What is a Social Media Plan?
In our previous article, we provided a guide to develop a social media strategy for every communications professional who is responsible for creating a digital presence for new and already-existing brands. You should catch up on it here.
A social media strategy often precedes the plan. It guides you in understanding the external context of a brand, who they target audience and stakeholders are, what their interests are, what you want them to know, feel and do, what success means to you and what metrics can be used to determine the level of success. A social media strategy ensures that every content is purposeful, intentional and aligns with the overall business objectives.
On the other hand, a social media plan determines the messaging, spokesperson, tools, time and sequence and how the feedback will be used for improvement. Both the social media strategy and the social media plan utilizes social media as an important tool for communication and stakeholder engagement in the digital age. This article will provide a guide that can be used in developing a social media plan.
5 things to note when creating a social media plan
- The proposed messaging to stakeholders: What is the overarching theme of every social media content the brand puts out, what do you want the stakeholders and audience to know and what action do you want them to take from your message.
- The proposed spokesperson: The brand’s spokesperson ought to be well trained to convey the message in the brand’s voice. The spokesperson can differ based on objectives. The objective determines whether the business/organizational leader needs to use his/her voice or an influencer’s voice is needed. If it is to create awareness and increase visibility, an influencer’s voice can be used while the business leader’s voice can come in handy in the case of a major crisis that is threatening the business or organization’s license to operate.
- The tools and Platforms: The target audience determines the tools and platforms to be used. Using the wrong platform can make communications ineffective. For instance, if you identified an audience between 18-25years of age, interested in fashion, clothing and lifestyle, LinkedIn is very unlikely to be the platform that your brand needs to create. Rather, your brand needs to establish a strong presence on platforms like Instagram and Tiktok.
- Time and sequence: What is the best time to engage on your preferred platform? This depends largely on when your audience is most-active because they determine the level of your content engagement.
- Feedback and improvement: Every social media platform provides an opportunity to gather real-time feedback from your audience through features like the comment section and polls. In creating a social media plan, it is also important to determine how these feedback can be used to improve your strategy going forward.
Use this guide to be more strategic in your approach towards social media planning.
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