Get started with your Social Media Plan

If you are daunted by the very thought of starting with a social media strategy, you are not alone. There’s just way too much advice out there – with confusing and contradictory points of view all over the place.

So don’t try to wade through all the learning material out there, trying to gain enough expertise before you actually begin. You simply can’t replace practical on-the-ground experience with theory in this case – especially because each business is unique in its own way – and you, the business owner, knows best what works for you, and what your target customers are interested in.

An humble opinion, all you need to do sort out before getting started, are these 3 basic aspects -

Time Devotion

Set aside a specific time slot for your social media activity. Decide how many hours and when, which days – and stick to it no matter what. The more you devote time in a planned way, the more you get the desired results.

Online Presence

Decide which social networks you want to establish a presence on. Carefully consider which networks are most relevant to your business. E.g. FourSquare is perfect for brick-and-mortar establishments. Pinterest is awesome for design / visual products. Based on where you think your target audience hangs out, identify not more than 2-3 social networks to begin with.

Facebook, Twitter and Google+ might be the most obvious choices given their popularity, but there are a lot of businesses that have carved out a strong presence on sites like Ning too.

Be very regular – Be very regular – Be very regular

After you zero in on the sites you intend to build your brand on – ensure you regularly interact with your followers. Share general opinions, tips that would be useful to your audience. If you only use social media for promotional information, your followers will soon lose interest – So, mix it up please ! Basically, keep it as real and relevant as possible.

If you don’t have enough new content on your blog, share links to interesting articles that you may find on the Net. Don’t underestimate the value of Re-Tweets! Not everyone has the time to visit many blogs, so if you highlight some article as interesting, chances are your fans will be happy you pointed it out to them.

If you are tempted to add more to this list, I suggest you resist – and simply get started for now. Keep tweaking your social media plan to suit your audience and you will be fine. Wishing you all success with your social media plan.

Tagged as: brand building, Business, planning, Retweet, Social Media, Social Media Plan, social media strategy, Social networks, Tips