Why you should have a Social Media Strategy for your Small Business

 First let’s answer the question, “What is a social media strategy?”

A social media strategy defines HOW your business will use social media in line with your overall marketing objectives.

At a basic level it’s a simple statement of intent. It should outline the goals and measurable objectives for using social media, and the specific outcomes you want to achieve.

 If you’re running social media platforms for your business without having completed the key strategic steps upfront, then you aren’t doing social media marketing – you’re just doing social media 

It isn’t a detailed plan of action – you’ll also need a plan but without a clear strategy, how do you prioritise the activities for a plan? Think strategy first, plan second.

Before we look at 7 ways a social media strategy can help your business let’s dive into why social media strategies are important in the first place

Why Social media Marketing is important

Social media marketing helps validate your brand.  Over 60% of consumers who search for businesses online are more likely to become consumers of brands with an established social media presence.

it’s no longer optional. It’s an essential way for you to reach your ideal clients, and when done correctly, tells them that you’re active and focused on meeting their needs.

The longer you wait, the more you have to loose.

When done effectively, social media marketing can lead to more customers, more traffic, and more engagement.

So, now we understand why you should have a social media strategy, let’s look at how it can help improve your business

7 reasons why you need a Social Media strategy

1. To Build a Strong, Organic Presence

The first reason you need a social media strategy is because it will help you build a strong, organic presence online.

Establishing that all important know, like and trust factor with carefully thought out planned posts. Have a social media strategy will help you stick to the number one rule in social media: posting consistently.

Failure to maintain consistency is one big reason social media accounts stop growing.

2. Stop the guess work

 I speak to a lot of business owners who are just guessing when it comes to social media. Everyone else makes it look so easy. Post a few times on Instagram or Facebook, and the traffic will pour in.

 The reality of course is very different. It’s not easy.

 And like most things, you need to spend time learning how to do it properly. Because all good online social media activity can only happen as a result of even better offline planning.   Take a look at

3. Make sure you are always working in line with your goals

Having a social media strategy in place will ensure that your social media efforts are more fruitful, and are working to support your broader business goals.

Putting a strategy together includes outlining your business goals, so that you can work backwards to create posts which reinforce them. You’ll also want to outline some social media goals (think brand awareness and lead generation) so you have something to work towards, and to validate that the work you are doing is paying off.

4. To save time

Perhaps this should be the number one?  Who doesn’t want more time on their hands?

Creating and implementing a social media strategy will help you save time

I won’t lie – getting everything together to create a content calendar and content bank is a big task at first, but getting your post needs sorted and scheduled for the next week or month will greatly reduce the time you spend on actually posting each day.

No more staring at a blank screen scrambling to figure out what to post – you’ll now be able to spend a little more time on other tasks, and on analysing what’s working.  

(P.S. You can check out my blog here for more time saving tips)

5. Leave room for creativity – to create better content

With your social media strategy freeing up time you’ll create the head space needed to step back and understand what content works best for your audience, which content you should make more of and how to use the latest functionality to best effect such as live videos and Instagram stories.

Whatever it may be, you’ll be able to dive in and show your audience you know what you’re doing.

6. Stay ahead of the competition

The reality is that it’s a busy marketplace out there but having a social media strategy you can stay ahead of the competition.

Without a structured approach to marketing communication and measurement, any business will waste resources on undirected activity, and that’s time, and potential customers you can’t afford to lose. 

7. A strategy gives you results

Results don’t just happen. They happen because of a strategy.

Creating a social media strategy means you have taken the time to think about your unique business and what works best for your audience. You can concentrate on the finer details which help you stand out from everyone else in your niche.

You’ll be able to analyse what’s working , establish a distinctive look and feel for your accounts all while remaining consistent and providing value to your audience.

Want to know more?  Check out my blog with 5 ways to build a great strategy and get in touch today to see how I can help you.    I love helping small businesses understand social media better through training or by creating a social media strategy for them