BUZZ: 7 Tips to Create A Successful Social Media Plan for 2015

If you have not started developing your social media strategies for 2015, you’re already behind. Social is now the top media platform for small and medium businesses in terms of spending and usage, according to report from BIA/Kelsey. The report also stated that small businesses are spending an average of 21.4% of their media budgets on social, up from 18.9% last year.

Here are 7 tips to help you create your 2015 social media plan.

1) Evaluate 2014

Answer these 6 questions:

1. Did you start the year with a social media plan?
2. Did you use social media in your marketing plans for 2014?
3. Was it effective?
4. Did you track your ROS? (Return on Social)
5. Who inside or outside your business was responsible for social?
6. Are you happy with how your business performed on social media in 2014?

Answering those questions will help you to determine where you are now and how you want that to change for 2015.

2) Make a list and check it twice

 To create a strategy that you can follow through on, you must first list all your short term and long term marketing goals for your business or brand. This will give you a very clear idea of what you want to achieve and how social media will fit in your overall strategy.

3) Research your industry and competitors

 Do some research on your competitors or other businesses in your industry to see how they are using social media. This will help you to spark some fresh ideas that you can implement for your business. Knowing what will be more effective to achieve your marketing goals for your business will save you a lot of money, time and energy.

4) Check the channels

 What you thought you knew about social media in January 2014 might be completely different today. Social media is an ever-evolving marketing landscape. Knowing what social media networks made changes to their platform, terms of service and privacy policy will help you to determine how it will affect your target audience, your business and your strategies.

5) Are you using the right tools?

You can evaluate, make a list, research every competitor and learn every thing about every social media channels, but if you don’t have the right tools to implement and execute your strategies, nothing will work. Imagine a builder did everything to create a plan to build a beautiful house but got to the site with the wrong tools?

Here are a few tools to consider:

Constant Contact – Email Marketing

Sociallybuzz App – Social media and reputation management app

EzTexting – Texting solutions

FiveStars – Loyalty Program

ZeeHub – Simplified Franchise Management

6) Get Help!

How do you balance running a successful social media strategy and growing your business all at the same time? It’s hard. Getting the right people to help you create an effective social media strategy or bring your strategies to life will make you sleep a lot better at night and give you a lot more time to do what you do best, run your business.

7) Set your budget

Now that you’re off to a good start, it’s time to determine not what you think you have to spend on marketing, but what’s the value to your business. If you gain an extra 10, 20 or 50 new customers per month through social media, what is that worth to you? If it’s important to you, you will find a way. Stop making excuses on why you can’t and start doing. Social media is growing and changing fast. You invest in other parts of your business, don’t short change on one of the most important part of the puzzle that can become your ultimate driver between your business succeeding or failing.

In conclusion, social media should not be the icing on top of the cake, social media should be as important as Flour. Sorry for the food analogy but I wrote this at 6am on thanksgiving morning and I was feeling a little hungry. Now that you have a lot to think about, don’t just push it to the side, start planning today. I wish you and your business a very successful 2015.

 

 About:

Andre Kay is CEO and chief marketing officer of Sociallybuzz, which exists to help business owners grow their business using social media. By helping them reach relevant customers, build customer loyalty, mange reputation and increase revenue. We protect relationship with their customer, create effective campaigns, manage their social channels and online reputation 24/7.

Follow us on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook page.

Check out our following social media management services:

1) Social Media Services for Nightclubs – Click here

2) Social Media Services for Franchises – Click here

3) Social Media Services for Restaurants – Click here

4) Reputation Management – Click here

5) Social Media Management Tool

6) Social Media Services for Startups