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How do you create a social media marketing plan for SMB blogs?
Social media is a marketing channel, but how do you go about creating a plan? Social media marketing efforts are very different than traditional methods. What ideas do you have for creating a social media marketing plan? Any resources that I should check out?
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4 Answers
You're right that social media operates in a very different way than traditional marketing channels, but the same fundamental planning questions would apply. This includes questions such as:
- Who am I trying to reach?
- What are my objectives with that audience?
- What do they care about? What can I provide them to add value to their business and/or lives?
- Where do they current seek this information?
Questions like this as the building blocks of any good go-to-market strategy. Once you've answered these (and that may take you all of 5-10 minutes), you'll likely already have a sense for who to engage, where, and with what content. You will also know what end-goal you're working towards, and be able to measure activity and impact towards that goal.
Great points so far. One thing many SMBs struggle with is finding a large enough audience for their blogs. I would recommend using Twitter/comments on Facebook Pages to help determine what specific kinds of content to blog about in the first place, then use Facebook/Twitter to promote blog posts once they've been written to get greater mileage and distribution out of that content investment.
WomanzWorld did an 8 part series on this topic called "The Entrepreneurs Social Media Workout": http://bit.ly/ahT6Yd
It's also available as a free ebook if you prefer PDF: http://bit.ly/cAyU13
I've read it and it's a very good primer.
People have a tendency to over-plan social media strategies in the beginning, which is why I like Matt's advice. Create a quick and dirty outline of what you'd like to accomplish and then spend time watching and listening.
Once you have your feet wet and feel comfortable, you'll be in a much better position to create an effective strategy.
To begin with, a clear articulation of your objectives for using this medium is needed. Next, it will be a good idea to understand what your peers and competition are doing on the social media front. Once these are completed, identify social media vehicles that can be used other than the blogs and based on your scan of what others are doing. By now, you will have a good sense of what is possible.
Develop a monthly calendar broken down week-wise and put down activities on a periodic basis. The periodicity will depend on the objectives and how quickly you want to achieve them. The plan will evolve once you start implementing it.
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