Join the conversation using #HootEssentials
How to Build a
Social Media Plan
WEBINAR:

Speaker
Join the conversation using #HootEssentials
Roger Graham
Director, Growth & Marketing
Hootsuite, Asia Pacific
@therogergraham

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We will email you this table after the webinar.TIP
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The most widely used platform to manage social
media, loved by over 10 million people around the
globe and trusted by 800+ of the Fortune 1000.

What does Hootsuite help you do?
Find New Customers
Find new leads and
expand your customer
base by monitoring
online conversations.
Market Better
Run targeted marketing
campaigns with social reach.
Build Brand Awareness
Expand your brand’s social
presence by publishing
content & engaging across
multiple social channels.

Who uses Hootsuite?

Agenda
Why you need a social media plan
4 Steps to a Social Media Plan
Access to tips & resources
Q&A
Tweet your questions with #HootEssentialsTIP

“Social media is not only more cost-efficient
than advertising, but it also offers great
opportunities for innovative engagement
with your customers.”
Richard Branson

Social is the New Front Door
It’s where your customers learn, seek, discover and decide
In Person Website Social

Think marketing, think social Media
Image Source- Weplay
Traditional Channels Social Channels

A social media plan outlines your
goals, strategies and action plan to
ensure your time has tangible benefits
to your brand or business.

The 4-Step Plan
optimize
Audit Develop Engage Measure

Assess your social
media presence
Identify gaps
Set profiles
Set your goals
Select social networks
Build content plan
Setup workflow and
processes involved
Publish & Share!
Identify metrics
Use tools to measure
progress
Audit Develop Engage Measure
The 4-Step Plan

Audit
Step 1:
Audit Your Social Media

Social media audit template
MeasureEngageDevelopAudit
We’ll email this toolkit after the webinar!TIP
Step 1: Find all of the social profiles
you have and who runs them.
Address any content issues.
Step 2: Use Google to find anyone
using your brand.
Step 3: Determine what social
networks you want to focus on.

Business Goals
Brand Awareness
Thought Leadership
Word of Mouth
Leads
Sales
Social Goals
Reach
Comments, Inbound Links
Shares, Retweets
Form Fills
Online Purchase
MeasureEngageDevelopAudit
Align Goals

Set SMART goals
● Make your goals are SMART: specific,
measurable, attainable, relevant and
time based
● Avoid goals that only focus on vanity
metrics like Likes and Followers
● Align goals with department and overall
business goals
MeasureEngageDevelopAudit

Four key points before selecting your social
network profiles:
● Understand your target audience (age, location, lifestyle)
● Ensure you know how social fits into your marketing program
● Understand your tone & brand
DevelopAudit
Select the right social networks
MeasureEngage

DevelopAudit
Select the right social networks
MeasureEngage
We’ll email this table after the webinar!
Also, check out wearesocial.com for 2015 reports on the use of social media in every country.
TIP

DevelopAudit
Select the right social networks
MeasureEngage
Look at how competition or aspirational brands use social networks to engage.TIP

● Listen to your followers and industry chatter to get
inspiration from industry leaders, competitors,
clients
● Look back at the best performing content
● Gain feedback internally from other departments
and from customers via a survey
MeasureEngageDevelopAudit
Learn from leaders

Every social profile must have:
● Bio / Description
○ Insert link to website
○ Contact information
● Image
○ Profile Picture, Cover Photo
○ High resolution
○ Maximum fit & dimension
● Insert SEO description of your business in profile
How to improve your profile?
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage

Profile Tips & Examples
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage

DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
● Branded Cover Image
● Link to Bio
● Says what content will be shared.
● “Official” account
● Link to main website

DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Great example of branded lifestyle cover photo with tagline

DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
● Hashtags
● Strong imagery
● “Official”
account

Develop
Step 2:
Develop Game Plan

Steps to take:
1. Identify the right content for your brand
2. Create a content calendar
3. Publishing content efficiently
Develop content strategy
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage

How to decide on content to post
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
What is your brand positioning and tone of voice?
What issues are important to your brand?
How do external parties refer to your brand, such as the media, industry experts, etc?
What is your community interested in when they aren’t talking about your brand or directly
to you?
Historical performance: What content has worked and what hasn’t?
Search behavior: What do people search for when they are looking for your brand’s
products and services?

