Despite appearances, managing a social media feed is no easy feat. Your social media output is made up of two components: proactive and reactive. This means that you need to create a content calendar and a hands-on strategy, while also taking advantage of real-time events. Simply put, you need to be agile and on the ball.

Being proactive

Plan your campaigns

Where do you want your social media campaign to take your brand? That’s the question you should be asking yourself before you send out a single tweet or post. An objective is crucial to the online success of your brand. Set goals and devise a plan your social attack from the get-go.

Develop a strategy

Talk tactics with your team – what’s your strategy? And can it improve? If you’ve already created posts in the past to no avail, take a walk down memory lane and look at where you went wrong. Use social analytics to give you an idea on what works and what doesn’t.

Content planning

The foundation of every social media strategy, of course, is content. You should consider what types of content your audience likes to consume, and whether or not that aligns with your objectives. Also be sure to think which types of content lend themselves to different social platforms.

Being reactive

Interacting with your fans

How social is your brand on social media? That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? But it’s a two way street. Don’t just broadcast yourself without any follow-up or meaningful interaction with your fans and followers. Should an opportunity present itself, reach out a follower in your social community. It’s also important to remember to respond to any customer service questions promptly and professionally.

Social listening

Keep yourself in the know about what people are saying about you and your competitors with a social listening tool. A great way to get started is to track keywords that are related to your brand or industry – this will give you some opportunities to know more about your audience and jump into relevant conversations.

Newsjacking

Newsjacking is the process of leveraging news trends to promote your brand. It is one way to appeal to a larger audience and drive engagement on your social properties – but be careful – it can either be resounding success or a terrible disaster. Newsjacking requires real time monitoring of world events along with a quick wit, an understanding of what is acceptable and what is in poor taste, and an excellent copywriter.

Read about the first – and highly successful – newsjacking Tweet from Oreos.

Still not sure how to go about devising a successful social media strategy? Get in touch.