your client's competitor's business, products or services.
What have you discovered about their competition that can help you create content and campaigns that stand out & position them as a better alternative?
Just like Target Market Research, there is no one way to conduct Competitor Research, so this information will be different depending on your client and their goals.
5 | Content Strategy or Content Overview
Depending on how your business supports clients, you may or may not include content creation as part of your offers. Regardless, once you’ve got the overall social media strategy laid out, it’s a great idea to include strategic content ideas that can help bring the overall strategy to life.
This can be done by pulling examples of content that already exist online & then detailing the specific ways your client can integrate similar concepts into their publishing calendar.
Or, you may choose to create content examples using a client’s branded assets — which illustrates exactly what the content you plan to create for their channels will look like.
Content is how we communicate on every social media platform. Instead of filling your social media strategy with lots of content ideas in text form, include visual examples!
