Why Your Business Needs A Social Media Strategy

by After Interactive

When was the last time you made the decision to go on vacation?  You probably had a specific location you wanted to visit, knew how to get there, and how long you were going to be there. In essence, you had developed a strategy in order for this vacation to actually happen. However, many companies seem to think operating without a strategy is the way to go. Why does it make sense for a company to have a social media strategy in place?  Here are a few reasons:

1. Goals - Just like going on vacation, if you don't know where you're going how do you know when you've gotten there?  What are your companies goals? Perhaps its having people sign up for free trial offers or fill out a survey your sales team can use to follow up as a lead. Determining what your company's goals will lay the foundation for how you get there as well as how you know you've gotten there.
2. Resources - If you're planning a trip to Europe from the US you know you can either fly or take a ship whereas driving is not an option. When planning your company's social media strategy, you'll need to determine how you're going to achieve them. If your company targets CFOs of banks, LinkedIn is the ideal platform to target these business professionals. Perhaps your company makes wedding dresses for soon to be brides. This means Instagram may be the best platform to focus your company's efforts on.
3. Measurement - If you can't measure it, don't do it. Since social media marketing is essentially Internet marketing, tracking metrics for success is relatively easy to do. If your company is an ecommerce business, tracking online traffic from social media and tracking sales can be used to determine success.  How about a commercial real estate services company?  Perhaps having your receptionist keep track of incoming calls and how they heard about your company is one way to measure success.  

Just like you plan an upcoming vacation, developing a strategy for your company's social media efforts will be the only way to achieve success.  Without a strategy, it would be like if you got in your car trying to drive to Europe. You wouldn't do something as irrational as this in your personal life. Why would your company do something similar?