Recently, on Threads, a man posted his strategy for the rest of 2024. He then proceeded to list the number of times he would be posting on different networks. A woman reposted his post with the comment, “This is not a strategy.” Predictably, she was roasted by a certain kind of internet dweller with taunts about how she didn’t know what she was talking about because she wasn’t as successful as the person who had posted originally. Ah, you have to love this particular kind of internet dweller.

But the thing is, she was right. In no way was that a complete strategy. It could be part of a bigger strategy, but it definitely didn’t stand on its own.

Why?

Well that is the question that is left unanswered when you just list out posting frequency. Without your particular why, you have no guiding post. With no guiding post, you’ll slowly drift off and just produce to produce. Soon you’ll have no idea where you are or how you got there. Not. Good.

So what do you need to include in your strategy to make sure you don’t drift off?

Business objectives

My very favorite way to start off when I have a speaking engagement is to ask the question, “What is the goal of your social media marketing?” I get lots of answers like engagement and reach. Almost no one ever says anything about making business happen. That’s a problem.

If making money and/or furthering your particular business goals do not enter your head while you’re creating social strategy, then you are lost before you have even begun, simply because you have prioritized the wrong things. And in most cases, that wrong thing is trying to go viral.

Instead, you should have a benchmark of where you were in your business goals previously to starting your current marketing efforts and compare where you are as you go through those marketing efforts. If you are not improving on those business goals but your engagement and reach numbers are through the roof, something is very wrong. Knowing there is something wrong before it becomes a crisis (aka, no money is coming in) can potentially save your business and give you time to right the ship.

Audience

Do you know who you are marketing to?

This is such a vital part of your social media strategy and yet so many people are leaving it out. It’s just about them and their businesses. What a turn off for your customers.

Finding out more about your audience can give you a content well you might not even know about. You can follow them along on their journey to buy from you and give them the content they would need to make that decision. You can ask them about how they use your product (I’ve heard more than once of companies who found unexpected uses for their products from their audience and they were able to capitalize off of it). And you can know so much about them that you can provide off-the-script content that will make them trust you just a bit more.

Do not forget about your audience or else you will just be pushing content at them. No one likes a pusher.

Everything else that could be included in a strategy then seems to just fall from these two aspects.

Where should we be posting? Well, where is our audience?

How often should we be posting? Take a look at your business objectives and compare that with expectations from your audience. Your posting frequency can be found somewhere in the middle.

And so on and so on and so on.

Knowing your why will take you from just posting willy nilly to having solid reasons behind everything you do. And being able to explain it will set you up for better future success. That is the beginning of a social media strategy success story.

If you’re having trouble figuring out your why, I’m always here to help.