Share Industry/Lifestyle News
Promote your products
Converse with customers
Balance Your Message:
Content strategy - Rule of thirds
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage

Creating content calendar
● Decide on dates, time, author, audience and social network
● Develop content topics
● Create ‘call-to-action’ in post
● Allocate content to different types of posts (example below)
○ 50% of content links back to blog
○ 25% curated from another source
○ 20% drives content related to your business
○ 5% is related to HR and company culture
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage

Theme strategy example: Restaurant
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Monday:
Weekend Highlights
Tuesday:
Lifehack Tip
Thursday:
Recipe
Wednesday:
Feature of the Week
Friday:
Weekend Buzz
M T W T F

DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Creating content calendar

Engage
Download our mobile app for anywhere access!TIP
Step 2:
Driving Engagement

What is Engagement?
It simply means responding to your
target market in a way that evokes
a response.
Use keywords to listen to the market and offer input, ideas or content.TIP

● Manage all your social
content in one place & share
with teams
● Schedule your content daily
● Schedule pre-event posts
Publish content efficiently
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Set aside 15-30min a day to find an post valuable content.
Use Suggestions, a Hootsuite feature.
TIP

● Use images and video
● Use ads to reach a target audience - ie “lookalike audiences’
● Short text posts - favored by Facebook’s algorithm
● Clear call-to-action (CTA)
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Using Facebook effectively:
2 posts per day is optimal for audience engagement.TIP

Clear call to
action and
short text
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Facebook Post Examples
custom
#hashtag

DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Twitter
Keep posts at least 20
characters under the 140
limit to allow for retweets
and comments.
TIP

Pictures result in 35%
more retweets.
Use them!
TIP
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Twitter

DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
LinkedIn
Tagging companies or
people that you are
connected adds
authority to your posts.
Just make sure they are
related to the topic!
TIP

Engage your audience
by asking relevant
questions.
TIP
LinkedIn
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage

DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Google+
Sharing “How To”
content has shown to
perform very well.
TIP

Started using a hashtag
for a campaign - keeps
everyone tuned into
campaign.
TIP
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Increase Engagement on Google+

Measure
Step 4:
Measure Results
& Improve

Identify right metrics to measure
Social Goals
Reach
Comments, Inbound Links
Shares, Retweets
Form Fills
Online Purchase
Metrics
Total Impressions
Mentions
Reshare, Retweets
Volume
Conversions
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Business Goals
Brand Awareness
Thought Leadership
Word of Mouth
Leads
Sales

Identify right metrics to measure
Social Goals
Reach
Comments, Inbound Links
Shares, Retweets
Form Fills
Online Purchase
Metrics
Total Impressions
Mentions
Reshare, Retweets
Volume
Conversions
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
Business Goals
Brand Awareness
Thought Leadership
Word of Mouth
Leads
Sales

How to measure?
1. Select social media analytics tools, such as Google Analytics & Hootsuite
Analytics.
2. Use a URL shortener like Ow.ly that can track who is clicking on your
content and from what region/geo.
3. Create a custom report and determine how frequently you will review
social media metrics (weekly or monthly, for example).
THEN: Optimize your strategy based on the insight you’ve gained from the
data you’re tracking.
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage

What to measure?
DevelopAudit MeasureEngage
● Best performing posts
● Engagement
● Traffic

Refine Your Strategy
● What worked well and resonated with your
audience?
● What didn’t work well?
● What learnings have you taken away?
● How can you refine goals for the next period or
quarter?

Summary
Assess your social
media presence
Identify gaps
Set profiles
Set your goals
Select social networks
Build content plan
Setup workflow and
processes involved
Publish & Share!
Identify metrics
Use tools to measure
progress
Audit Develop Engage Measure

We will email you these
resources too!
1. Social Media Strategy Guide http://ow.
ly/XP6rR
2. Social Media Strategy Template http://ow.
ly/XP6uV
3. 6 Social Media Templates to Save
you Hours of Work
http://ow.ly/XP6zm

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