Many companies know they should be involved in social media but they just don't know how to do it? We help our clients demystify social media and provide them with a detailed, robust, up-to-the minute, all-in one social media strategy, designed to be implemented in-house by your marketing team.

We have teamed up with Digital Visitor to use our industry experience and a team of social media experts who live and breathe the subject all day long. We will tell you which social media channels you should be on, what you should contribute to these channels and when you should interact with them. We will advise on the resource needed to maintain medium or high levels of exposure. Finally, we will tell you the best tools and processes you need to monitor, moderate and track the success of your social media marketing.

We can of course provide social media campaign management services to assist with any or all of our recommendations, but our social media strategy is designed so you can provide this to a member of your marketing staff to complete themselves in-house, with us on hand if you have any questions or require support.

The ingredients that make up our successful social media strategies are set out below.

If you are thinking you might need our expert help, call or email us now.

1. Defining business objectives

The starting point of all strategies! We always start by defining what your business objectives are. What do you consider success in your social media strategy and why? Is it Facebook likes? Traffic from Twitter to your website? Video views on YouTube? Communication with social bloggers? We will explore what it is that you actually want to achieve with social media and then formulate a plan of how you can get there.

We're not afraid to challenge your thoughts either and if we think we can offer some valid suggestions that will achieve your objectives differently than how you were thinking, then we will use all of our experience and knowledge and speak up! If you don't know what you want to achieve, let us help you define your objectives as we have with some of our clients.

2. Audit of your current social media presence

Do you know what is currently being said about you in the social media world? Using leading social media analytics powered by Alterian, our audit will review the current and past position of your company and brand name. We will include information such as volume of comments and the sentiment of various key social media channels for your business.

3. Competitor analysis

Who are you competitors and do you know what they are doing in the social media world? We look at your key competitors and analyse what they are doing in the social media world. We then compare the volume of conversions around their keywords to yours. This helps us share your strategy as we move forward.

4. Creative campaign ideas

What can we do that is different from what others are doing? As the saying goes, two heads is better than one, so we get our whole team involved to come up with creative ideas for your campaign that will make you stand out from the crowd.

5. Distribution channels

How do I maximise the opportunities? Once we have identified your best social media channels it is important to research key multipliers within each. What existing Facebook Groups are there that could be useful? Who are the influencers on Twitter for your industry? Which bloggers have the most important audience for your business and what potential promotional partners exist which could help you reach a new audience?

6. Content /time plan

What are your messages going to be? Engaging content through text comments and reviews, photos, videos, competitions, polls etc. are the key to a successful social media strategy and we will advise on the very best ways for you to engage and grow your social media audience.

7. Activity schedule

What do I say to who, and when? Once we have your content plan and distribution channels we will be able to estimate the amount of activity required for each channel and the amount of time this will require. Most strategies consist of both regular on-going activity and bigger 'campaigns' for key elements of your PR / marketing messages.

8. Required resources

Do you know how much time you need to spend on social media and what resources you will require? Once we have completed this process we will be able to advise you on how much resource you require to implement and manage your social media strategy to full effect.

9. Monitoring and moderation tools

How do you know what is being said and when? How should you respond? This will provide information on how you can monitor the effects of your activity on an on-going basis and in real-time, as well as provide suggestions on moderation techniques and responses.

10. Reporting and review

What reporting do you require and how do you review this? Monthly reports against targets and KPIs are important to monitor the success of your social media strategy and campaigns. Reporting and reviewing is also important to determine any adaptations required for your continued activity.

What else?

Once we have created your social media strategy with all the ingredients you need to bring a successful social media strategy to life, the next step is to think about the time and resources required to deliver your social media strategy to full effect.

We are not protective over the strategies we create for our clients. In fact, we love for you to be able to deliver your full strategy or as much of it in-house as possible. We understand that no one knows your brand better than yourself.

However we are also fully aware that not every company has the resources, time or tools to do this. If this is the case for you, Let us fill in the gaps. Read more