How to Think Strategically about Your Social Content

Social media is a keystone asset to any marketing plan in the modern age. An ever-growing channel of shared content-- be it links, .gifs, pictures --the white noise of any outlet you choose is a daunting measure for every business. The challenge of cutting through leaves most feeling like it’s an impossible task and therefore it gets dramatically under utilized.

We’re here to help you change that.

Good social content starts with three items:

Relevancy: the content has to make sense to the audience. How does it pertain to them?
Timeliness: the content has to be posted at a time when the audience is engaged with the platform.
Agency: perhaps the most important, the content being posted must be shared for a reason and not just to become “part of the noise.”

So how do you determine these items? Take a bird’s eye view of your social media audience and ascertain who your personas are. Consult back to your buyer personas and use them to define your strategies.

Strategies are defined by your planning efforts. Use previous social postings to gauge a baseline, tying a numerical value to where you are and where you want to be. Using this data-driven method will allow you to set S.M.A.R.T. goals; specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

“I want more followers.” This goal is bad.

“I want to increase my Facebook audience by 15%, from 200 to 230, in two weeks.” This goal is good. It uses numerical values, addresses a social channel, and sets a time frame.

Other good goals may revolve around generating web traffic via social media, boosting interaction on social media, or even revenue generated by social media.

Once you have a goal in place, start planning out your posting strategy. Consider frequency, channel use, and what audience you’re targeting. Quarterly strategies seem to work best as they give you time to review and shift course should your current strategy prove ineffective.

When planning your posts, don’t be afraid to exude the confidence of a big brand. Even if your company has one to four vehicles in its fleet, it’s important to exude the confidence as if you were the largest operator in the industry. Walk the walk. Talk the talk.

Frequency across social media varies wildly, but there are peak times and numbers to track. The main takeaways here are:

Google+: social posts only have merit here if your Google My Business profile is set up and verified. Posting here offers an additional SEO bonus given you’ve done the setup work on GMB, but only once a day at most on any week day.
Facebook: Once a day is good here because of the way Facebook’s organic algorithm works. Focus posts on Thursday and Friday between 9am and 7pm; with 1pm showing the most shares and 3pm yielding more likes.
Twitter: Weekends are best for this stream-of-conscious platform. Between the hours of 12pm and 6pm are prime time, and don’t be afraid to post multiple times a day.
LinkedIn: Keep these posts business-oriented and formal. Studies show that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday between 7am and 8am, 10am-11am, and 5 and 6pm are best. Use this channel to build your credibility and authority. Post more than once if you want, but no more than twice.
Instagram: is for highly visual content. Stick to posting on Monday during off work hours for the most engagement. No more than twice a day.
Pinterest: another highly visual medium, posts on Saturday from 8pm to 11pm are best. Post multiple times if you want.

It seems like a lot, but it can be automated and made so much easier with a scheduling tool like HootSuite, Buffer, or SproutSocial. You can choose exactly what, when, and where your content is posted in a single morning and follow along without ever having to log in to each individual platform. These tools often offer engagement metrics, making assessment of your plan’s effectiveness that much easier.

Social bookmarking is a fancy term for the sharing of a link, page, or other content across platforms or sites. If you do share someone’s content on social media, let them know and you could also get your content shared as well! This type of engagement is called thought-leader outreach among some, and can be very valuable for getting links to your website which increases domain authority and SEO value.

Lastly, it’s important to engage in social listening. If people start commenting on your post or sharing it, interact with your audience and show them your brand is an actively pursuing its audience. Major brands do this all the time and helps gain them credibility in the eyes of their target audience. Do not skip out on the two-way communication social media provides businesses.

That’s all for now. Thanks for joining us on this Wednesday Drive, and we look forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions, leave a comment below. We’d love to hear from you.